Quick and easy Fitness Tips

If you're crunched for time, here are some quick and easy fitness ideas that you can include in your daily routine.
Being healthy isn't just about hitting the gym for hours everyday, or being able to fit in your jeans. Regular exercise has many more benefits - lower risk of ailments such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetics, colon cancer and depression, as well as increased bone strength, higher energy levels and an overall sense of well being. So now keep on reading the fitness tips.

Fitness tip # 1 - Split it up
Instead of spending one hour to the gym, do six 10-minute workout sessions throughout the day. Try some slow stretches, leg crunches or lunges when you get up in the morning, during short breaks at work or while you are watching your favourite show at T.V.
For more information on exercises don't forget to visit our Exercise Directory.
Fitness tip # 2 - Walk yourself
Take a quick watch around the neighborhood before breakfast or after dinner. Even small increments of daily activity can burn body fat. Walking not only tones your hips, legs and lower back muscles, but also keeps you energized throughout the day.
Fitness tip # 3 - Do a jumping jack with skipping rope
Borrow a skipping rope and start jumping. You will be loosing as much as 70 to 110 calories in only 10 minutes.
Fitness tip # 4 - Drink a lot of water
Dehydration will hinder your aerobic performance, so no amount of working out is going to help if you are not drinking enough fluid. Water helps you burn calories and digest fat, and most importantly, it detoxifies you system.
Fitness tip # 5 - Fire the maid
Studies suggest that women today are more overweight and less fit that women in the 50's. That's because we depend more on electronic appliances then doing work ourselves. Simple daily chores burn a large amount of calories. In fact, vacuuming for an hour burns 90 calories, gardening will kill 150 calories and cooking can actually burn up to 160 calories!
Fitness tip # 6 - Get outdoors
In your leisure times, opt for activities that excite you. Go to the park, walk the dog, plan picnics or do something more adventurous like hiking, rock-climbing paddle boating or scuba diving.
Fitness tip # 7 - Work it off
Do some exercises at work too. Next time you find yourself picking up the phone to call a colleague, walk down to her office instead. Or if you are in the mood for a cup of coffee, go out and get it yourself.
Fitness tip # 8 - Become the delivery person
Forget internet shopping and ordering in. If you feel like grabbing a sandwich, walk to a nearest cafe instead of ordering on the phone. Similarly, if you need books or DVD's, walk down to the store and get whatever you need.
Fitness tip # 9 - Hide the remote
Don't be a channel-flicking couch potato. Ask someone to hide the remote so that whenever you need to use it, you'll have to go dig it out. Better yet, if you are spending more then half an hour parked in front of T.V., use a treadmill or stationary bike while you are at it.
Fitness tip # 10 - Use the stairs
If you are at work or at shopping mall, avoid taking the elevator. Opt for the stairs. Climbing up the stairs adds strength to your leg muscles and gives you a cardiovascular workout. Climbing down the stairs builds strength in the quadriceps and hamstrings. To burn over 200 calories at once, run up and down a flight of stairs as fast as you can. Two at a time if you are particularly brave. Do this everyday in five-minute sessions.
Fitness tip # 11 - Make it family time
Try to get your spouse and your kids to work out with you. Play catch or frisbee with your kids, make fake microphones and dance to some music, or even run alongside your children as they learn to ride a bike. In fact, a recent study in Canada suggests that if you are active, your children are 6-times more likely to be active too.
Fitness tip # 12 - Learn the alphabet
For flexible ankles, trace the alphabet with your toes. Do this with both feet, one after the other. This is something that can be done anywhere - while waiting for someone, working on your computer or lying down on the couch.
Fitness tip # 13 - Pick up the pace
Whatever you're doing do it faster. So if you're washing clothes, folding clothes, vacuuming the house or washing the car, speed it up just a notch. Just don't try it when slicing vegetables!
Fitness tip # 14 - Meet up with friends while doing exercise
Instead of catching up over a cup of coffee, do it while playing tennis, taking aerobics lessons or learning salsa. Meet a couple of friends a few times a week and combine socializing with exercise.
Fitness tip # 15 - Tone your legs
If you spend a lot of time sitting and working, you can try some leg exercises. Stretch out your toes forward and out slowly, away from your body, till you begin to feel a slight tension. Hold your position like that for half a minute. You could also try tightening your buttocks, rolling your neck 20-times in each direction, extending your arms over your head as much as possible and stretching or flexing your feet and ankles.