Last year I wrote a blog post called Better Health for More Wealth, where I discussed the benefits of how being healthy can help you function better and in turn allow you to be more productive and drive your business forward.
In that post I discussed the importance of eating well, sleeping well, stress relief and moving more, so I thought I would follow on from that with some more actionable suggestions that you can implement right now focussing on the moving more element.
The other factors are important however I hear all the time how people feel they don’t have time to “exercise” and how they know their lack of movement is having a detrimental effect on their health, bad posture, back and neck pain, aching joints etc.
My first point is that I want you to forget the term exercise, I would like you to think of it as movement.
When we say exercise, many people have an immediate negative thought process, mainly because they visualise what most people see the gym! I’ve worked in the fitness industry for 18 years and most people I’ve worked with don’t like the gym, and I can understand why, artificial lights, air con, sweaty grunting people, the thought of being judged and just boredom.
So, if this is you I want you to try and introduce something I like to call movement snacks, small but purposeful movement throughout the day can all add up. I use this method with many of my clients who struggle to find time to fit in and “Exercise” window and for those who just don’t enjoy it.
So how to start.
Firstly, you need to find all the small available windows of opportunity, and ideally factor in a few minutes every hour where you move. It can be as simple as setting a timer on your phone or laptop to remind you to move, and this could mean simply getting up out of your chair, circling your head, shoulders and reaching for your toes. Perhaps you have the space to do a few press ups or squats get the circulation moving.
A great way to increase movement is that doesn’t take any extra time out of your day is to always stand or ideally walk while taking a phone call, also find the dead time slots, like waiting for a zoom meeting to start or standing waiting for the kettle to boil.
The obvious one is to always take stairs while out and about, but if you work from home, stairs can be a great tool to use for fast step ups or if you’re going upstairs why not take the extra 10 secs to go up and down twice.
Its also a great idea to have a few simple pieces of fitness equipment to hand, a kettle bell in the kitchen to swing a few times each time you walk in, a resistance band in the desk draw to use while you read your emails, or a doorway pull up bar.
If you can do just a little movement more often you’ll be surprised how much you’ll have added up by the end of the day without having to make time for a workout. It will help keep you mobile but can build strength physically and mentally helping you stay focused on the task at hand for you work.
Make it a habit and move more
