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A few weeks ago, my sister said, “How about a blog post, eh?” (hint hint nudge nudge, even though I could say the same to her – ahem!) So, here you go, Abby! Lazy girl fitness 101.
Last blog post I told you to quit your gym. I told you that for the majority of people, traditional gyms end up taking more money than fat off your body, without as much to show from it. Lighter wallets do not a lighter body make.
I am 100% willing to admit I am one of the most lazy people when it comes to working out. If its over 30 minutes, forget it. Even when its less than 30 minutes if it doesn’t move at a pace that feels short, I won’t repeat it. I am all for quick and dirty training – hit hard for 10 minutes and feel content, lazy fitness, as it were. Which, as overweight me for a decade can attest, doesn’t work to help you lose weight when you don’t change your diet as well.
I also have a 1-year old**. When I am not at work, my few hours at home a day are precious and fully hers.
With laziness and a baby, I needed to figure out what worked for me. 5-6 workouts a week, even at 30 minutes, was too daunting in my mind.
Here’s what I do:
- 1-2 times a week: walk with my girl! We have a perfect walking neighborhood with great sidewalks, an awesomely long, muscle building hill, and a park with swings about 1.2 miles away from our house. Round trip, its about an hour (with swing time) and almost 2.5 miles of walking (and picking up shoes that get thrown out of the stroller by someone).
- Office exercises: I’ve done a whole post on Workouts While You Work, so go check it out! But the gist is…I fit in what I can, where I can, without embarrassing myself.
- Morning quickies (get your minds out of the gutter): My husband and I trade days of “sleeping in” (aka the 30-45 min between her wakeup and the very last second we can roll out of bed and be a functioning adult by the time we need to walk out the door to work) and so on the days that I get up with her, while she plays, I work out! Sometimes I will do a tape or a full routine, but other times, I grab my 7lb free weights or the kettlebell and do an arm workout or I’ll run through a few yoga sequences or even just make up a quick circuit and do it 3-5 times. It ups my cardio, works up a bit of a sweat, wakes me up, and makes me feel accomplished before we’ve even had breakfast.
5 Muscle Building Exercises That Can Be Done Anywhere
As I have said before, I am a big fan of quick and easy exercise. I want the least pain with the most gain, and I want to do it without interrupting my entire day (cough cough – lazy fitness).
So, I’ve found myself some hacks that I can do just about anywhere. And by anywhere, I mean anywhere. I do these while I cook, while I wait in line, when I go into the restroom at work, when I have a few quick minutes at home…anywhere. By having quick and easy exercises, I feel like I am staying more active throughout the day and feeling better about myself as well.
- Pushups – do these against a wall in the bathroom or in your office, or drop and do 30 when you get up, and 30 before bed. I have almost no upper body strength, so most of my (ok, all of my) pushups are on my knees, but I’m getting there!
- Planks – this is more of an at home exercise, but planks work your entire body, all your muscles are engaged and going strong when you do it! Try for 30 second planks, twice a day. Add in side planks too! I REALLY struggle with side planks and shoulder pain, so if you’re hurting, consult a dr and find YouTube videos on the RIGHT way to side plank. My gym owner helped me to figure out my positioning better – if I slide my elbow a bit differently and shift my hips, its much less difficult.
- Squats – I don’t care if you do regular squats, sumo squats, or a wall sit, this exercise is fantastic. Tip: bathroom stalls are big enough to do a squat in. Every time you go, do 25 squats. It gets a good burn on your legs, and you’re in private! Plus, if you’re drinking all the water you should be drinking every day (half your weight, in ounces) you’ll get quite a few in!
- Lunges – I do lunges when I get off the couch while watching TV to go get a drink. I’ll stand up, and do walking lunges over to the kitchen, usually about 5 lunges) then do it back.
- Calf lifts and raises – I literally do these all-day long. My muscular obsession is having great calves. Since I have a sit/stand desk, I can do this more, but you can do a calf exercise while sitting! To work all parts of your calves, do both the heel raises onto your toes, but also lifting your toes without rocking back and forth. I also do this while I am waiting in line, filling up my water bottle, waiting for coffee to brew, waiting at the copier, cooking dinner, writing on a whiteboard, literally everywhere! Bonus, I only occasionally feel weird if someone walks by and sees!
Obviously, doing the above is NOT what caused me to ultimately lose 50 pounds. That was 100% food based. The choices I made based on what I consumed is what got me to that ultimate goal. BUT, since during that program, I wasn’t supposed to do more than walk 30 minutes each day, these little muscle builders helped me to feel better, without spending insane energy with a different diet. A second win was that since I have embarrassingly low muscle mass, this helped me to not drop even more! (Because when you lose weight it isn’t always just muscle, gah!)
The moral of the story here:
Do what works for you. Remember that weight loss is 80% what you eat and 20% how you move your body. Remember: you need to consult a doctor and figure out what regimen is best for you since I do NOT have a medical degree (nor do you want me to – this post is about lazy fitness, do you really want laziness to be the trait of your doctor!?). You should also do your research if you are trying to gain weight vs lose weight and/or gain muscle vs maintain muscle, because those are very different focuses (in terms of protein/carb/fat consumption). I do have some basic graphs of that on my Pinterest page that can be helpful reminders, but don’t start a lifestyle change of eating or working out without getting approved by a doctor! HAVE I SAID THAT ENOUGH?
Get out there and move your body, however you can, whenever you can, and make yourself feel good!
**Sam note: I wrote this before I started working out consistently, and I’m choosing not to edit it (see: monster child’s age is almost 2 years off from what it is now) because I think it’s important to remember that you can choose to find ways to stay fit without a dedicated gym time. I am, however, significantly more successful in building muscle now that I have a consistent exercise routine. Also, since I am pregnant, a lot of this still works for me, and carrying another human 24/7 gives me the ultimate excuse for lazy fitness. Since I am doing less in terms of HIIT workouts, I am doing more random muscle things like the above.
