We’ve all had those moments when there aren’t enough hours in the day to fit everything in. Or that feeling of exhaustion after a full day’s work where the only form of physical activity we can muster is laying down and kicking off our shoes.
Being a fitness professional for 10+ years, the #1 advice I give to anyone following a fitness program or in the process of starting one is to synergize!
Synergizing is a term commonly associated with maximizing work productivity or making the most of your work-life flow.
Applying the term to health and fitness is easier than you think and is simply viewing everyday activities and chores as opportunities to fit in little bouts of exercise.
It can be as easy as opting to take the stairs at the office or passing on the escalators when you’re taking the metro.
When done right, you’ll start enjoying the mini-workouts life throws at you every day. Let’s break down the anatomy of a 60-minute workout you can do any day, anywhere.
JUMPING OUT OF BED
A figure of speech that we can use literally. Waking up can be a slow and dreaded process with as many as five snooze buttons before we’re actually up. Instead of overthinking the day ahead of you 20 times over, just get up and do two sets of 10 slow squats. Focus on the sensation of the muscles waking up and your body ramping up for the day ahead. It’s perfectly normal to perform these squats at a snail’s pace. That’s the point. Doing so will contract your muscles isometrically and give you a sense of stability to kick the morning off.
- 2 sets of 10 slow squats
- Duration – 3 minutes
HAVE A GOOD MORNING STRETCH
The first 30 minutes after waking up can be rough. Shed the body stiffness with these four mobility exercises.
- Good Morning
- Windmill
- Toe Touches
- Warrior Pose 1 & 2
- 3 sets, 30s each
- Duration – 7 minutes
THE DESK ROUTINE
With the average amount of time spent in a seated position spanning four hours to as high as 11 hours, it’s essential to have a desk routine to keep your health in check. Capitalizing in the well-known Pomodoro Technique, which is a time management method that uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks.
Make it a priority to use the short breaks such that they are movements to compensate for the muscles that are disengaged during a prolonged seated position. Particularly the abdominal and posterior chain muscles that consist of the back extensors, the glutes and hamstrings.
- Hip Dominant Squat
- Cat Cow
- Plank
- Pushup
- 4 sets, 30s each
- Duration – 10 minutes
ENJOYING WALKING MINUTES THROUGHOUT THE DAY
Many times, we overlook the joy of walking because all we focus on is the end destination. As opposed to focusing solely on hitting an end goal of 10,000 steps, have fun squeezing in as many steps as possible during your commute to and from work. This can be done by using hacks such as parking further away from your end destination, volunteering to do the coffee run for the office, or making it a fun game discovering alternative walking routes. You may not hit 10,000 steps every day, but you’ll start enjoying everyday walking opportunities that will ultimately make the process all the more rewarding.
- Duration – 20 – 30 minutes
Practice being active throughout the day and mindful of incorporating physical activity whenever and wherever possible. In doing so, you’ll benefit from the intermediate boost of energy you’ll feel during each exercise and have the energy at the end of a full workday to enjoy an actual workout or sporting activity.