9 Simple Fitness Tips
Beyond ensuring that you’ve improved your focus, have done the advanced work, overcome your self-doubt, defined what success looks like, and faced your fears, another key component to becoming built unstoppable is your health. One of the key reasons I was able to recover so quickly from my injuries was my focus on my overall health.
It’s really hard to stay motivated to go to a gym consistently. Some people are intimidated by working out around others. Some have no clue what they’re doing and are embarrassed or worried they’re going to injure themselves. Others are confused because there’s always a new workout on the cover of Men’s Health or Cosmopolitan. And well, then there’s always the bunch that supposedly don’t have time to workout but never miss an episode of American Idol.
Working out doesn’t have to be that difficult. First of all, if you’re intimidated, embarrassed or concerned, try hiring a trainer, even if it’s just for a single hour. I promise, it will be helpful. Even though I workout 5-6 times per week, I still try to add in other ways to stay healthy and get in a little extra workout whenever possible. It helps to keep me focused and as long as it doesn’t interrupt the rest of my life, why not?
So, today I have 9 tips for you that are simple, fast, and won’t take longer than a few minutes extra each day, if even that long.
9 Simple Fitness Tips
Start early. My mornings always start with a workout. By working out first thing in the morning, it helps you to feel accomplished the rest of the day and doesn’t provide you with an excuse for later in the day. The only time that I didn’t workout early was when I was training for the Spartan World Championship in 2017 and needed to go for long runs. Since these runs would take 2-3 hours, I would usually do them later in the day on Friday. Otherwise, immediately when I wake up.
Unless you work on the 103rd floor, consider taking the stairs. Just by taking the stairs to even the 2nd floor of your office building you can add hundreds of additional steps per day. Now, add in the additional steps going between floors for meetings and your total steps increase exponentially over time. Another benefit? It’s usually faster than the elevator, doesn’t make me tired, but does keep me active.
Unless you’re going to a professional sports game where the parking lots are miles long, park a ways away from the front door. I will usually park near the end of aisles when running errands or shopping. When heading into my office, I will usually park on an upper floor of the parking garage giving me an another opportunity to gain additional steps.
Track your steps. Whether you wear an Apple Watch, Android watch, Garmin, or another type pedometer, you’ll be able to see where you are throughout the day. As an iOS user, the Apple Watch sums up my weekly total as well so that I can see where I am and figure out how I can improve for the upcoming week.
Invest in a standup desk. We spend the majority of our lives sitting whether it’s at home on the couch, eating dinner, driving in our car, or sitting at work. This takes a serious toll throughout all aspects all our body including neck pain, shoulder and back stiffness, blood flow, proper body positioning, and more. One of the easiest ways to solve this is to invest in a stand up desk or utilize items at your disposal to create one. I highly recommend purchasing Deskbound by Kelly Starrett.
Buy a bluetooth headset for your office. If you’re usually stuck at your desk all day long on conference calls, buy a bluetooth headset for your office phone. Then, take your calls from the headset and walk around your office if you don’t need to be behind a computer screen. If you’re going to try this, make sure you get a Plantronics set. They’re the best, bottom line. Depending on your company, they may even supply these for you.
Pick up workout bands. You can hide these easily in a desk drawer or carry them in your bag when you’re traveling. These little bands will allow you to get in a decently intense workout when you can’t make it to the gym. Even if you do make it to the gym regularly, you should add these into your workout. Go one step further and pick up a TRX system. These can be attached to an anchor point at home or simply over a door or other stable location.
Go for a walk around the building at lunch. Take 10 minutes at lunch time and take a walk around your building. Just this little additional exercise will help to energize for the long afternoon ahead and will add a couple more thousand steps into your daily routine.
Do a set of pushups or sit-ups. It’s mid-day and you’re tired. You’ve been staring at your screen for what feels like 60 hours and it’s not even lunch time yet. Hop out of your chair, pop down and knock out a set of pushups. Nothing crazy so you don’t mess up your office attire, just 10-25. Even if you did 25 pushups only 3 times per week, it would add up 300 extra pushups per month.
As you can see, none of these suggestions are particularly hard, take up a lot of time, and all are meant to give you an extra burst of energy. Whether you workout constantly or don’t even know what the word “gym” really means, adding any one of these tips into your daily routine will help you out.
What easy things do you do to try to keep in shape, stay healthy, and stay energized?