With Christmas just around the corner, many of us are wondering how we'll ever have enough time to fit the gym into our busy schedules! I certainly am concerned about how I'll get my minimum 30 minutes of physical activity per day when I go home and am tempted by gingersnaps, shopping for gifts, and catching up with friends over coffee. Because many of us tend to indulge over the holidays, it is important to keep your fitness up as much as possible. Don't worry if you're too busy to go to the gym, there are many ways to give your body the activity it needs and still get everything done in time for the holidays!
- When going shopping, you can park far from the mall or store entrance.
- If you take the bus, get off 1-2 stops earlier.
- When inside a mall, use the stairs instead of the elevators or escalators.
- If possible, carry your purchases instead of using a shopping cart.
- If preparing for house guests or cleaning after they leave, you can get a great work-out from vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing, and making multiple trips up and down the stairs to put away laundry, set up holiday decorations..etc.
The key idea behind using these activities as physical activity is to walk/clean/scrub/mop/move at a faster pace than normal to get your heart rate up, and have it stay up for
at least 10 minutes. You should be a little out of breath and feel your heart beating faster. You should be able to speak in short sentences, but not be able to beautifully sing your favorite holiday songs! This way you can make your list and check it twice, while using your daily activities to help protect your heart and maybe even help you get things done a bit sooner!
Information Source:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_106048.html
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