Exercise and motivation for it has always been a struggle for me. I became a personal trainer four years ago in the hope that having clients to train would keep my own big (and beautiful) ass moving. I laugh when I think now about how wrong I was!
The motivation for movement at the time wasn’t coming from the inside. It was an external thing- I want to be healthy so I should exercise. I should exercise to be fit and a good example for my training clients. And on and on with the shoulda-woulda-coulda.
What I find to be an excellent exercise (pun intended!) in keeping myself motivated is checking in with myself daily to see what I want to do. Some days I feel like I could run a marathon (even though I don’t run) and others I feel like some stretching and housework is all I’ve got in me. Try it yourself!
Once you have the internal motivation for movement, or even if you’re not sure yet, here are some ideas to keep you moving. I’ve indicated my personal favs with bold font.
- Walk around the block
- Go up and down your stairs a few times
- Set a 60 minute timer and get up from your desk for 10 minutes of movement
- Stretch your whole body, really slow
- 20 squats (over a chair or a low as you can go, baby!)
- Catch a yoga class
- Take a 20 minute bike ride with the kids
- Grab a friend for a walking coffee date
- Pilates 100 – 1 set
- 1 minute of jumping jacks
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator
- 30 second plank
- Go for a hike in a local wooded area
- Go Geocaching (aka Treasure Hunting)
- Put on your favourite jam and dance like the wonderful freak you are
- Download the Seven App and do a quick workout (you have 7 minutes!!)
- Sexy time (aka the No Pants Dance)
- Clean the house with vigor
- Mow the lawn
- Shovel the snow
- Rake some leaves
- Garden for an hour
- Start a (free) 30 Day Yoga Challenge
- Walk to work
- 2 minutes of walking lunges
- Calf raises wile you stir the dinner pot
- Try a 10 minute Tummy Tamer workout
- 15 Minute T-Tapp workout
- Go for a run
- Job in place during TV commercials
- A few push-ups (on knees or toes)
- Go to a fitness class
- Join a gym (and actually go!)
- 1 minute wall sit
- 10 minute HIIT workout
- Youtube search “exercise for women”, choose and video and DO IT
- Park as far away in the parking lot as possible, and walk
- Play a few games of bowling
- Join a local sports league
- Walk 1 minute, job 1 minute; repeat 10x
- Jump rope
- Sign up for a local 5K walk/run and train for it
- Go for a swim (water is so healing!)
- Go ice skating
- Walk the dog a little extra
- A few Sun Salutations
- Jump on a Rebounder or trampoline
- Try a pole dancing class and get your sexy on
- Go skiing
- Play some ping-pong
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