Getting active is not only important for your overall fitness, but it also helps with your mental wellbeing. With a lot of us living a busy lifestyle, working, socialising and potentially looking after children, it can be hard to get active. When you finally get a bit of spare time, chances are you don’t really want to spend it holed up in the gym. You could find that you make up excuse after excuse to get out of working out and don’t end up achieving your fitness goals. If this is you, then you are not alone. Below are five simple ways to get active that don’t feel like too much hard work…
Choose the stairs, not the lift
It’s an obvious suggestion, but is really effective and one of the most simple ways to get active. Stairs will increase the number of calories you burn that day, use different muscles and will get your heart rate increasing. When you start paying attention, you may be surprised at how many times you get in the lift instead of using the stairs – especially if you live in a block of flats.
Park further away
Force yourself to walk those extra few steps by parking your car further away from your destination. The further away, the more active you will be! By doing this once a day, each day, it can quickly acculumate to a good number of extra steps each day. Plus, if you are in a city, the further away you park the cheaper your parking may be.
Hula Hoop while watching TV
In 2019, the average daily viewing time of TV in the UK was 183 minutes. If you fall in the category and spend a fair amount of your evening bingeing Netflix, why not exercise at the same time? Spending 30 minutes hula hooping can burn between 165 to 200 calories and also works on your core muscles. It’s great fun and will contribute to you having strong abs in no time.
Deep clean your home
It’s not the most fun way to get moving but is one of the simplest ways to get active. From moving your furniture and scrubbing the floors to cleaning the surfaces and hoovering, you’ll be constantly on the go, lifting and stretching so will get a good workout! A good deep clean could burn around 250 calories and you’ll benefit from having a spotlessly clean home to be proud of.
Play with your pets
How many times have you spent 30 minutes playing with your pets to feel out of breath afterwards? That’s because it’s tiring and has you moving around in fast bursts of speed, increasing your heart rate. Take your pet for a long walk to get you out of the house or play some games like tug-of-war or search and sniff. This will give you some quality time with your pet and you get active at the same time.
The Summary
It’s a lot easier to get active than you may think. From playing with your pets to exercising whilst watching tv or choosing the stairs instead of a lift, there is no excuse for you not getting a little additional exercise on a day to day basis.
Once you are getting more active, you may like the idea of taking up a sport or something more vigorous like running or cycling. What simple ways to get active do you like to do? Have you tried anything from the above list? Is there anything you would like to add? Let us know in the comment box below.
