Work, household chores, errands, playtime, dinner, laundry—with so many things to do and not many hours in the day, finding time to exercise is difficult. To help you fit in the physical activity your body craves, we’ve rounded up some simple, quick workout routines you can fit into your daily schedule. With these fast exercise ideas, you’ll be able to stay moving even when you don’t have time to hit the gym.
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” –John C. Maxwell
Sleeping Beauty Leg Exercise
Wake up and warm up with this in-bed exercise! Lie on your back and lift your legs about 6 inches off the bed. Keep your abs tights, back flat, feet together, arms to your sides, and knees straight as you use your feet to draw small circles in the air without touching the bed. Do 20 circles clockwise and 20 circles counterclockwise.
(Calf) Raise the Bar
Brush up on your calf raises while you brush your teeth! Start flat-footed and raise to your toes until you get a tight flex. Do 3 sets of 20 reps.
At-Work Workout
If you have a desk job, it’s important to get up and move at least every 2 hours. Do some standing stretches for your arms, neck, back, and legs; squat a few times; or walk around your floor or building. The movement helps your body and helps you clear your head and stay productive!
Traffic Jam Session
Stuck in 5 o’clock traffic? Turn up the radio and move to the beat. You’ll burn some extra calories and make the wait a little more fun. For an extra boost, add some ab, glute, or thigh flexing. Just make sure you keep an eye on the road and remember safety first!
In the Hot Seat
Start by sitting up straight. Squeeze your glute muscles and pulse 50 times. Rest for 5 seconds and repeat until you feel a good burn. Take your desk workout a step further and work your thighs too! Place your feet on the floor with your legs together. Press your knees in so you feel your inner thighs working. Pulse 50 times and repeat as desired.
Playtime Meets Gym Time
Make exercise fun for the kids! If you have a baby, hold a plank position on your hands for 30 seconds while your hover over him or her. Lower into a pushup and kiss your baby on the forehead. Come up and repeat as many times as you can. Give your legs some attention by doing wall sits as you read your children a book or review their homework.
Torch Calories—and Grime
Burn calories while you clean the carpet. Push the vacuum only as far as your arm extends and return it to your body without moving your feet. Switch arms every 5 minutes. This quick push-pull motion targets your arm muscles and burns up to 100 calories in 30 minutes! The heavier your vacuum, the more strengthening this exercise is. Use the same method of mopping and sweeping—you’ll burn up to 100 calories in 30 minutes while mopping and 100 calories in 45 minutes while sweeping. Burn a few extra calories and clean the baseboards too!
Burn Calories, Not Dinner
Take advantage of your downtime during dinner! Do some push-ups against the counter while the vegetables cook or jumping jacks while you wait for the water to boil. Do 3 sets of 20 reps of one or both exercises.
Walk Around the Block
There’s nothing wrong with sticking to the classics, and a walk around the block is fun for the whole family. Take your kids, spouse, or dog for a 10-minute walk around the neighborhood. This is a great after-dinner activity to beat a post-meal crash. Plus, you can spend time with your family and stay moving.
Sunset Salutations
Unwind after a long day with a few calming or rejuvenating yoga poses. Pair your practice with your favorite essential oils such as Frankincense, Lavender, or Stress Away™. Try some of our simple, sweat-free yoga poses to get started!
Bonus Tip
Remember to hydrate all day to make your moves most effective and keep your body healthy. Add Vitality™ oils to give your water an extra splash of flavor!
GIVEAWAY
******UPDATE******
Congratulations to Anne D., our lucky giveaway winner! We truly appreciate everyone that shared their quick exercise tips to stay in shape!
What exercise tips help you feel the burn throughout the day? Share your suggestions below for a chance to win 15ml Frankincense, 15ml Stress Away, 15ml Lavender, and Pure Protein Complete Vanilla Spice (valued at $252.30).
Giveaway rules:
- To enter, simply comment on this post.
- Contest ends at 11:59 p.m., MT, on Thursday September 15th
- One winner will be chosen at random and announced on the blog on Friday September 16th.
- Click here for official rules.
Squats and jumping jacks
Walking is best for me because of my bad knees…too much high impact exercise/sports in my youth and up to two years ago. I drink my NingXia and get the most of my exercise.
