How to fit exercise into your daily routine

One of the things I often hear is that unless you go to the gym or a fixed exercise class, you can’t get fit and tone up.  Before I opened The Finchley Weight Loss Centre, I used to go to people’s houses, or train them in their local park.  I used to take limited equipment with me, as I didn’t want to move around with a huge and heavy suitcase (some of my clients lived on the 2nd floor or higher with no elevator).  They were always surprised at the intensity of the workout they got with little to no equipment.  Using your creativity is important to visualise exercises using whatever the person has at home and combining that with body weight exercises.

Yes, your own body is one of the best exercise equipment you can have!  So that leaves us with no excuses not to exercise!

And when it comes to the no time excuse, there is so much you can do while doing other stuff in the house.

Here are some examples and ideas:

• While brushing your teeth, stand in the morning on one leg, and in the evening on the other one
• While boiling the kettle, do some squats
• While waiting for the soup to boil, or the microwave to ping, do some press ups against the work top
• When walking from one room to another, do some walking lunges
• An obvious one is take the stairs instead of the elevator, but to get some good cardio in, run the stairs up and down 5 times.  Believe me, it doesn’t take very long and will push your heart rate right up
• Every time you get up from a chair or the sofa, make sure not to use your hands
• When going for a small food shopping trip, walk to the shop and carry the bags back doing some biceps curls
• Before getting up in the morning, or before going to sleep, do some hamstring and glutes stretches in bed
• You can also do some abdominal work in bed or whenever you remember while standing or sitting, just pull your tummy in, and try and keep it in while performing whatever task you’re performing. The more you do it, the more permanent it becomes
• When standing in the doorway, use the wall to stretch the chest and pectorals. Place your hands at different heights to feel the stretch in different places

And obviously there are many more exercises you can do while lying on the floor, kneeling, or just standing.  But these examples are just a few exercises you can do without having to take time out to do them.  Don’t forget to stretch the muscle that has worked, as you don’t want to be stiff the next day…

Do those regularly and you will see results.  Let me know how it goes!

Anne Iarchy is the Barnet Personal Trainer, Weight Loss Expert and Founder of The Finchley Weight Loss Centre visit her website AI Fitness