5 Ways to Fit In 30 Minutes of Exercise A Day

A report was published recently that says that the decrease in exercise over the last 20 years is what has really caused the weight gain in America.  For me personally, I know this was the case – coming home after sitting for 8 hours a day, and sitting around for another 4 hours or so watching TV was a direct cause to me putting on weight.

When I first started my weight loss journey, one of the books that helped me was Encyclopedia of Sports and Fitness Nutrition. Besides helping me look at food as fuel, it had a very simple piece of advice – as an adult, I need to get 30 minutes of physical activity in every single day.   If you’re struggling with this, you might wonder how to do it.  Here are five things that I did that worked for me:.

1. Make it a Game – One of the things I did was play 30 minutes of Wii Fit everyday.  Wii Fit caught a lot of flack early on, but it has a good tracking system for weighing in everyday and it’s easy to do 30 minutes of games without even knowing you’re exercising.  This is admittedly low impact, but if you’re just starting out, it can work to help you build the habit.  There is also xBox Kinect and other motion capture video games on the market that can make movement fun for you.
2. Break it up –  30 minutes of activity doesn’t mean you need to do 30 minutes of activity straight.  You might mix it up with 10 minutes of brisk walking in the morning, 10 minutes of brisk walking at lunch, and maybe a 10 minute run after work.  The goal is to get your heart rate really moving for a sustained amount of time, totally up to 30 minutes.
3. Do A Commercial Break Workout –  There are a ton of variations of this work out, but the premise is that you do a set of exercises during the commercials of your favorite shows.  The average 30 minute television show has about 8 minutes of commercial breaks.  If you watch 2 hours of television per night, then you can fit in an easy 30 minute exercise session.
4. Ride your Bike to Commute – I live in a downtown metropolitan area where the majority of people drive to go anywhere.  So I made a conscious decision that if where I need to go is less than 2 miles away, I should ride my bike to get there.  A round trip on the bike is about 30 minutes of time for me.
5. Take a Class – For some folks, working out with others is a big motivation.  Taking a class like Pilates or Zumba might be a big help, because it is a specific event you can put on your calendar each week and commit to.

There a lot of other things you can do to fit in your workout.  These are just some that helped me.  Is there anything you’ve found that helps you get your 30 minutes in?