They’re all over the internet and the TV. 5 minute abs, 5 minute buns, get beach ready in only 15 minutes a day. The promise of amazing results while barely altering your lifestyle. It’s horse crap. There are no short cuts to a healthy, functional body. I’m not going to lie though, the time crunch is real.This is a passion of mine and honestly sometimes I find it hard to fit in as much movement as I need, let alone how much movement I would like. We all have things that have to get done. So how do you get in more movement? And I’m not talking about an hour in the gym 3 times a week.
What really matters is getting movement throughout the day. If you could do 10 minutes of movement every hour throughout the day, it could make a dramatic difference in your ability to move!
There are some simple tricks I use to help me get more movement in. The easiest is that when I go someplace, I park as far away as possible. I used to fall over laughing when I worked at a gym and every morning watched people scramble to get the closest parking space to the front door. They did this a lot of times to go into the gym and walk/run on the treadmill! Seriously! Get some extra walking every time your park your car. It adds up!
Sit on the floor more. This does several things. You’ll change positions more often and you’ll get more practice getting up from the floor. Without all the comfy cushions of the couch and chair, you’ll get uncomfortable. Then you’ll have to pick a new position. You’ll find that your hips will open up all by themselves when you explore floor sitting.
Get a simple door hang pull-up bar. I have a full power rack in the garage, but I’m purchasing a door hang pull-up bar. Why? Because I’m not going to walk down 4 flights of stairs often enough to work much hang time into my day. I know, I’ve seen me not do it. If there’s one hanging 20 feet from me, I can hang as often as I’d like. Not that I think walking down 4 flights of stairs is bad, it’s just impractical. We’re talking time savers here.
Another trick I use you can steal, if you’re okay being quirky, is I like to crawl around my apartment rather than walk. I don’t do it all the time, but crawling, especially if you bring your knees off the floor, is incredibly challenging. It requires a lot of balance and coordination and you probably haven’t done much of it since you learned to walk. Almost certainly since you stopped being a kid!
You can get as fancy with movement as you’d like. If your dream is do inverted ring handstand push-ups, I think you should go for it. But that’s a commitment on an epic scale. If you just want to move better and with less pain, that’s about working quality movement into your life regularly. You have to do it regularly, not just at designated workout time.
