5 ways to exercise more often
Many governments around the world now recommend that individuals complete as a minimum, two strength-based activities each week in addition to 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity. This equates to approximately 30 minutes each day of intentional exercise.
How on earth can we fit that in amongst client calls, deadlines & family commitments?
There’s a fascinating study which required people to fit extra exercise into their weekly routines to see what they sacrificed or changed to achieve the exercise goals. An analysis of individuals time was taken before and after the study to determine what changes they needed to make to fit in more exercise.
What do we have to sacrifice?
It was found that to fit in extra exercise each week, the three big sacrifices were,
Sleep
TV viewing
Household chores
We are very reluctant to recommend cutting back on sleep as the majority of people we work with are not getting enough nightly sleep to promote strong mental health and performance. TV viewing is an interesting one, for many of us, this is a relaxing part of our day, but I challenge you to monitor how much TV you are watching each evening.
You could look to skip a Netflix episode and go for a 20-minute walk around your neighbourhood or if you want to stay in front of the TV, you could do one of our on-demand exercise or yoga classes. Finally, sacrificing household chores, I need to be careful not to get myself (or you) in trouble with this recommendation.
What I would suggest is online grocery shopping, ordering your weekly shop to be delivered on a Sunday will save you at least four hours a month, plus will also support you in being able to plan and prepare healthy meals for the week ahead.
Here’s a couple more which we think are also great.
Sacrifice your commute - Let’s be honest, most of us don’t enjoy commuting for two hours a day. If you have the opportunity to work from home a couple of times a week then take the time you’ve won back and get active.
Reducing social media time – Have you recently done a time review on the amount of time you’re spending on social media each day?
As we are learning more about the potential mental health consequences of our social media usage it could be really beneficial to set daily time limits for social media apps. With all that spare time you might as well get active, a double benefit for your wellbeing.
We strongly believe that regular exercise is so important for an individual’s wellbeing and quality of life that leaders should be looking to actively (pardon the pun) support their employees to stay fit.
If you’re looking to get back into a regular exercise routine, we recommend starting with small amounts of time, looking to do a form of exercise that you enjoy and if you can do this with a friend, you’re much more likely to develop new habits that you’ll stick to.
If you’d like support with increasing your exercise habits we’d love to have you in our community. We run daily live stream classes designed for all fitness levels and have a huge library of on-demand workouts ranging from 5-45 minutes.
If you’re an individual you can start your free trial here
If you’re already a client of Lift Your Wellbeing, click here to book in for your next class
If you’re responsible for wellbeing at your work and want to learn more about our employee wellbeing program, please click here.
Now go get a sweat on, your mind will thank you!
