Think back. How many New Year’s resolutions have you actually held? If you’re like most people odds are not many.
It’s recommended for adults to get at least 150 minutes of moderate to intense aerobic activity and two days of strength training into their week. Most like our New Year’s resolutions don’t meet these recommendations.
Here’s how you can, more easily:
1. Change your commute
Leave the car in the garage, next time you need to do some errands around town. Get some exercise in and save fuel all at the same time! And when working why not make your commute work for you? Get off the bus or train a stop early. Can you walk or bike to work? If not park a couple of blocks away and hit the pavement! Think about all of that wasted time spent in your daily commute. Let’s turn a portion of that time into an efficient way to reduce cardiovascular disease!
2. Interval workouts
Maximize your time and burn more calories with interval training. This method combines short bouts of high-intensity exercise with recovery phases, helping you burn fat faster while improving cardiovascular fitness.
3. Walk the dog
Just 20 minutes of walking your dog can burn about 130 calories. Don’t have one, get one!
4. Explore your city
What’s going on in your city? Chances are there are many economical, fitness activities right in your own backyard. Go hiking along the local hiking trails, or cycling around a new suburb or try the local pool. And if that’s two forward thinking why not join a group or your community center to exercise with others.
5. Conquer those Stairs!
Get some firm buns and increase your cardiovascular fitness throughout the day by taking the stairs. Escalators and elevators are now the lazy man’s option! Whether at the office or shopping center, you’ll be surprised by how quickly those extra flights of stairs add up throughout the day.
6. Let’s walk & talk
Do you have boring weekly meetings you have to endure? How about you be the first to initiate walking meetings. Give your colleagues a breath of fresh air, and you might even be able to come up with some innovative ideas! Walking whilst talking can increase creativity up to 60%.
6. The social workout
A social life or fitness? Since when do you have to choose between the two! How about combining the two. Next time you meet up with friends for a fitness class or an outdoor adventure to spice things up. You’ll get quality time, a workout and a happy wallet all in one package!
7. Simply move more!
If you’re obligated to be at your office from 9-5 if not longer you need to make the best of your situation. Take a walk to talk to that colleague. Take a walk on your lunch break. Take a walk, whenever you can. They add up trust us.
8. Holiday 2.0
Explore that new city at ground level; why not take a walking tour? Always wanted to run a marathon; take part in one in your new city. Visit a yoga retreat! And always try to source a hotel with a gym or partnership to local fitness centers.
9. Schedule workouts
Does your workout have a definite time or is it a ‘maybe’ after your get everything else done. If it’s of ‘maybe’ priority you’ll get ‘maybe’ results, which we know isn’t what you want. So schedule your workouts just like you would with any other important engagement. Your fitness depends on it.
10. Include the kids!
Are your kids your excuse or your reason? If you’re feeling like you can’t get away from the kids long enough to work out bring them along! You’ll be maximising the best of both worlds whilst influencing them to follow a healthier lifestyle. Workout at home with them using an at home DVD or go out and play sport with them. There’s plenty of ways to stay active with your kids whilst maximising quality time and crushing your fitness goals!
11. Everyone uses social media: Use it to your advantage
Stop the stalking and start succeeding with social media. Social media is a powerful tool that many people undervalue. Using it to hold yourself accountable to that challenge, or weight loss goal or early morning run can be very powerful. You can also use it to join with others already on their fitness journeys or recruit and inspire your own friends to start their own. And of course, there are the countless groups and pages you can follow to inspire your success!
12. Fitness @ Home
What do jumping jacks, high knees, planks, pushups, crunches, mountain climbers, squats and lunges all have in common? They’re all bodyweight exercises that require no equipment. You can do them anywhere. That also means you can do them at home instead of curling up on the couch binge-watching the new season of Game of Thrones. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but maybe throw in a couple of exercises whilst you watch. And if you’re feeling really inspired why not add some weight. Feel the burn!
13. Track your success
Are you a visual person? Well if you are you might work best investing in a pedometer or a heart rate monitor or ‘fitbit’. Whatever unit of measure works best for you, having a visual account of your daily activity can sometimes encourage you to do even more. And that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
14. Find your passion for exercise
This is going to sound stupid but why is that we don’t do what we don’t like. Obvious right, because we’re not passionate about it! If you have to be ‘motivated’ (externally pushed) to workout versus being ‘inspired’ (internally driven) you won’t maintain what you’re doing. Find your passion for exercise and you’ll revolutionize your fitness journey. Find an activity where time flies and you don’t feel like you’re exercising. Instead, you’re simply having a great time moving. Whether it’s dancing, hiking, Pilates, soccer or skiing, it doesn’t matter. Move more and you’ll get results.
15. Jump in.
Try something new. What’s the worst that can happen? You might find your new passion for moving, whilst making some new friends. By continuing to mix up your activity you keep your muscles guessing which mean continual progression. Join that crazy color run thing, or climb that mountain, or try that new workout class. You might just enjoy it.
16. Savvy Fitness
Your fitness doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. We’ve talked about working out at home, so it’s clear you can workout anywhere using just your bodyweight. If that becomes too monotonous however you can always use workout DVDs or leverage from the free access to videos on Youtube. You can find any channel on Youtube to suit your fitness tastes.
17. Goal-set
One of the most simple but overlooked keys to your fitness success is goal setting. We’ve all heard the statistics and yet we still neglect this step. What do you really want? Is your goal vague like the classic ‘I just want to lose weight’ or is it specific and tangible like ‘I will lose 15kg by March 1st so that I can play sport with my children for longer without being tired.’ Notice the difference. When you’re working towards a goal that inspires you it’s easier to stay on the correct path. You don’t have to continually motivate yourself because you know why you want to achieve what’s important to you and you know that it’s achievable.
18. Apps
We challenge you to find something your smartphone can’t do! They’re called smartphones for a reason, so why not put yours to work! There are countless apps that you can use for working out. You can even run from zombies.
By using these fitness hacks you can get more fitness into your daily lives and create a lifestyle change instead of a New Year’s resolution that falls through 2 weeks in. Try them out and see what works for you.
