Stay Fit Minus The Gym & Time!!

Hectic modern life, tight schedules, expensive living. These are factors that contribute to the young urban person’s depleting health. No time for exercise, no money to join a good gym. In such a scenario, do we just let go and pray? Or is there something that can be done despite all the limitations, to stay in shape? With a little ingenuity and discipline, a balanced and healthy lifestyle can be maintained even in the pressing confines of modern life. Here’s how to stay fit, minus the gym!

USE YOUR BUILDING!

When you read this and think about it, its really not rocket science. Its all there right in front of us, we just aren’t consciously mindful of it. The best way to stay in shape, and beat not just the weight, but also time & money, is to use your apartment/office building like a cardio work-station.

DITCH THE ELEVATOR
Irrespective of what floor you are on at home or at the office, by simply using the stairs instead of the lifts, you will burn copious amounts of calories. Of course it’ll be hard work, but then you have the long-term benefit of looking and feeling great. So take the little extra pain, and an incremental time burden, and use the staircase!

PARK AT THE PARKING & WALK
For the more well-heeled of us, I refer specifically to the ones that are chauffeured around; don’t have yourselves dropped off at the porch of your home/office building. Get off at the designated parking area. The short walk to reach the main building will be imperceptible, but do wonders for your sense of health because they will provide an essential (if short) cardio work-out!

WALK THE DOG
If you are a dog owner… even if there is one in the joint family that you live in… walking a dog is an excellent way of getting some default exercise. Volunteer to walk your dog yourself at least once a day. Dogs, most breeds that are common in India, need to be taken for a decently long walk. During this, they vary their pace, direction etc – and before you know it, accompanying them puts you through the same paces as well. In the process, burning a generous number of those unwanted calories from the previous night’s office drinks binge!

DITCH THE CAR CLEANER
Now I’m not suggesting this on a regular basis. But there must be one day each week that the car cleaner has an off. Take that day and wash your car, yourself. Its an arduous but fun process. And in doing so, you will need to stretch, squat, pull, push – all the physical actions to give your tired & sore muscles a thorough once-over. Its the great thing about exercise. The moment you make it fun, it’ll seize to seem like work!

VACCUM
The same applies to vacuuming your apartment. On the ‘bai’s’ day off, get into an old pair of slacks, throw on the vacuum cleaner, and get to it. Curtains, air conditioners, carpets, floors, and smaller items like electronics and gadgets. It’ll take you a good 2 hours before you have made some headway. While doing so, you’d have put your body through a pretty rigorous workout. Burning homely germs and bodily calories all at once!

DITCH THE DRIVE, WALK INSTEAD, OR CYCLE!
Especially in big cities, driving as it is is hardly a pleasurable experience. So when it comes to running errands, grocery shopping, paying bills etc; it is a great idea to leave the car parked, and walk instead. Even better, cycle!  The short bursts to and from these chores will provide essential cardio. Not only that, not using your vehicle will allow you to do your bit for the environment too! It’ll be one healthy indulgence, all the way!

DON’T BE A COUCH POTATO, WALK WALK WALK
Business & leisure, both pursuits are largely carried out on our cell phones there days. We spend absurd amounts of time talking on our phones. Subjecting ourselves unmindfully to an array of radiation. What’s worse, these hours-long conversations take place as we are firmly planted on the easy-lounger at home, or on our work-chairs at the office (thereby being in a state of complete immobility)! To borrow from a recent popular ad campaign, make sure you “walk when you talk”. Be it at the office or at home, be conscious and pace as you have that power-chat on the phone. The conversation will distract you from the exercise you are putting yourself through, in the process, you’ll burn as many calories as the amount of time your call lasts!
 

MIX IT UP & STAY FIT

A combination of the afore-discussed activities, if regularly followed, will neither rob you off of your time, nor burn a hole in your pocket. What it will do, is burn excess calories, burn the lethargy & fatigue of stressed modern day life, and evoke a burning desire to do more, be more… Happy exercising!

[Kartik Bajoria, a regular contributor, runs his own creative agency called BOLD & is also involved in Films & Music as a force of habit!]

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