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Tag: exercise

5 days of Walking 10,000 Steps A Day!

5 days of Walking 10,000 Steps A Day!

Published 05/16/2016

I was recently inspired by a friend who has walked 10,000 steps, EVERY DAY consistently for TWO YEARS STRAIGHT. Incredible! She even walked the 10,000 steps during the busiest times in her life including Christmas.

I’ve been checking my iPhone Health App, and I usually get anywhere from 4,000 to 8,000 steps a day. I do want to invest in a better fitness tracker like the FitBit.

So this week I’m challenging myself to do 10,000 steps a day. The whole 10,000 steps idea actually first came from Japan as a marketing campaign for one of their pedometers.

As someone who does most of her work at a desk, I need to get up and start walking more. And our bodies are designed to move. Not sit on our butts all day. Although I do exercise as much as I can – riding my bike, weights, runs etc. But walking throughout the day is an added bonus.

Like I keep mentioning, comfort is a lie. Yes, sometimes there are times when the sofa looks so comfortable, because walking might be too much effort. (This is what goes through my head anyways lol). I’m trying to stay as fit as I can, so this will be good for me.

So who’s with me this week! Let’s see how we feel šŸ™‚

*Update*

I did it! Five days of 10,000 steps (or more) a day.

Monday: 10,057 steps
Tuesday: 13,616 steps
Wednesday: 10,126 steps
Thursday: 11,247 steps
Friday: 17,983 steps

Not bad! Can I keep it up?

The first few days, I was exhausted and my body was burning out as it wasn’t used to moving this much. But now, I’ve gotten into the groove, and it’s not as tough as I thought it was! I think having some sort of step tracker is a really great way to gain awareness on how much we move. I also have more energy, and feel less sluggish in general.

I bought theĀ Misfit FlashĀ (below) to keep track of my steps. But the tracker kept falling out of the wristband, so I was using the clip-on instead. But I kept forgetting to keep it on me.

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So my partner also ordered me a Jawbone Up2Ā (below) for my birthday. I’m excited to start using it to track my progress.

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That’s all for now folks!

I’ll keep you posted on the next challenge šŸ™‚

 

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Minimalist Exercise for People Who Don’t Like To Exercise

Published 04/25/2014

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“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live in.” – Unknown

Ah exercise… Some of us love it, and some of us hate it. But the truth is that health is the most important thing weĀ have. Without our health we would never be able to enjoy the other parts of our lives that are also important to us.

People who know me know that I am not the most physically active person the on the planet. But that doesn’t mean I don’t value my health, because I definitely do! It’s extremely important to me. However, I tend to be so cerebral and stuck in my head (hence this blog!), that I tend to ignore the physical world from time to time, including my body. Oops.

That’s until now! When I discovered a minimalist exercise routine that has completely worked for me. It’s simple, and breaks it down to the basics. No fancy stuff going on here. I’ve been doing it for the past month (with a few modifications) and I find it quite fun as I can actually see my progress. I wanted to share it with you guys in case there was anyone else out there feeling the same way as I did. It isn’t a hardcore exercise routine for those of you who really like to push it, but it does the job pretty well and studies say you just need 12 minutes of high-intensity exercise in order to reap the benefits. I can already feel my stomach, butt and arms getting firmer and more toned.

This routine isĀ called the Lifetime Ladder. I discovered it here on the Lifehacker.com website.

It’s free and it requires no equipment, just your own body. It also doesn’t take any longer than 15 minutes a day! That’s nothing. Play 3 of your favourite 5 minute songs while you exercise and you’re good to go! (I’m pretty excited to tell you about this). The best part is you can actually visuallyĀ see your progress in numbers via the ladder rungs. If you get sick and are stuck in bed for a week, you can notice how your progress has gone down.

The website explains the Lifetime Ladder like this:

The program is organised around a “fitness ladder” with 48 rungs. Each rung prescribes a given number of repetitions of five exercises. The first 15 rungs constitute the Introductory Ladder and involve easier variants of the exercises in the Lifetime Ladder, rungs 16 through 48. The exercises are intended to be done every day. Completing all the exercises typically takes between 10 and 15 minutes.

Spend one week on each rung. On a given day of the week, for example Sunday, try the next higher rung. If it seems as easy as the current rung felt the week before, move up to that level. If you have difficulty completing any exercise of the new rung, or you can’t complete it in 15 minutes, or you feel pain or exhaustion at that level, stay at your current level for another week.

How great is that! So easy! I’ve modified the “bends” into squats, and I’m going to add some calf raises. Also, for the “steps” portion, if I have the time I like to either go for a run, a long walk, or a bikeride to keep things interesting.

Here’s the direct link to the instructions: What, Me Exercise?

That’s it!

Let me know if you try this exercise routine in the comments below or send me an email at lessoftheexcess at gmail dot com.

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