Working out by giving it my all and taking the rest I need to restore my health.
Young Living is amazing. They continue to support their line with positive news. They always give products away in drawings. I am looking forward to this drawing. Fingers crossed. xo
I like to get my feet off the ground during working. Not visible to others, maar but trains you stomac and leg muscles.
I like to hike most days. Prior to going, I put Fitness on, with the hopes of doing more!
I love doing housework! When I get home from work everyday I spend some time just working up a sweat doing some housework!
I do a 3 minute squat workout (YouTube search Sally Down Squats video) AMAZING burn in 3 minutes time!!!!
Keeping my core engaged as often as I remember. That way I am strengthening my core with each normal movement.
Long days equal little time for exercising so I try to make the most of it. I get in extra steps when walking from the bus stop downtown to my office building and walk a little at lunch when I can get away from the office. I’ve found that the activity trackers (FitBit, Garmin, etc.) are great “awareness” tools because you are constantly looking to see what you’ve done during the day. Resistance exercises are my favorites because I know I’m helping build strength and muscle. The most important thing is to JUST MOVE! Thanks for a great blog article.
I love to just take a few minutes and bend from the waist to touch my toes and “hang” for a stretch. It feels good and loosens me up!
My husband and I challenged each other to find a way to exercise despite busy schedules and suffering a severe back injury this year. I found out I could bike while rehabbing my back because my bike allowed me to maintain an upright position and it also had a giant sprint under the seat. We biked through neighborhoods and over a huge overpass into town and back trying to better our time all season. It is a 10 mile trip and if we need to run a local errand or want to watch a movie on the weekend we bike into town rather than drive if possible. He has lost 30# since May. I had been using Deep Relief and PanAway on my back constantly and now I don’t even need it everyday!
Tips you would never think if on your own. Thank you
I try to get up every hour to just walk up and down my hall daily. I like to diffuse grapefruit and I go by it each time.
Now my kids are bigger we do races in our backyard. It motivates me to get out and move and helps the kiddos with different dexterity activities. We do timed races, squats, sidesteps … Kids think it is fun and my thighs feel the burn!
Then we hydrate with our own vitality boosted waters. I love lemon and grapefruit, the kids like to mix and match! 😉
I increased by walking distance to 2 miles recently, and to keep my heart rate and metabolism up, I’m starting to do jumping jacks, run in place, or do squats, etc., 2-3 reps, every few hours throughout the day.
A few weights every day for strengthening those muscles. Highly recommend Agilease for those of us fighting some aging issues. Really has helped me with mobility and made my workouts more productive.
Sign up for a half marathon and compete against others in your age group! And use Panaway everyday of course 😉
Work out with friends! Always more fun.
Working out at the ranch gives me the little extra boost to really work on all body parts. Lifting the feed bags and doing the squats wow what a burn! Walking to the next destination instead of taking the Polaris then making sure to stay hydrated with my peppermint water!!
If you have weak ankles, while in bed on your back or sitting in a chair, try writing the alphabet (abc…), cursive or manuscript, with your right foot/ankle. It’s more fun than just doing circles too. lol. Then do the same with your left foot/ankle.
Sipping an essential oil drink of water with a few drops each of slique essence, lemon or grapefruit, and peppermint reinvigorates throughout the day. On days when I sit a lot for work I make sure to keep “moving”. I do shoulder stretches (alternating back to front, front to back, up to the ears and down toward the chest), arm stretches (to the sides, to the ceiling and then down toward the floor), hip stretches – shifting body side to side, sitting leg lifts (straight till they are parallel with your chair, then open out, and up and while open move them up and down slowly) and back stretches. I try to remember to just get up and move around for at least one minute to keep the blood flowing. I also make sure to go for a long walk whether or not I have done a lot of sitting that day.
Jumping on a rebounder for 10 minutes is fun, relieves stress, jump starts the lymph system and gives a kick of energy , they are small enough to take to an office and easy to store.
My boys catch the bus at the end of our long farm driveway. I walk them down and then I jog back and forth a few times after they catch the bus. Forces me to get cardio in 5 days a week, no excuses because I’m already out! Fresh air and exercise early in the morning!
Standing squats while folding laundry or taking advantage of stairs (if you have them) or your front steps while your children play outside !!
