Many of the risk factors listed are difficult – if not impossible – to mitigate, so it is understandable if you feel powerless in the face of some of them. However, the results of this new study could undoubtedly add inactivity to the top of the list. Because inactivity is a modifiable risk factor, you can absolutely control it! Read on to find out how.
To reach the 150-minute exercise threshold during a week, you need to exercise just under 22 minutes a day. For someone who doesn’t exercise regularly, it might sound a little overwhelming. But 22 minutes a day doesn’t have to mean signing up for a new gym membership, investing in a treadmill, or getting back on track.
With the right strategies, you can achieve your daily exercise goal with very few lifestyle disruptions, which is important in order to support your new level of activity.
Here are five practical and sustainable strategies to help you get into active 22 minutes a day.
Important note: Before starting any new exercise program, consult your doctor. Stop immediately if you are in pain.
1. Take regular walks
I probably already go at least every day. Maybe go to the mailbox or from the car to the office. Would it be possible to add a five- or 10-minute walk through the neighborhood before receiving mail or entering your office?
Do you have a dog that you walk every day? Could you add time to the daily walks of the dogs?
If you’re not already taking regular walks, there’s an activity you enjoy and want to do more often that you can pair with walking, such as talking on the phone with a friend or family member or listening. podcasts, music audio books? By combining an activity you enjoy with walking, it will make it something you look forward to doing more on a regular basis and will make it easier to add walking to your daily schedule.
2. Exercise short activity efforts
Physical activity guides do not specify that you need to exercise in large chunks of time every day. What is important is to reach the goal of 150 minutes each week. You can divide your activities into any time period are the easiest to manage for your lifestyle.
For people with more sedentary careers, it may be easier to go with shorter exercises. When you divide 22 minutes into smaller blocks of time throughout the day, you’d be surprised how fast time passes.
What if you did six short four-minute workouts? In 24 minutes, you would have two minutes. The same goes for eight attacks of just three minutes of exercise.
3. Train smarter, not harder
4. Return to the game
When you were a kid, did you play a sport? What were your favorite outdoor activities? Returning to the playful activities of youth, you can add more exercise to your life in a fun and energizing way.
If you played basketball at school, could you return to it by participating in an adult league or finding a group to organize regular games? You may have started martial arts as a child, but you never got on your black belt. What is holding you back now? Is there a recreational activity that you and your other friend or a good friend could do together, such as tennis, golf, or cycling?
5. Track your activity
Do you really know how much moderate to rigorous activity you have every day? Like the people in the studies I mentioned above who misrepresented and did not report exercise activity, you may be reducing your own activity level.
There are countless wearable technology options for tracking your business. You might even wear one now. Whether you use technology or an old-fashioned pen and paper, when we track our activity, we not only keep a more accurate record, but take an extra step in personal responsibility.
No matter how you track your fitness – with wearable technology or simply keeping a journal – keeping track of your progress will help you stay on track.