Routine Fitness
Fitness needs to be part of our daily routine to make a real difference to our health. Yes, we all know that the right food and nutrition is essential for our good health and fitness is equally important.
We are full of good intentions to stay active and keep fit but how to make it really make it happen? We can do it.
How about fitness as we go? Just as we are always trying to keep on top of the housework by doing clean as we go perhaps we can also do fitness as we go.
Habits Help Us to Stay Organised
It’s second nature now isn’t it? Every time we go upstairs we take something with us and put it away. Every time we come downstairs we bring some laundry and put it in the laundry basket.
We know this is a useful habit to help maintain a reasonable level of cleanliness and organisation in our home.
It does work very well.
A New Habit Will Help
Let’s start creating a new habit. We all know that staying active is just as important as cleanliness now that we are getting older.
(Getting older? Maybe we already got there).
Our Daily Routine
As time goes by we can build another useful habit into our daily lives. Every time we are waiting for the kettle to boil we can start moving.
Tara Davidson is outdoors showing us how to do our early morning stretches. We can hear the dawn chorus in the background. I’m sure those birds are doing their stretches too.
It looks perfect doing the stretches outdoors but this might not be suitable for all of us. We might not be lucky enough to have the perfect climate or we might not have access to a suitable outdoor space. They work very well indoors too.
Tara describes her early morning stretch routine as being suitable for beginners and this is accurate. It is not too difficult and doesn’t require the use of a yoga mat. It is enough to wake us up, improve our posture and get us started with being more active for the rest of the day.
Jessica Smith can inspire us with a few stretches which we can modify for our own benefit. so it is not too scary. We are even allowed to use a chair. Isn’t that thoughtful?
We can also use a kitchen countertop or a table for support which is a bit more stable than a chair.
Jessica describes this short stretch as being suitable for after a workout, which it is. It is also good for waking up those muscles first thing in the morning, during the day and last thing at night.
For those of us who are a bit out of practise (!) the thigh stretch can be a bit of a challenge. Grabbing hold of the foot to begin the stretch can be difficult when the thigh muscle is very tight.
Just stand beside a chair. Keep holding onto the countertop for stability. Put the foot up onto the chair and this will make it possible to catch hold of the foot.
With lots of practise, daily practise, it will get easier as the muscle begins to release a bit more.
We do need to be able to turn around and check behind when reversing the car, don’t we? We do need to maintain our balance.
This begins to look possible, doesn’t it? Let’s get started!
Let’s Keep Moving
- As we walk down the corridor do a few modified lunges.
- Do a few squats while standing up from, or sitting down in a chair
- Turn off the sound on the television while the adverts are on and do a some high knee marching around the sofa.
- Put weighted cuffs on those ankles and do a few leg raises while watching the news, again!
- Keep a couple of hand weights beside the chair and do some bicep curls while checking the weather.
- How many more can we think of?
I’m not sure about trying this while on the phone. It might sound a bit strange.
Making our daily lives more active as time goes by is surely a good habit.
Leave a Reply