With the cold weather, it’s easy to be lazy about staying active when all you really want to do is curl up under a blanket and hibernate until spring. I sympathize with this mentality, especially on grey wintery days when I hardly want to leave the house. However, it’s easy to turn those lazy moments sitting in front of the TV into excellent opportunities for some light cardio workouts. Even the twenty minutes spent under the hot water tap in the shower can be the perfect time for some squats. Some people spend hours at the gym, walking from machine to machine, spending more time waiting for an open spot rather than working up a sweat. I believe that everyone has the time for exercise, even if you only have a few windows of opportunity throughout the day. The trick is to use those scattered blocks of lulled activity to fit in some light reps of easy exercises.
When commercials come on
Stand up and do jumping jacks. Do as many as you can in 20 seconds, then rest for 20 seconds. Repeat the cycle, and do as many as you can in 30 seconds, then rest for 30 seconds. The next time increase the time to 40 seconds of jumping jacks and then 40 seconds of rest. If you can do this every time you watch a couple hours of TV during commercial breaks, you can enjoy watching your favorite shows and get your heart pumping.
Every commercial break could be different, easy cardio work-outs as well. Some suggestions for alternatives for jumping jacks: Jump Rope, Running in Place, Squat Jumps, Burpees, Mountain Climbers, Sit-ups/Crunches
In the Shower
As you wait for the water to heat up, do 20 squats. Once in the shower, do reps of 10 squats after shampooing, another 10 after conditioning. Not only do you get to work those glutes, you also eliminate the sweat. Every other day you can increase the initial 20 to 25 squats as you wait for the warm water, and increase the 10 to 15 squats in the shower.
These are just a few suggestions to get you started, but any block of time you find yourself scrolling through your phone as you wait in line, or sit on the couch, trying to fight boredom, start doing squats, or burpees. The key to exercise is not a gym membership, or having three straight hours devoted to working out, it is to keep moving and stay active. Don’t mind the odd looks you might get for doing jumping jacks at the bank, they’re just kicking themselves that they skipped the gym this week.