How to squeeze in a workout four minutes at a time
Jodi Davis
| 3 min read
Committing to living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean you have to live a perfect lifestyle; it simply means that you are making a conscious effort to focus on better health. One of the ways that many people focus on improving their lifestyle is to exercise more. This is often easier said than done because as much as a person intends to do it, we usually don’t because we say we lack the time.
Since we can’t add hours to the day, we can squeeze in minutes of exercise within our demanding schedule instead.
Can you dedicate a few minutes of your time to a simple and fun form of exercise that will allow you to ‘work out’ with very little effort? Can you spare four minutes at a time, five times a day? Great!
You’re going to take more steps. That’s it. No expensive workout equipment is needed, just a simple pair of comfortable walking shoes and an affordable pedometer, so you can work out during business hours. Keep in mind that each 4-minute duration of walking equals about 536 steps (1 minute of walking equals approximately 134 steps.)
Suggestions on how to squeeze in 4-minute durations of steps at work:
- Park in the ‘far back portion’ of the parking lot and use the farthest entrance into your workplace from your parking spot and walk through the building to your work area
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator, both up and down
- Use the restroom, copy machine or break room that is the farthest from your work area
- Walk to a coworker’s office or desk to give a message instead of using any phone or email
- When coworkers need to talk – which includes a scheduled meeting – make it a walking meeting
- Form a workplace walking group and meet to walk together during a break, or receive the entire 20 minutes of step time and walk with a group at lunch
Since you are a busy business professional, let the pedometer count for you instead of watching the clock when you walk. It has been said that many of us think we are more active and walk farther or longer than we actually do in any given day. Pedometers can give you a more accurate number of how many steps you are actually taking. Spending much of the work day behind a desk, in front of a computer, or otherwise sitting, it is often shocking to find out how few steps you may take in a typical day. Experts actually recommend that you take 10,000 steps per day.
There are 1,440 minutes a day, so I have faith that you will squeeze in these walking periods totaling 20 minutes so you can say with confidence, “I’m living healthier!” Just a little effort everyday can help you feel much better about your health!
Photo credit: SPmemory
