We’ve all seen the “fitspiration” pictures online claiming that a workout is only 4 percent of your day, so that must mean there are no excuses, right? Well when you have kids to parent, a household to manage and work to do, sometimes it’s not so easy to fit in a full hour of exercise every day. While we should all strive to fit in at least three to four good workout sessions a week to stay healthy and energized, there’s plenty of easy ways to sneak exercise in to your daily routine for those days you just can’t manage to find a completely free 45 to 60 consecutive minutes to devote to a workout. Try these tracker apps to monitor your exercise!
GIVE YOURSELF A CHALLENGE DURING MUNDANE TASKS
Do squats while brushing your teeth, calf raises while washing the dishes and bicep curls with those grocery bags that you’re trying your hardest to get in the house within two trips.
TEMPORARILY RE-ADJUST
When you’re setting your alarm the night before a day that you know is going to be insane, adjust your wake-up time to ten to fifteen minutes earlier. During those extra minutes do a quick set of pushups, crunches, jumping jacks and strike a couple of yoga poses. It’s just enough to get the blood pumping and jumpstart your metabolism for the rest of the day.
WORKOUT WHILE YOU WORK
Sit on a stability ball rather than a normal desk chair. This helps with engaging your core without having to think about it, and it’ll help improve your posture. Make a point to get up and walk around for two minutes at least once every two hours to get in all the steps you can for the day. Also, take the stairs. We’ve all heard it a million times before, but that’s because it actually does make a big difference if you do it every day.
TRACK YOUR PROGRESS
Use a fitness-tracking tool to help keep you motivated by reaching daily goals or keeping your activity level in check. A simple pedometer, or a more involved gadget, like a Fitbit, gives you an accurate way of seeing your progress and why some days are better than others. You’ll be more inclined to make a habit out of those good days where you reach a daily goal of 10,000 steps when you see it on your tracking tool.
Tracker Apps
Another useful tracking tool (one that exists right at your fingertips with no trip to the gym required) is the plethora of apps aiming to help you get fit. Here are some of our favorites:
COUCH-TO-5K
This app gives you the steps to a 5K by guiding users through 30-minutes a day, three days a week for nine weeks running workouts that will leave you feeling accomplished and a lot less winded.
MyFitnessPal
A free app with a database of food choices to help you keep track of all those extra bites that normally go unnoticed. Also log your exercise to keep a balanced watch of your daily activity, the key to losing weight the healthy and sustainable way.
YOGAmazing
Perfect for people with a busy and stressful schedule, this app aims to provide mix-and-match mini classes to customize your yoga practice to fit your time and environment.