And Ningxia! Always Ningxia for that long lasting all day energy, and maybe a Zyng in the afternoon crazy time before dinner and daddy gets home! Drink a Zyng and put on some fun music and have a dance/ clean up party!
I’m having problems with my knees so I haven’t been exercising much, but I can do some of these exercises….thanks for the tips, will certainly try some of these.
I am working hard to incorporate more stretching into my day. I generally get a workout if some sort in but tending to my body and helping it release tension by stretching usually gets the back burner. Practice makes…better!
I do those calf exercises when I’m waiting for water to boil and I walk at least one mile 5days a week!
I get lots of exercise taking care of a 5 year old and an 8 month old. Stress Away is my go to oil these days!
Wonderful tips here! Thank you!
Love these suggestions and the link to sweat free yoga moves… good for anytime throughout the day… great way to get going with some sun salutations and windustrial down with some legs up the wall!
Sometimes I have to remind myself that just because I didn’t make it to exercise class doesn’t mean I can’t get some movement in to my daily routine. Thanks everyone for these quick and easy ideas!
To help get some extra exercise in, I run the stairs when I need an item from the basement (you’d be surprised at how many times I do this each day!) I also park a distance away when I’m shopping, so I need to walk father (plus, driving a van, it makes it easier to park) 😊
I have a Pilates Power gym in my room and try to exercise on it daily . Also, walking is great exercise for me and keeps me in shape. One tip about walking is to park on the far end of a parking lot as possible when you are shopping. You will be amazed how many steps that will add up when you are out for a full day of shopping.
I walk everyday. I take the bus to work and I usually get off at the stop before the one I need. by the end of the week all those extra steps really count toward my goal.
I love to dance around the house with my little one strapped to my chest! She gets a kick out of it too.
I have a Pilates Power Gym in my room and try to use it daily. Also, walking is great for me and I try to do that on a regular basis. Some tips about walking that some people don’t think about is, when you go to a store, park at the far end of the parking lot instead of at the front. You would be amazed how many steps that can add up if you are out for a long day of shopping.
I take the stairs at work instead of the elevator. Three flights of stairs is a “good burn!”
As a busy mom of three, I get in excercse any time I can. Calf raises while I am brushing my teeth, triceps dips on the edge of the bathtub while the kids are bathing, squats while folding laundry and using my toddlers as weights while we play.
Putting on some music and dancing with the kiddos 😊
After sitting at my desk for awhile I like to do a few lunges to stretch my legs.
Kegels at stop lights or when on the phone, deep belly breathing several times a day to oxygenate and torch the caloric burn!
I have a 4 month old so to incorporate working out and
Play time together I will place him on my legs and raise and lower my legs. I also do squats while holding him. I lay flat on my back and lift him up and down and give home kisses. There are so many exercises that can be done while playing with your little one and they don’t even know that’s what’s going on :)
Exercise tips go burn through out the day would be jumping on trampoline mowing the yard playing ball in yard with kids going hiking
For me to feel the burn throughout the day I like to do back stretches whenever I’m feeling tired or stressed. Of course when I’m at home doing stretches I have my lavender and purification diffusing so I can keep positive thoughts while remaining calm.
I sit most of the day. I have a timer and it dings every hour to remind me to stretch and get up and walk a bit before sitting back down. At the end of my day I will stretch before leaving my workspace.
Love the support YL oils give me during my daily workout. Cool Azul is a must and peppermint is so energizing. Thanks for these tips!
2 things help keep exercise a priority, 1. an accountability partner – walking mate, meet for class with a friend, etc. 2. put it on the calendar/schedule…I would not miss an appointment or a date with my husband, so keeping regular routine on the calendar helps get it done.
I have my diffuser on my desk with Citrus Fresh and Peppermint to help keep me alert when working on big projects along with my hand weights. I take several breaks throughout the day and and do a few lunges to stretch my legs and use my hand weights to work my arm muscles. I make sure to alway have a full glass of water with Grapefruit eo to keep me hydrated.
As a caregiver, I added an early evening walk. He worst time of day is just before sundown so the walk is great for both of us !!! Diffusing oils for her has been amazing too !!!
Getting enough water is a must!! Also when you are out running errands don’t choose the park thats closest to the door. Choose a park that is further away from the door so you get some extra walking time in.