I hope you have been working on implementing the 20 Quick Fitness Hacks for Better Health: Part 1 into your daily routine.
Let’s get honest for a second, our days get busy fast and then all of a sudden it’s 8:30 P.M. and you are reaching for the blanket and ready to curl up on the couch and call it for the night. As you do that you realize you barely moved today. I mean barely moved, if you even call walking to the bathroom, sitting on the toilet, walking to the car to go to and from work and maybe you are wild and crazy and you did a load of laundry (well almost, the clean clothes are still in the basket at the foot of your bed right?).
I get it, this is the entire reason I put this series together, a few years ago I realized that the image of my perfect plan for the day in my head or even in my planner was only going to happen when worms have ears.
See the difference between fitness and movement is fitness is often equated to the activity you go and do, while movement is the total amount of which you move. And if you just increase the total amount of which you move throughout the day, you may very well move more and do more than what you would just do at the gym.
Now if you take my advice and move more during the day and get lucky and get to the gym, yoga, out for a long walk, then BOOM bonus and you are feeling great!
20 Quick Fitness Hacks for Better Health: Part 2
6. Phone Power Walk: We all own a cell phone now a days, and if you don’t then I’m pretty sure you don’t have the means to read this either. Work to make it a habit that when you are on the phone you are up and moving. Maybe you can’t get out and go for a mini walk per say, but even just standing will ask more muscles to work than what does sitting. Stuck in your office, ever heard of desk laps? Me neither-until now, but it doesn’t matter where you walk- move those legs as you move that mouth.
7. Kitchen Table Lunge: Our kitchen table has may purposes, storage unit, dumping ground, painting station, tool bench and occasionally a dinner table (no joke). So what’s one more use? Pull out one of those death traps we call chairs and step your foot up on the seat and with a few steps back with your other foot, keep a tall spine (relax the front ribs down) and gently lunge forward offering a nice stretch in the groin and hamstring of the back leg. Hold for a few breaths and repeat several times a day.
8. Calf Stretch at the Bathroom Sink: If you brush your teeth or wash your hands then this will be a snap! For so many of us we spend our days in a positive heeled shoe, this shortens our calves which causes a slew of concerns like: pelvic floor issues, tight hip flexors, lower back pain, even shoulder pain, it can give us foot issues once we take our prized shoesy off and alters the pitch of our body while standing, which changes the loads we have to carry each day. Using a half dome (or a tightly rolled yoga mat) step the ball of your foot up onto the support and be sure to line up the edge of the foot with the wall (no shoes). Stack your body in neutral and as you brush those pearly whites start to walk your free foot forward. Trust me you’ll feel what I’m talking about real quick.
9. Pelvic Floor Reboot: Use that time you spend day dreaming, scrolling Facebook or whatever else you do and lets put it to better use. No matter where you are find neutral pelvis (pubis bone and front hip bones [ASIS]) and run them parallel with the wall you are facing. (Watch VIDEO on where your pelvic floor is HERE). Now focus in on creating support in the pelvic floor (literally the bottom of your core). This is not kegels support or death squeeze, but rather a kind contraction of support to assist you and your body back to good health core-wellness.
10. Changing Table Leg Lifts: Once you have a baby in your house you’ll easily spend the next two to four years changing diapers. I do my best to never change diapers just standing around. Make the most out of those few minutes and put a little leg into it. Keeping neutral pelvis and parallel legs. Balance on one leg and with a flexed foot extend the opposite out away from you. Then do the same to give a little oomph back to that booty and kick it back. Try to take your time and get at least five to ten in on each side. And now you’ve got yourself a great reason to change that next poopie diaper.
Stay tune for Part 3 of the 20 Quick Fitness Hacks for Better Health!
Did you miss Part 1? Access it here!
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