How to increase your daily activity without realising!

Who’s up for slipping some incidental movement into your daily routine to help you reach your exercise goal? Yes, please! Read more to increase your daily activity.

Hitting the recommended 150 mins of moderate physical activity a week doesn’t have to be done in the gym or by pounding the streets.

But there’s another way. By building incidental activity into your daily routine, you can clock up those mins without even realising it.

‘Less frequent bouts of activity, which might more easily fit into a busy lifestyle, offer considerable health benefits even in the obese and those with major risk factors’ Dr I-Min Lee – Prof of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Here are our top 10 tips for building incidental movement into your day

Talk and Walk –

Make it the rule that you only make calls when you walk – even around the house.  You’ll be surprised by how many extra minutes of movement you sneak into your day this way.

Park further away –

When you need to drive somewhere, try to park away from your destination so you can walk the final mile. You can also do this when using public transport.  Get off a few stops early and slip some steps in.

Give cleaning a new meaning –

have a mini rave! Don’t leave the cleaning just for the weekend. Break it down into daily tasks.  Put on your favourite tracks and rave around the house as you clean.

Increase your heart rate while the kettle boils –

How many cups of tea or coffee do you make each day? Each time you pop the kettle on, sneak in some quick reps – push-ups, squats or even the plank.

Walk to do your weekly shopping –

Our CEO loves this one! Grab your trolley and backpack, walk to the supermarket, load up your shopping and walk back.  This sneaks in two types of exercise – aerobic from walking and weight lifting from carrying the extra kilos!

Take the stairs whenever possible –

This is a great way to get your heart rate up and stretch your leg muscles simultaneously.  Take them two at a time if you feel you need that little bit extra!

Stand up more –

Sitting at your desk all day is one of the worst sedentary habits we have. Set a rolling alarm on your work computer to do 2 minutes of squats or push-ups every hour or walk around. Challenge yourself to do more each time.

Drink more water to move more.

It’s essential that we stay hydrated, so work this into a movement habit – instead of using a large drinking bottle, choose a smaller glass that you have to refill on a regular basis.  Build in a few squats at the tap, and you’ve managed to get your heart rate up too.

Lift weights whilst sitting at your desk –

We all complain we have too many Zoom meetings. If you’re on a Zoom call, switch your camera off and sneak in a few bicep curls using hand weights.  You can do this whilst you’re reading articles or reports too.

Turn TV watching into a workout – Roll out your yoga mat and watch TV while stretching or hold the plank while the ads are on.

Hopefully, this inspires you to move more and increase your daily activity – remember, you need to get your heart rate up for it to count.

Let us know the creative ways you build incidental movement into your day. Share on social and remember to tag us @breastcanceruk