Do you have questions related to starting, increasing or maintaining your current level of exercise? Be sure to ask your doctor during your next visit!
Just a little bit of exercise every day can help improve your health. With some creative thinking, it's easy to get a workout in—even without expensive gym memberships or home fitness equipment.
Here are some fun ways to move more, all from the comfort of your own home.
Start with the basics. Some good shoes and a bottle of water are just about all you need for some basic home exercise routines. Consider adding some hand weights or a yoga mat to round out your routines. If you want ideas for how to build a fitness program, there are home fitness apps and online trainers available to help you start and stay on track.
Make good use of spare minutes. Watching your favorite TV show? Instead of grabbing a snack during commercial breaks, grab that yoga mat and do some sit-ups. Talking to a friend on the phone? Walk around your home while chatting.
Dance the night away. Play some upbeat music and practice your dance moves. Any aerobic activity, like dancing, will raise your heart rate; help strengthen your heart and lungs; and reduce your risk of serious health problems, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes. Not into dancing? Try marching in place.
Harness the strength of your own body. You don't need any special equipment to make your body strong. You can practice what's called body-weight training. Staples of body-weight training include push-ups, squats and lunges. There are plenty of online resources to help you design a routine that works for you while targeting different parts of your body.
Head to the great outdoors. Walking is one of the easiest forms of exercise. Remember those hand weights mentioned earlier? Use them to pump your arms up and down as you walk around the block. If you have a backyard and space to spare, plant a garden. Digging in the dirt counts as exercise. So does pushing a lawn mower. (Riding one doesn't count.)
Once you get into the groove of exercising at home, you'll find more ways to work fitness into your everyday life.
Sources: American Council on Exercise; American Heart Association
Watson Clinic's team of Family Medicine and Internal Medicine providers can help you formulate an exercise plan that works best for you. Call 863-680-7190 to schedule an appointment.