According to the
Mayo Clinic, adults should get a minimum of two and a half hours of exercise a week. That works out to half an hour a day with weekends off. Yet many people still miss that mark because finding half an hour of uninterrupted time to work out isn't always possible. While uninterrupted exercise is a luxury, exercise of some form is a necessity.
The house isn't just a place to relax, it's also a surprisingly effective gym. Sneaking in those thirty minutes is easy when those minutes are split up throughout the day. Here are the top three ways to fit in a workout at home even if you don't have an official
home workout routine.
1. Lift "Weights" Around the House
Muscle is more metabolically active than fat. That means that building muscle helps keep weight in check. Don't have time or money for a full set of free weights? Household items double nicely as weights. Many common kitchen products like cans, bags of flour, and bottles are already labeled by weight, making them a good place to start for beginning lifters. A gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds and comes equipped with useful handles.
If fitting in a full half hour of weight training is the sticking point, then aim for smaller blocks of time. Lift the laundry detergent as the clothes finish drying or do a full set of reps with that ten-pound sack of potatoes before storing them.
Don't fear bulking up too much from regular lifting; athletes work for their muscular physiques, so lifting around the house will add definition, not big muscles.
2. Walking Counts as Exercise, Too
It's easy to overlook a vigorous walk as a form of exercise, but it is. For a 150-pound person, half an hour of leisurely strolling at 2 miles per hour burns 68 calories; that same walk at a more health-conscious pace of 3.5 miles per hour burns 120 calories.
How to use walking to sneak in a workout at home? Just do more of it at every opportunity. Look for more ways to get off the couch. Even in a small house, those short distances add up. It may seem natural to conserve steps when doing housework, but for better health, start looking for reasons to take more steps. Instead of sorting laundry by room and storing it at one time, deliver it item by item to where it needs to go. Do the same with groceries or toys. If you have neighborhood errands to run, skip driving, walk to where you are going, and save money on car insurance while you are at it (the less miles you drive every year the cheaper your car insurance rates will be).
Even without a treadmill, marching in place can get the heart rate up. Sound too boring? Dancing works even better than walking and is more fun. Never pass up an opportunity to dance; it's good for the mood and the body.
3. The Home Workout in Two-Minute Intervals
Think about things that happen multiple times a day. The list probably contains activities that aren't even considered activities: getting up from a computer chair, bending to pick something up, even visiting the bathroom. Each of these presents an opportunity to sneak in a workout two to five minutes at a time.
Here are some possibilities for adding exercise intervals to frequent tasks around the house:
- When sitting down or standing up from a chair (including the one in the throne room), do a set of ten squats. These squats can easily add up to fifty or sixty a day this way.
- Pick an item off the floor multiple times and it adds up to valuable minutes of exercise.
- Washing up after three meals a day means a nice chunk of time for leg-lifts and calf stretches.
- While waiting for water to boil or dinner to cook, do counter-top push-ups to tone arms and back.
Even the busiest individual can make room for these micro-workouts and start to get in shape, decrease their
BMI, and feel better. Feeling too tired to contemplate leg-lifts while rinsing dishes? Start with just a few; exercise will actually boost energy as the body gets used to it. Get started today!
Author Bio
Linda is a freelance writer and mother to 4 kids (and a dog...and at times a husband). She contributes for a number of different websites including an online personal trainer website and a website with hundreds of weight loss tips. When she is not writing or shuttling her kids from one place to another she can be found trying to fit in her own 30 minutes of daily exercise!
