Exercise Tips for a Busy Lifestyle

Do you exercise only if you have some spare time during the day? With our busy lifestyles, this probably means you may not exercise very often. Many people don’t know where to begin. Check out the tips below to help you get moving more!

• Choose set days when you will exercise (for example Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays) and stick to them. If you miss a day, make it up the next day.

• If outside exercise is your preference, have a back-up plan for days when the weather is an issue. Your back-up plan could be walking in a large store or mall or walking-in-place in front of the TV.

• Keep exercise clothes and sneakers in your car so you can stop at the gym, walking trail or the mall (to walk) before going home.

• Exercise with a friend. Chatting while you exercise makes time pass quicker.

• Keep light weights, water bottles or soup cans by your favorite chair. When an advertisement comes on TV, do some arm exercises with these items until the ad is over.

• Wear a pedometer each day to see how many steps you take. Try to increase this number until you are walking more than 10,000 steps a day.

• Ideas for simple exercises are: dancing around the house, jump roping, active house cleaning or using an exercise DVD or an exercise program On-Demand. Check out this “chair exercise” program.

You may not realize how the tasks you’re currently doing are helping to burn calories too! Did you know?:

-10 minutes of fast walking burns 46 calories

-60 minutes of light housework burns 150 calories

-60 minutes of dancing burns 266 calories

-30 minutes of sledding burns 207 calories

Exercise lowers blood sugar, blood pressure, weight and makes you feel better. It is less expensive than any medicine and just as, or even more effective.

For more information on exercising, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website on physical activity.