Part I -
Here is a special exercise for you: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, arms out to the sides. Bend forward at the waist, stretch your arms forward and down, reach down even further and pick your mind up out of the gutter! haha Now, see Part II for a really good tip.
Part II -
This concept came to me over the holidays when I was making my pumpkin pie crust from scratch. Are you time challenged when it comes to working out? Only able to squeeze in 20 to 30 min? Wish you had more time to get better results? Or maybe you are a crazy, like me, always wanting to get more out of your workouts. Well, back to the pie crust... As I was kneading and rolling out the dough, I noticed that I was using different muscles that I apparently don't normally use and I was really feeling it. That lead to a whole chain of thoughts...
It is an undeniable fact that humans are getting fatter every year... when did this start?... Is there perhaps another culprit besides the touted fast food rage? Yes!! That beast would be called convenience. When I was a child, Disneyland had a ride called "Carousel of Progress", in it were several devices designed to make work easier. That's where we started to go to pot (our bellies that is). As things continued to get easier and more convenient, our physical work loads on a typical day have become next to nada. It is so easy to wash a load of laundry today, compared to using a wash board and a wringer then hanging it on a line as in days of old. Hopping in your car to go get a loaf of bread, no grinding, mixing or kneading required, again, easy. You get my drift.
Our bodies were created for hard work, we can take it, in fact, we NEED it!!
So, here's where the "Make it Harder" phrase comes in...
I'm certainly not saying we should start using wash boards again or toss our microwaves out the window, but there are several little changes we can make to work a little harder and give our metabolism a boost, burning more calories and helping us get in some extra "workout" time in, just doing things we would normally be doing anyway. I'm sure most of you have heard the ol' adage, "Park further away from the store and walk", to which I often get the excuse, "I can't, I'm in a hurry" to which I then reply, "Good, then you'll have to walk faster and burn even more calories!"
Here are a few ways that I've found in my life to get in a little workout in the "Urban Gym"...
- If I'm going to the store for just a few things (milk, apples, yogurt...) instead of grabbing a cart, I get a hand basket (sometimes even two) and carry my items through the store doing little bicep curls.
- Instead of walking out to my mailbox (at the end of our street) I sprint as fast as I can both directions, some days even passing the mailbox a little ways to make it longer.
- I quit using my rolling laundry basket to take the laundry down a loooong hallway to the laundry room. Now, I do a couple of extra squats while picking up each load and lunge my way down the hall.
- While on hold with tech support or the cable company or (fill in the blank), see if you can hold a yoga pose for the entire time. Warrior 3, is a workout!! whew!
- While waiting for my toast to toast or oatmeal to cook, or water to boil or whatever in the kitchen, I do all kinds of exercises, like doing triceps dips with toes on one counter and hands on the opposite counter, or, I'll hold myself in an "L" press in the corner of the counters. There are lots of things you can do here, be creative!
- When putting away all the Christmas decorations, instead of using a dolly to roll all the boxes out to the garage, I hand carried them, doing deep squats then lifting them over my head a couple of times on the way to the garage and then carrying them up the ladder.
There, you have half a dozen examples, now do some creative thinking and post what you come up with here to give others even more ideas!! Let's encourage and challenge each other! :D
No comments:
Post a Comment