One major obstacle people often mention regarding daily exercise is the perceived lack of time. The common belief is that they simply don’t have the time to incorporate exercise into their day. When the word exercise is heard, most people tend to think in terms of an hour-long session OR longer. This just doesn’t have to be the case.
Let’s look at several simple Visibly Fit™ workouts that you can do throughout your day!
These can be done at any time whether you’re waiting for the kettle to whistle with your hot water, or sitting at your desk doing daily work. Let’s take a look…
Literally, anywhere you are, including your car, you can do a neck roll.
Slowly drop and then roll your head to the right and then back to the left. Continue until you have completed 10 reps side to side.
When you’ve found yourself at the desk too long, take a couple of minutes to do the a bicep flex and press.
Stand with your feet at shoulder-width apart and arms extended horizontally (if at your desk, sit straight with your feet flat on the floor, knees at 90 degrees). Extend arms vertically with great tension. Return back to starting position under great tension. Continue until you have completed 10 reps.
Calf raises are next. It’s important to stand up and move at least once every hour, technically every half hour would benefit you best. You can easily do this one while you are at the sink in the bathroom taking a breather, or in the kitchen getting a (healthy and plant-based) snack!
Stand with feet side by side. Have the balls of your feet either on a stair, a thick book, or even a piece of wood. Lower your heels and slowly raise up on your toes as high as possible with great tension. Lock your calves for just a moment at maximum tension, then slowly reverse direction and continue for 10 reps. Once you become adept at this exercise you can try doing it one leg at a time.
Get your back…back! The tension held in our back can really do a number if we don’t tend to it.
Grasp your hands behind your back (palms up). Push your shoulders downward and backward and bend your head and back as far back as you can while powerfully tensing all of the muscles of both your back and neck. Hold peak contraction for a slow count of 10. 3 to 5 repetitions.
Here’s one that you can do while seated. This one is great for the lats, abs, and forearms.
While seated, raise up on your toes and place your hands around the fronts of your knees. With your fingers pointed inward and curling around your knees, pull straight back as forcefully as possible while simultaneously trying to lower your heels to the floor. Hold peak isometric contractions for 10 seconds.
BONUS: Another exercise that will get you standing again is the leg biceps contraction.
While standing on your left leg, slowly bend your right leg at the knee and raise your right heel as close as possible to your right buttocks. Contract powerfully for a count of “one thousand one, one thousand two.” Then straighten out your leg until you are standing on both feet again. Continue 3 to 5 high tension repetitions and do an Isometric Contraction on the last repetition only. Switch legs and continue.
If you want more ideas for day to day exercises download my Visibly Fit app from the app store – I have instructional videos there with even more to come in the near future.
