Muscle Sport Magazine

5 Ways to Weave Fitness into Your Day

By A.J. Agrawal – Fitness can improve concentration and focus. A study reported on by USA Today proved that students can up their grades through regular fitness. The problem is so many entrepreneurs struggle to fit it into their day. It’s common to start off with good intentions, where you diligently attend the gym every day. Unfortunately, things soon start to go wrong and you miss one session here or there. Before you know it, that New Year’s resolution has fallen by the wayside.

 

So how can you change your habits and make sure fitness becomes a part of your day?

 

Turn Your Commute into Productive Time

 

The daily commute is often seen as wasted time. Instead of sitting on a bus or sitting in traffic, change the way you get to work. This is the ideal time for physical activity because it’s the one part of your day you absolutely can’t avoid no matter how hard you try.

 

Consider riding your bike to work, or getting off the bus a few stops early and walking the rest of the way. Bringing exercise into the daily commute is as easy as leaving the house and enjoying a leisurely stroll.

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Spend Your Lunch Hour in the Park

 

The park bench is the hidden fitness tool that you have never considered before. You can do everything from bench push-ups to jumping squats using it. Anything that gets your heart rate up counts as a type of fitness and will help with muscle toning.
Even if you decide against turning your lunch hour into an impromptu aerobics class, the walk to the park bench a few blocks away still counts as exercise.

 

You can even perform exercises in your office chair. As long as you have something sturdy to hold on too, not even bad weather is an excuse for not taking on proper exercise.

 

What about Fitness and Meetings?

 

Most meetings tend to be held in a conference room or over lunch. Talking business doesn’t have to be done in such a formal capacity, though. Consider taking in some sort of fitness activity. You can still talk business and instill good habits at the same time.

 

So what are some ideas for adding a physical edge to your meetings? First of all, you could do something as simple as go to a golf meeting. You could even go cycling and speak at a slow pace. As long as it gets your heart rate up, you’re doing the job.

 

Walking meetings are another great way of getting some light exercise, if getting sweaty isn’t on your agenda. Walking meetings can provide a change of scenery and help to reduce stress levels.

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Workout at Your Desk

 

If making it to the gym is too much for you, it may be worth considering a workout at your desk. Rather than indulging in a coffee run, spend fifteen or twenty minutes taking a fitness break. You can do this anywhere where you have something sturdy. Here are five easy exercises you can do.

 

Scapular Retraction – Roll your shoulders down and back, while squeezing them together. This will help to strengthen your upper back.

 

Stationary Lunge – Lunges will stretch the hip flexors and prevent them from tightening due to long sessions on the computer.

 

Plank – Place your hands flat on the floor and make sure your body is in a straight line, as if you were about to perform a push-up. Draw your belly back, as if you are trying to push it through your spine. Hold this pose for about a minute and repeat.

 

Push-Ups – Plant your hands on the desk and lower your chest to the desk. Push back and engage your shoulders to provide strength to those areas of the body. If you have enough space, you can even perform conventional push-ups.

 

Chair Dips – Place the palms of your hands on the edge of the chair behind you. Lift yourself off the chair and lower yourself as far to the floor as possible. Push yourself back up again. In the beginning, you may only be able to lower yourself a little bit.

Treat Fitness Like an Appointment

 

Treating fitness like an appointment gives it a sense of importance. Set a reminder on your smartphone and commit to it. If you have someone or something reminding you to do something every day, you are more likely to do it.

 

Conclusion

 

The biggest obstacle you will come up against is excuses and procrastination. If you can provide as many reminders as possible for yourself, you are more likely to keep to your commitment. You may even want to start a fitness program with someone else.

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AJ AGRAWAL

I cover the art of succeeding in business without sacrificing your health.
I am a regular writer for Forbes, Inc., Huffington Post, Entrepreneur Media (among others), as well as CEO and Chairman of Alumnify Inc. Proud alum from 500 Startups and The University of San Diego. Follow me on Twitter @ajalumnify

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