Sneaky Fitness: Effortless Ways to Squeeze Exercise into Your Everyday

We all know there are many, many ways to add exercise to your daily schedule. 

With many mentioned online, let’s see how many I can think of from memory (but I’ll add the links just in case the ideas are new to you.)

Exercise while brushing your teeth 

1.      Kegel exercises – great for both men and women. First, identify where your pelvic floor muscles are by stopping urination mid-stream – these are the muscles used during Kegel exercise. 

While you’re brushing your teeth, tighten those muscles, hold for at least 3 seconds, and release for three seconds.  Do as many as you can.

2.      Wall Sit – this exercise strengthens your glutes, upper leg muscles, and core.  It’s a powerhouse of an exercise you can do during your AM or PM teeth brushing. 

Not sure how to do a wall squat? Here you go.

3.      Lunges, squats, sumo squats – fabulous for your legs, thighs, butt, pretty much everything.

A few exercises while on your computer or watching TV.

1-     A Standing Desk – Standing instead of sitting.  What could be easier?

2-     There are tons of little movements while watching a program or getting work done on the computer.  Things like marching in place, arm circles, stomach crunches.  Or you could save these movements for commercial breaks. 

How about a few exercises while on your mobile?  

Use all of those countless hours while we’re texting, talking, and gaming.  Here’s some ideas to mix movement with mobile:

1-     Stand up and pace.  A crazy-easy way to add to your daily step count.

2-     Scroll and exercise goals.  You can do both.  Maybe even from bed!     

3-     And my all-time favorite 5-minute arm exercise.  It’s a quick killer exercise that will have your arms looking great (well, maybe just better) in just a few minutes a day.  After a few sessions, it will be easy to turn the volume down and listen to music on your phone while you work through the exercises.  You’ll thank me for this one!

 I think you get the point here.

With just a little consciousness, you can easily make your downtime more physically productive.  It’s just a matter of fitting in a few movement moments while doing what you already do throughout your day.      

Easy, right?  A no-brainer, right?  Well,

it might not be as easy as you think.

Of course, you’ll start adding a few lunges and Kegels to your daily routine. 

It might even last a few weeks.  But little by little, if you’re anything like us, you’ll forget to add those squats while on your phone, or those Kegels while brushing your teeth. 

So maybe the bigger question is not how to sneak exercise into your daily schedule.  The more important question is how do you maintain and build habits with these exercises? 

We’ve talked about habit formation before.  But it bears repeating.  Because one of the hardest things we do is break a bad habit or form a new one.

Using The New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits, by James Clear, I will list The Four Laws of Behavior Change according to the author. 

By the way, have you read Atomic Habits?  If not, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.  If adding new and improved habits is important while discarding ones that no longer serve you, then this is the book for you. 

Let's look at the four laws to change our behavior. 

1.       MAKE IT OBVIOUS –

Identify a current habit you already do consistently (like brushing your teeth or washing dishes)

Decide when and where you will perform the new habit (for instance:  “while I’m brushing my teeth in the morning and every night” or “while I’m washing dishes after dinner.”)

Create an obvious visual cue or reminder, like placing a sticky note on the bathroom mirror.

2.        MAKE IT ATTRACTIVE

Find ways to make the new habit enjoyable, rewarding, or pleasurable.  For example, listen to your favorite music while doing squats or marching in place. 

Visualize the positive feelings and benefits you’ll experience from consistently preforming the new habit. 

3.      MAKE IT EASY

Start incredibility small.  This bit is extremely important.  I mentioned it in last week’s blog, “Couch to Confident” But it’s such a big deal, that I thought it wise to mention it again. 

As “overachievers” we tend to have a mindset of “all or nothing.”  For habit formation that attitude is a wrong indication.  It’s all about tiny steps.  Baby steps.  James Clear says even 10-20 seconds of squats or marching is enough to begin. 

Reduce friction – don’t put anything between you and the new habit.  For instance, we put our toothbrush close to the sink and our dishwashing pellets near the dishwasher to reduce friction. 

The same goes for our new exercise.  If you need any equipment, a timer, whatever, put it close to the activity. 

4.       Make it Satisfying

Celebrate small wins and track your progress, even if it’s just a simple tally mark.  I favor stickers.

Set a reminder to review your habit tracker regularly to stay motivated.

Consider giving yourself a small reward after completing the habit, like a short break or a small treat. 

So there you have it. According to James Clear, you want to make new habit formation, Obvious, Attractive, Easy and Satisfying. 

I think I’d add one additional bullet point – do it with a friend!  There’s nothing like a gal pal to make everything more fun.    

Tell us how you get along in the comments.  And Good Luck!