You Could Be Exercising for Free Without Going to a Gym

Who has time to exercise? The answer is, everyone. There are many, many times in the course of everyday life when you can choose to exercise. You just have to look for them, commit to them, and implement them

Start with the morning. What's the first thing you do when you wake up? Drag yourself out of bed? Stumble around grumbling? Try this instead. Stretch from head to toe. Reach your arms up above your head and stretch your whole body. Then alternate sides. Stretch down with your left foot a and up with your left arm. Then alternate to the right side. Do this ten times with your toes pointed down to stretch the tendons in the front of your hip joints and ten time with your toes flexed up to stretch your gluteus maximus and the backs of your thighs and calves. Toss off your covers and raise your knees to your chest and rock slowly back and forth ten times. Cross your ankles, grasp your feet and pull them toward you for a count of ten for a good stretch. Lift your feet up so that your toes are pointing toward the ceiling. Point and flex 10 times. Do 10 ankle rolls in one direction and ten in the other. Bring your knees in, roll to your side, sit up and put your feet on the floor. Rest your body over your thighs and your palms on the tops of your feet. Take 10 deep breaths. Slowly sit up, rolling your spine vertebra by vertebra. Stand and face the day. You will find yourself refreshed and alert and far more ready to face the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that make up most days at the office!

How many hands do you use to talk on the phone? One? None? Try putting a 3 pound weight in your empty hand(s). Do light weight reps while you talk. Be sure to keep your elbows close to your sides to support them to do biceps curls to the front and the sides. You can hold both weights in one hand and lean forward onto your knee to do concentrated, one-armed biceps curls. By lifting single weights, palms down in front of you, you can exercise your deltoids. Just lift the weight out in front of your with your arm straight. Lift it to shoulder level, then slowly bring it back down to your side. By raising one arm straight up with a single weight you can lower the weight to behind your head and exercise your triceps. Do 10 repetitions of each exercise, 3 sets of reps in rotation. In other words, biceps, deltoids, triceps, and then repeat 3 times. Don't kill yourself with it. Don't get out of breath. Just keep a few sets of light weights handy around the house, on your desk, in your car to take advantage of opportunities to do a little light weight work. With moderate practice, you should see results pretty quickly. Arms are easy to improve, so it is very satisfying to add just a little light weight work to your everyday routine.

When you park your car at work or to go shopping, where do you park? Do you go for your favorite parking space near the door no matter how many times you have to drive around until it is vacated? Don't do that! Instead, take advantage of the opportunity to get a little walk in. Park as far away from the door as possible, and walk briskly to your work or into the shopping mall or whatever. If you are running a series of errands in close proximity to each other, park your car centrally and walk to your various stops. Walk mindfully, with purpose, your head held high and your shoulders square. By walking briskly, you will burn more calories, get more exercise, and look and feel more cheerful.

Take advantage of your children and your pets! Do your children and your dog easily cost you as much as a gym membership would, if you could afford it? Then put them to work for you! Spend quality time with your children and your dog by taking them for walks, playing games with them, and generally utilizing the many opportunities they give you to stay active. You will enjoy the benefits of the exercise and the side effect of an improved relationship and better communication with the ones you love. If you have a baby, you have a real bonus in that you can add intensity to your workout by carrying the baby in a front or back harness to add the benefits of weight bearing to your exercise routine! When your baby is big enough, get a running stroller and use it as exercise equipment! You can, of course, run with it. You can also use it (with brakes locked) as support while you do standing exercises.

Sit on an exercise ball at your desk. By sitting on an exercise ball, you keep yourself in constant motion adjusting and balancing. This gives you the same sort of benefits as Pilates without taking extra time out of your schedule to practice. By sitting on an exercise ball for an hour or so out of each workday, you can exercise your abs, back, hips, thighs and legs. You can also lie back across the ball and get a great, rejuvenating stretch. If you use an exercise ball as your desk chair, be sure to invest in a burst resistant ball, in case of thumb tacks! Also, be sure to keep it a bit under inflated so that it will be easier to stay on it. If it is too well inflated, it will be too hard and uncomfortable to use for long, and you will be constantly struggling (rather than gently adjusting) to stay on it. You may not want to use an exercise ball as your desk chair all the time. I don't. I alternate with a desk chair and a rocking chair as comfort dictates.

Choose to do things the hard way whenever you can. Do your yard work, housework, and so forth with as little mechanical assistance as possible. Really work, move, and stretch. We live in a very sedentary society. It takes mindful effort to recognize and challenge our sedentary habits. As you look for ways to be more active each day, you will find your mind working differently, your thoughts turning toward opportunities, your viewpoint of challenge more optimistic. You will find that, over time, the more you do, the stronger and more capable you will feel and the more you will enjoy the tasks of every day.