Though to really get the most benefits out of exercise, you need to get the muscles working vigorously in order to send blood pumping through your cardiovascular system. The recommended amount of physical exercise that can get that heart rate up is 150 minutes per week of moderate aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of more grueling, intense exercise. While this should be our goal, it is sometimes not possible for one reason or another. Therefore, here are some easy ways to exercise at home without an actual workout that does help the cause though not replace it.
Cleaning is so tedious, but a necessary evil that we are stuck with. What I like to do is to turn on some music and clean to an energetic beat while sweeping, moping, scouring the bathroom, etc. In fact, try something like the bend and dust while adding a squat while tending to that boring, routine chore. Rotate arms when cleaning the tub or grout in the shower can use different muscles so each arm benefits instead of one while robustly working the arm.
Doing laundry can involve more physical activity than we give that task credit for. After all, we are bending, lifting, folding, hanging, and often running up stairs if our laundry rooms aren’t on the same floor. Think how many times you may run and up and down the stairs or even the next room before finishing the number of loads you do in a day.
Gardening to cutting the grass is another of these easy ways to exercise at home to strengthen muscles. Digging to plant or maintain a vegetable or a flower garden has us bending and stooping, working our body’s core and lower back. Pushing a lawn mower also consists of a workout built in from the amount of time you may be walking while propelling that mower forward. You also have to clean up, emptying the bag, trim work, etc.
Grocery shopping can serve to double as a workout substitute. Instead of driving around trying to park closer to the store’s entrance, you can do yourself a favor by parking further away. This way guarantees that you will be forced to walk further. You also save money with the high price of gasoline needlessly trying to find a parking space.
What else helps when grocery shopping is not relying on the shopping cart, but a shopping basket that you can tote around instead of just pushing the load of food like most of us do. Compare a filled shopping basket to carrying weights as you walk around the store and then later to your car. You’ll be working more muscle groups in your arms and legs to get more benefits than taking the easy route of just pushing your shopping cart around the store.
Car washes are convenient, but washing your own car can give you a workout. Think how many times you bend in different positions and how strenuously you scrub as you wash, suds and dry the car during the process.
