Usually your day starts at 6 in the morning and ends somewhere between 9 (at best) and 11 at night. In that time, when you have multiple roles and infinite responsibilities, you’ve accomplished the humanly impossible. You have walked or driven a few dozen kilometres, you have dealt with 324 different issues in the office and another 678 at home in the afternoon. So when your otherwise well-intentioned friend or colleague approaches you and gives you the epic: “why don’t you do something for yourself, it would be good to go to the gym, it would make you feel energised” your first reaction is to hit him, the second (milder) one is to start crying because you know you CAN’T!!!
In an attempt to calm the rage in you, I’d like to start by saying: you don’t have to go to the gym to keep fit and move your body, I mean it! I speak the truth and I can prove it (before you rush to hit me too)!
I’m going to list some ideas that are 100% applicable and I can confidently say that they do work. They have been applied in conditions of exhaustion and utter laziness so they resemble our, all too often, negative mood.
Squats in the kitchen
Since it is almost a given (for most of us women) that we are also involved in maintaining a home, we will spend some time of the day in the kitchen (after all, we have to eat something). So, while you’re stirring the food in the kitchen… as soon as you put down the spoon, do 30 squats! Then pick up the spoon again or start cutting the carrots. Once you’re done, do another 30. With a difference of about a minute or as long as it takes to stir, do 3 repetitions of 30 squats. Tell me, don’t your legs hurt? Don’t you feel the tension where you should? You didn’t lose any time from your chores and you probably warmed up a little. If you’ve put on your favorite music in the kitchen while you cook, you’ll feel even better doing the squats.
Reverse push-ups on the sofa
It’s time to sit on the sofa and watch something on TV. Before you throw yourself into the arms of sweet Morpheus, bring your body in front of the sofa like a table, with your knees bent at a right angle and only your palms resting on the edge of the sofa. lift your body weight and do a few repetitions up and down, bending only your arms. Tell me now, do your arms hurt? Again, you didn’t miss anything from the episode you were watching. Do a few repetitions and you’ll know what I mean. I am sure the next day, it won’t be as easy to cut carrots.
Rubber bands on your legs
While you continue to watch your favorite TV series, sitting on the couch, put a rubber band around your legs and work on your splits. Do a few repetitions, ideally three sets of 30.
Even after you’ve gone to bed, turn onto your stomach and sit up for a few seconds in a plank position. Then turn onto your back and hold your legs stretched out in the air for another 30 seconds to exercise your abs a little. Then cover yourself up and you’re ready for bed, satisfied that you’ve done your job and that your tired body is now a potential bikini body.
If you put this in your mind and repeat these movements every day, as part of your routine while you cook, watching TV, or even after you’ve gone to bed, I assure you that your mood will improve and you’ll see results when, after a couple of months, you’ll see your toned leg and arm and everyone will wonder what you did. Then you will tell them with pride, “I didn’t even have to go to the gym,” and it will be true.
