We all know exercise is important for a healthy lifestyle. It can help reduce your risk of serious illnesses like stroke, cancer and coronary heart disease, as well as all the benefits it brings for our mental health and wellbeing.
But not all of us love long sessions in the gym, or clocking up miles running. Sound familiar? You are not alone! Plenty of people feel less than enthusiastic about exercise. So we have put together a little list of exercises for people who hate working out! (Which if we are really honest, is probably all of us).
Take the stairs
Adding more movement to your everyday life is a great way to increase your activity levels. Simply moving more throughout the day will benefit your overall health and fitness. So by just swapping the lift for taking the stairs you will be increasing your step count, elevating your heartrate a little and engaging your leg muscles. Plus, you will be avoiding that awkward lift small talk we all hate!
Set yourself a daily steps target
It is recommended that we should all be aiming for between 6,000 and 10,000 steps a day. Walking is often overlooked as a type of exercise, but it is actually one of the best workouts we can do – it is free, easy to do and can be easily incorporated into your everyday routine. Even just 10 minutes of brisk walking can bring loads of great health benefits like building up your stamina and helping keep your heart healthy. Plus it is a great way to get out into nature and enjoy all the benefits spending time in the great outdoors brings!
Setting yourself a daily steps target can be a great way to motivate you to walk more, and you don’t even need to buy any fancy kit! Most of our phones have step monitors built into them now, and they are pretty standard in many smart watches too.
It can also be fun to get your friends and family involved – setting yourselves a step target which you are all aiming for can create a bit of healthy competition which can help you all stay motivated.
Some easy ways to add more steps to your day can be going for a lunch break walk, taking phone calls standing up, taking the stairs instead of the lift, or walking to the shops instead of hopping in the car.
Cleaning counts!
Similar to walking, not many of us realise that cleaning can actually be a pretty hefty workout! Lugging furniture out the way to reach hidden dusty corners, carrying the hoover up the stairs, reaching and stretching as you clean the windows, scrubbing floors and surfaces – we can often work up a bit of sweat while cleaning! It even burns a surprising amount of calories!
Have a boogie
Exercise doesn’t have to be miserable. The best type of workout is one which you actually enjoy and look forward to. And it doesn’t get much more fun than having a good old boogie!
There is a reason why Zumba is so loved – it’s fun, but it is also a great workout. Zumba can improve your cardiovascular fitness, it is a whole body workout and it can help lower your blood pressure.
If Zumba is not your thing, there are loads of other dance exercise classes out there! And many of them are in local town halls or churches meaning you won’t have to step foot in a gym!
Join a team
Joining a sports team can be another great way to make working out fun. And you don’t have to be a pro to get involved in a sports team, there are loads of teams out there which are for people just wanting to have a bit of fun. From casual five-a-side footie teams, to netball, cricket, touch rugby, the list goes on!
There are a whole host of benefits of joining a team – not only will you be getting all the health advantages of exercise, you will also gain some other great bonuses, like teamwork skills and a sense of community. So why not give it a go!
