Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Wellness Wednesday

Ah, it's Wednesday again! Time to discuss fitness, health and general wellness. This week I'll be addressing Beaded Tail's concern about fitting exercise into an already packed schedule. This topic is extremely important, because heaven knows we all have enough going on every day to pack a week. So here are my tips:

Break it up:
Exercise can be split up throughout your day. Just because you don't have the time to hit the gym for a solid hour doesn't mean you don't have time to exercise. Try a ten minute walk in the morning, another at lunch and another after dinner. You will have gotten the recommended 30 minutes without a huge intrusion on your life. Plus, these breaks give you a much needed "time out" to sort through the events of the day and refocus.

While you wait:
Here's a little trick I like to do. Weight training while I'm waiting. Say I pop something into the microwave for one minute. During that minute, I do a wall sit. This great exercise works your glutes and thighs. To do it, stand with your back to a wall and slide down it until you feel your muscles engage. Go no lower than a 90 degree bend in the knee. Hold until the microwave beeps. Some other ideas:
-Bicep curls while you wait for your Etsy listing photos to upload.
-Calf raises while your kids (or husband) find their shoes.
-Push ups while your computer boots up (sorry, Mac users, no push ups for you!)
These possibilities are pretty limitless. Once you get used to tossing a little exercise into your "down times" it will become second nature.

Running Errands:
This one may require an adjustment for some, but I find it second nature because I get very impatient when I'm not in control of how long things are taking. The next time you run errands, park as far away from the entrance to the store as you can. At first, you may think you're wasting time walking all that way, but if the store is really busy, you may find yourself walking through the doors ahead of all the people who were cruising the front rows and jockeying for position. Plus, you'll be upping your activity level. The same goes for taking the stairs instead of the elevator. In some buildings, the elevator is slow and stops on every floor. By taking the stairs, you'll really get your heart rate up and get to skip being crushed between that guy who's wearing WAY too much cologne and that seasick looking baby. Caveat: don't walk up 38 flights on your way to a job interview - you'll look a bit wilted!

I hope these help! Don't hesitate to offer more suggestions.

Have a healthy day!

The not-so-fine print:
All the information presented on Wanderlust Bling is for educational and resource purposes only. It is there to help you make informed decisions about fitness training. It is NOT a substitute for or an addition to any advice given to you by your physician.

3 comments:

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  2. [Now with 100% less type-os!]

    Hey - I don't take that long to find my shoes! ;-)

    A word of warning to those who travel a lot and like the stairs-over-elevator option: I'm a big fan of this myself, ESPECIALLY in hotels, where the stop-on-every-floor tendency is practically a rule. But have found that it's good to scout out your stairs before "going live" with it as a way to get places.

    In some U.S. hotels the staircase will not actually let you out on the first floor; you might only have an external door (which is fine, depending on your destination, provided it's not alarmed). In others, you might pop out in an employee only area. Most hotels I've done this at are cool with the fact that you're using the stairs, but they're not going to let you go back up that way. Usually there's a second staircase in both cases. And then, of course, there's the unfortunate reality that as more hotels go 100% non-smoking, the smokers sneak their smokes in the stairwells, which typically don't have much in the way of ventilation. Not much you can do about that except maybe crack a few windows and let the staff know.

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  3. Those are great tips! Thank you for giving me ideas of how to fit in exercise!

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