If Temperatures Drop, Keep Your Walking Routine On Track
Don’t let a cold day or some rain keep you from logging all your steps. Stay moving and burning calories no matter what the weather is like. Walking indoors is a great way to get our steps in and avoid missing out on opportunities to progress toward our fitness goals.
Not everyone has a treadmill at home and just because it may not be feasible for you to own one doesn’t mean it is a hopeless cause. If you have a treadmill, great, you are already a step ahead. If not, there are ways for you to be creative and remain active inside the comfort of your own home.
In Your Home
Walk and talk when you are on the phone! Use your phone and just keep moving while you talk. Being active and moving versus being stagnant and sitting/laying will allow you to burn a few bonus calories that you wouldn’t burn otherwise.
Sometimes being less efficient with chores will produce a better workout. Try folding a towel, take it upstairs/downstairs, return to the dryer to fold another and repeat. This will allow for more steps and while it may take more time overall, you are being much more productive with your exercise.
A few other ideas that we sometimes take for granted or ask someone else to do for us thus causing us to miss out on valuable steps: going to get the mail, taking out the garbage, or taking the dogs for a potty break.
At The Store
You are already dressed for the weather. Choose a further parking spot and hike into the store. Once you are there be sure to go up and down each aisle. You don’t need to buy it all, you can just keep moving and gaining confidence with each extra step you take. An even better idea is doing your shopping at a big box warehouse club or discount store that can give you a larger surface area to cover.
What about the mall? Just walk it! Skip the elevators and escalators and cover as much ground as possible. Instead of burning through your wallet, burn through some calories next time you need a mall trip. In fact, call the mall office and find out if they have late or early walking hours! Once you find one near you, grab a friend and walk and talk at a brisk pace!
At Work
Instead of emailing the people in your office take a walk and go talk to them. Not only will this improve your overall fitness, it may provide a benefit to your work environment and communication skills. Walk to the mail room instead of placing your mail in the outbox. Take the stairs instead of elevators there too. Also, why not grab a co-worker and walk the stairs during lunch? That is a great way to spend time together, talking and moving.
Keep track of walking with a pedometer or a tracking device. That way you can set goals each day and compete with friends to get steps in. As with any exercise use caution and be sure to build up to a brisk level over time.
Get those steps in and get outside for walks with family and friends when the weather allows.