Dr Rimmi Verma, Ortho and Sports Physiotherapist (Gold medallist), Sujok therapist. AXIS Hospital
Stay fit and fab at home: Everyday things that can help you exercise. Exercise is a physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive for the purpose of conditioning the body. The exercise consists of cardiovascular conditioning, strength and resistance training, and flexibility.
The most common reasons why people don’t get committed to exercises are:
- Lack of time to exercise.
- Lack of self-motivation.
- Injuries due to improper exercise
- Boredom with exercise
- Lack of confidence in their ability to be physically active (low self-efficacy).
People have the perception that a workout essentially means hitting the gym. But many daily tasks and everyday activities can contribute to the 150 minutes of recommended moderate-intensity exercise we should get each week.
- Walking
We don’t necessarily need to speed walk on tracks or parks to count walking as exercise. Parking your car at the far end of the parking lot and walking to your office also counts. If you have a pet then walking twice or thrice a day with it also contributes. And choosing to walk for nearby errands instead of driving can help you reach your daily activity goal. Take the help of ur fitness tracker to see the steps you walk per day. Walking just 20 minutes a day can lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and more.
2. Stair climbing
15 minutes of your day to go up and down any set of steps, can blast more than 100 calories. Walking upstairs is a form of progressive resistance, as you have to use your body weight and you engage your quadriceps, glutes, calves, and hamstrings.”
Taking the stairs is also good for balance and coordination.
- Cooking
Working in the kitchen, cleaning utensils, chopping vegetables burns around 75 calories in 30 mins. If possible one can use a grinding stone which will help in toning arm muscles instead of using an electric grinder. It may be minimal exercise but is certainly better than sitting on a chair and relaxing.
- Sitting
While sitting idle or watching TV one can engage core muscles or do some shoulder exercises with water bottles or knee exercises thereby doing strengthening while binging on your favourite shows.
- Shopping
Shopping means walking and walking burns calories. For grocery shopping
focus on going for the heaviest items first like bags of rice, flour, or oil. Then once that cart gets heavier it becomes part of the activity to push and control the trolley.”
It is even better to work out if the car is parked far from the store’s entrance and best if one can avoid elevators and escalators.
6 . Gardening
It is one if the most time and energy-consuming activities. Planting, watering while standing and moving to keep you in action. Squatting while pulling out weeds or planting strengthens the chest, back and leg muscles. By sowing seeds or digging etc you can burn 100 calories in 15 minutes.
- House cleaning
Mopping and sweeping floors, dusting in out-of-reach areas, and scrubbing the bathroom can all help you break a sweat. Crank up some dance music to keep you moving at a brisk pace and before you know it, exercising won’t even feel like a chore.
- Playing with kids
Playing with kids for adults is critical in our stressful go-go-go lives like hiding and seek, hulla hoop, Frisbee etc. The play has been shown to release endorphins, improve brain functionality and stimulate creativity. It can even help to keep us young and feeling energetic. Studies show that play improves memory and stimulates the growth of the cerebral cortex.
Jumping rope can torch 200 calories in 15 minutes. According to research people who jumped rope for 10 minutes a day experienced the same improvement to their cardiovascular health as people who jogged for 30 minutes a day.
So the baseline is – The more activities you fit in the day, the more physically active you are.