How to exercise even if you don’t feel like it

Here are some quick tips to ensure you exercise on a daily basis, even if you don’t feel like exercising:

• Exercise for just 5 minutes. Next thing you know, it could turn into exercising for 10, 20, or even 30 minutes
• Put on your exercise clothes. This may help put you in the mood for exercise
• Don’t have time? Studies have shown that 3 separate 10 minute sessions of exercise are as effective as one 30 minute session of exercise. So just do 10 minutes in the morning, then 10 in the afternoon, then 10 in the evening to get your 30 minutes(minimum) of daily aerobic(cardio) exercise
• Make a list of reasons to exercise; then make a list of reasons not to exercise
• Make it a lifestyle: Walk or bike instead of driving the car. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Try not to sit for too long, see if you can work while standing at your desk or get up from your chair and walk around for a few minutes every 30 minutes
• If you still don’t have time, do very short, intense workouts. Run up the stairs or run in place very fast or sprint down the street at maximum intensity for a minute or more. Or stand up and start shadow-boxing for a minute very fast. Do this a few times a day. This can provide benefits similar to longer, moderate-paced workouts
• Vary your routine. If you run, try to make running more fun, or try other fitness activities like dancing, cycling, martial-arts, climbing, swimming, jumping-rope, yoga, fencing, rowing, etc.
• Join a gym, running club, or sports club to surround yourself with fitness minded people
• Get involved in events or competitions. With specific(and realistic) goals in mind, it should be easier to stay committed to your routine
• Motivate yourself by listening to inspiring or invigorating music, or reading inspirational fitness stories

Fidget off the fat, research says

This sounds almost too good to be true, but research suggests that people who fidget a lot tend to be slimmer than those who do not fidget. 

What this means is that every little bit of exercise helps. Even if you are sitting, tapping your feet or moving around a lot can help burn calories. If possible, stand rather than sit. Losing weight is easier if you approach fitness as a lifestyle, not as an activity. 

Other ways to make fitness a lifestyle and not just an activity:

Take the stairs instead of the elevator

Walk instead of taking the car

Can’t or don’t want to go to a gym? Use resistance bands. You can even bring them with you to work(along with your juggling balls), where you can do a quick resistance workout that is practically the same as if you are lifting weights.

I also think it is important to avoid negative people who may try to sabotage your weight-loss efforts.

Of course twiddling your thumbs or taking the stairs can’t replace the recommended 30 minutes of daily aerobic exercise we need to be fit and prevent disease. And you don’t even have to do the 30 minutes all at once either. You can divide it up – 10 minutes in the morning, 20 later in the day. 10 minutes seems to be the magic number for a bout of cardio to really count as exercise, so if you divide your time for exercise, do at least 10 minutes at a time.

Above all, make sure you enjoy your exercise. Do not think of it as punishment. You were born to move!

Juggling and joggling for fitness

I believe juggling to be one of the most ignored of all fitness activities. It’s not just for circus performers. Not only does juggling burn around the same amount of calories as a brisk walk, it also improves hand/eye coordination and can help grow grey matter in the brain. I think the reason relatively few people interested in fitness consider juggling for exercise is its association with clowns and circuses. This is unfortunate.

Juggling for fitness can be done alone or during many forms of aerobic exercise; in the form of joggling, which is juggling while running, it is arguably the ultimate form of exercise. To get more people excited about juggling and joggling in particular for fitness is one of the main purposes of this blog. The “wild” in “wild juggling” is all about fitness juggling while walking, or hiking, or having fun in the great outdoors, as opposed to doing it to entertain others(not that there is anything wrong with it!). You can juggle almost anywhere. Joggling is both challenging and fun.

Above all, go wild with your juggling. It’s one of the best ways to spice up your fitness routine and burn some extra calories if you must, while having fun!