How to incorporate incidental exercise into any busy schedule

It isn’t news that you need to exercise.

We’ve all heard the benefits of exercise for mental and physical health. The benefits exercise has on our relationships or on our concentration. We all know we should be exercising more and sitting less, but how does the everyday person actually do that when they are already overwhelmed by a never-ending to do list? While completing your full work out of choice is always the best option, there are some additional ways we can incorporate exercise into our day. We’ve compiled a list of some easy ways to incorporate more incidental exercise into your day, some are your classic forms and others may be new to you. Hopefully something below inspires you to incorporate a little more movement into your day.

Incidental exercise options:

• Get off the bus/train a few stops earlier and walk
• Take the stairs
• Complete 10 slow squats while brushing/flossing your teeth
• Use your couch to do dips while watching TV
• Squat while waiting for your food to cook on the stove
• Use your lunchbreak to go for a walk (even 5-15mins at a fast pace around the block will be of benefit)
• Convert your desk to a stand-up desk and do 6 lunges once an hour
• Put groceries in reusable bags and with one in each hand practice farmers walk from the car to the kitchen
• Park as far away from your destination as possible and walk
• Have walking meetings
• Take phone calls standing up and walking around
• Clean the house
• Clean the dishes (ensure you engage the core)
• Make socialising an active activity
• Make some sauerkraut (the chopping and pounding of the cabbage really works the abs)
• Walk the dog
• Lunge when walking from room to room
• Visit the local playground and give the monkey bars a go
• Practice engaging your core each time you sit at your desk
• Get out into the garden – bonus of exposure to various microbes and some vitamin D
• Put on music and dance in the house
• Head out on a Saturday night for some dancing and live music
• Ride a bike to work or school
• When at the beach spend 3mins treading water (only if you are a confident swimmer)