Incidental Exercise: Little Steps Big Leaps

Introduction

In many countries obesity and related health problems are approaching epidemic proportions. This worrying trend is particularly evident in western countries, where our harried and fragmented modern lifestyle has led many of us to into a ‘culture of convenience’. For some time now, health professionals have advised us that people should aim to get at least thirty minutes of moderate physical activity per-day if they are to reduce their risk of falling prey to the perils of obesity and its complications. Yet, while this message saturates us through the media like never before, and is acknowledged or accepted by most, there still remains widespread apathy and ambivalence towards physical activity in our society.

Many people who try to increase their activity levels will take action by joining a gym or taking up a sport. Both of these options hold great potential to benefit our health and wellbeing in the very fullest sense, but can also be intimidating to the newcomer, not to mention expensive or incompatible with our busy schedules. Indeed, for many well intentioned souls, the move from ‘coach potato’ to ‘gym junkie’ is fraught with frustrations born of unrealistic goals and expectations. The good news is that you don’t actually have to join a gym or take up with a team to increase your levels of physical activity. Simply making a conscious and continued effort to be active throughout the course of the day can do wonders.

Incidental Exercise

The human body is a machine. Logically, the more work the machine does the more fuel it burns. Whilst regular bouts of concerted exercise can improve our health and wellbeing, staying active throughout the course of the day is often just as effective. This form of activity is known as ‘incidental exercise’ and consists of the sum total of our daily movements, much of which we are not even aware of.

Yes, that’s right, no matter how inactive you are, you are actually clocking up tiny amounts of physical activity throughout day. Cooking, cleaning, going to the mailbox, picking up the cat – it all counts. These miniscule fragments of exercise may not seem important, and in isolation they’re not, but with a little cunning and some minor changes to your everyday habits, these little steps can be lengthened to great strides down the path to a fitter and healthier you. Let’s now look at how we can employ a strategic outlook to harness the true power of incidental activity.

‘Strategic’ Incidental Exercise

Getting the most out of incidental exercise is all a matter of strategy. In simple terms, a strategy is a plan of action that helps us to achieve a goal – which in this case is increasing our overall level of physical activity. This might sound like a daunting task, but planning a good strategy can often be as simple as taking just a few moments to think.

For instance, let’s cast a strategic eye towards hanging out the washing, a perfect example of a common household chore that involves incidental exercise. Now, think to yourself: what sorts of strategies could I employ in this situation to increase the amount of movement and effort I expend in performing this task? Let’s look at a few simple strategies.

For starters, if you have one of those horizontal clotheslines, why not ensure that the basket of washing is always at the far end from where you are hanging, requiring you to walk further to get to the basket. When you get towards the end where the basket is, move it again, so that it always at the far end of the line. Also, you could limit yourself to only ever taking one item from the basket at a time, which would require you to make many more trips to the basket and clock up plenty of healthy steps, bends and lifts along the way. If you have a revolving clothesline, you could increase your physical output simply by resisting the urge to rotate the clothesline around to face you, and instead, move around it with your basket.

By now you may be wondering why people should bother to subject themselves to such seemingly trivial inconveniences. You might also be unconvinced as to whether it would actually make a tangible difference in your life. Remember though, it is the total amount of physical activity you should be seeking to increase, which is the sum of many smaller bouts of incidental exercise that you can consciously influence. Avoid focusing on the potential exercise value of one particular activity, or set of activities, and think instead of the overall gains you will be making throughout an entire day.

The fact is, if you take a strategic approach to extracting a little more from the various chores and activities you undertake, it can quickly add up to significant amounts. Indeed, if you can develop some good strategies, you could quite easily double, triple or quadruple your daily total of incidental exercise. When you learn to make this behavior a habit, over the course of weeks, months and years, you can enjoy significant benefits to your health and wellbeing, and all without ever setting foot in a gym.

Getting started: Ten great ideas to get active today!

This article would not be complete without providing some clever ideas to get you started. The following are excellent ways to increase your daily activity totals without major inconvenience. It is hoped these will also spark your imagination, and start you thinking about things you can do to boost your own activity levels and get the most out of incidental exercise.

Walk/ride to work: Sick of traffic? Always have trouble finding a park? Worried about your car getting broken into? Why not leave the car at home and take a walk or get on your bike instead. If it takes you fifteen minutes to walk to work, and you walk home again, that’s half an hour of additional physical activity already, and two and a half hours over a week!

Take the stairs: Usually go straight for the elevators or escalators? Why not make the effort to take the stairs? Stair-climbing is an excellent exercise for your cardio-vascular system, as well as the muscles in your trunk and lower body.

Deliver the message in person: We live in a marvelous modern age of technology. Telephones and email make communication super-fast and efficient, but if you’re looking to boost your activity levels, why not deliver those non-urgent messages on foot. Surprise your colleagues by turning up with the news in person.

Take the meeting on the road: Nobody said that meetings have to take place in the stuffy confines of the office. If you and a colleague need to have a chat, why not suggest a walk-and-talk, perhaps around the block or through the park or mall across the street?

Take the long way home: We all know that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but that’s no excuse to be lazy. Just because you know a shortcut doesn’t mean you have to take it. If you have some time up your sleeve, why not forge a new path. Go for a walk or a bike ride through a new area, take a few twists and turns before you arrive at your final destination.

Park further away: Even if you have your car there’s no reason you can’t sneak in some extra activity. One idea could be to park your vehicle further from your destination, and walk the difference. You could, for example, park in a lot a few blocks away from your destination, or park at the rear of the supermarket parking lot, and walk from there.

Carry the shopping to the car: Loose the shopping-trolley for a change. Give yourself a good strength workout by carrying your purchases to the car yourself. Better yet, park a good distance away from the stores and then challenge yourself to make it all the way back with the shopping in tow.

Play with the kids: Let’s face it, nobody ever really grows up. Everyone enjoys indulging in fun and games from time to time. So, instead of just watching your kids play, why not get down on the floor or out in the yard, and get actively involved. Not only can adults can get a darn good workout chasing the kids around, it is also an opportunity for you to bond with the kids and be a positive role model for them in regards to being physically active.

Tackle that Housework: Most of us hate chores, it’s a dirty job – but someone has to do it. Why not turn it around by focusing on the additional physical activity you will get from tackling all that dreaded scrubbing, vacuuming and gardening. Many household chores actually count as moderate exercise, and some are easily as physically demanding as a brisk walk or jog.

Remember, sex is a form of exercise too: Sexual activity is a moderate-high intensity exercise that is not only enjoyable, but right up their in terms of workouts. Why not aim to engage in sex a little more often. Should you encounter resistance from your significant other, simply inform them that you’re purely concerned about increasing your level of physical activity. If this line doesn’t work, you could always try soft lighting and a bottle of wine.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you are now beginning to understand just how valuable incidental exercise can be. In isolation, each episode of activity means little, but when you add it all up, the benefits to your health and wellbeing are considerable. To maximize the potential of incidental exercise in your life, try to take a strategic approach to all your daily chores and activities, and be consistent in demanding just that little bit of extra effort from yourself in everything you do.