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.
My husband and I walk on the trails of our local park (which is conveniently located across the street) early each morning with our dog. After a glass of YL lemon or peppermint water.
My favorite exercise is actually the barn chores! I love being around the horses and really do not mind cleaning stalls and moving hay!
In the kitchen while waiting for something to boil or bake or whatever, I do modified push ups using the counter top. I stand as far away from the counter as I can to make the push-ups as challenging as I can.
I like the idea of doing jumping jacks while cooking to burn off the calories before I eat them. Just make sure you don’t burn your dinner🙆♨😵
Great tips!
I like to find new places to walk my dog. We are training to become a therapy dog team and he needs to be comfortable in all kinds of places. It is a fun way to get more walking into my schedule.
Dance!! We love to have “dance parties” over here to get everyone including the kids moving their bodies! It is a great after work/school work-out that makes everyone happy, works all the muscles and gets your pulse up. :)
Keep resistant bands in your office. You can work both upper and lower extremities with the bands, 20 reps each and you can have a fairly short intense work out at your desk!
I love these suggestions!
Taking the steps two at a time but slowly allows you to work your glutes. I work on the second floor and am up and down several times a day!
Walking with friends! We chat the whole time I don’t even realize how far we’ve walked!
I have a 7 month old baby so we spend a lot of time walking. With the stroller I like to take walks on the boardwalk in my area. Now that she is big enough I have been walking with her in the ergo baby carrier face out and she loves it. We walk on the beach early in the morning before it’s too hot!
Squats! They give a little burn quickly. Also (takes even less time), simply stretch! Reach for the heavens and feel your mood and confidence lift.
I don’t do much in the way of exercising. A few things I do include:
Heel stretches on the curb while pumping gas
Neck and arm stretches throughout the day
Tucking in my pelvis as I’m working (great for the abs and low back)
Sometimes dancing as I work or as I clean house
I get a jump start in the morning with a few simple yoga stretches. Plus I add Grapefruit Vitality and Orange Vitality Essential Oils to my glass of juice each day for invigoration!
I baby-wear my little boy around the house in the mornings as I do my daily chores so I count carrying the extra 20 pounds around as part of my daily exercise! LOL :)
The plank indeed and also the hot seat, I can feel the burn from those. Thanks for sharing these tips, love them!
Walking the dog after dinner. Taking the stairs at work or a longer route to get in a longer walk.
As an asthmatic I find a long hard workout is a trigger for an episode. To compensate, I have learned to incorporate 10 reps of side steps, toe lifts and arm stretches while working around the house. I do these 4 times a day. I love to use RC in my diffuser while taking a break in the afternoon. During this time I relax and meditate. The necklace diffuser I wear contains RC and and Tangerine or Lime essential oil to help me breathe easy. I’m new to Young Living but I find the purity of the oils vital to my natural health regime.
While watching TV take the opportunity to do a different strength training exercise(set of 3) during each commercial.
Making an effort to walk everyday, either around our place working on things, or walking with my neighbor. When the weather doesn’t permit (I like in the country), I try to walk on the treadmill and multitask by watching Youtube trainings. I hope to add in Zumba soon.
I drink ningxia red in the morning and walk with my heels raised when working in the kitchen/doing chores. It helps a lot with my legs. Also, “biking” motions in the deep end of the water are great!
Love the sunset salutations….diffusing my favorite oils, while doing gentle yoga poses are a great way for me to relax and fall asleep, letting the stress of the day melt away.
My FitBit helps a lot! If I’m cooking dinner or find some free time, I’ll walk in place or just walk around the house to get those steps in!
Going to exercise class early in the day, drinking a litre of water, with lemon EO & ningxia red sachet, leading up to commencing class and then 750mls on the way home. Great start to the day! Using slique essence in my water through out the day has paid off by consistently doing so, down 1 & 1/2 dress sizes over 10 weeks and very motivated to keep going. Thank you Young Living Essential Oils.
I’m the secretary at out church and in charge of most events. So I am continually walking through the building to make sure rooms are in order for the next group or special event. As a rule, I try walk one lap around the sanctuary and run up the stairs if the area I’m checking on is there. It may not seem like much but every little bit helps.
Chair yoga while at my desk, stretching whenever I remember (and I try to remember at least once each hour, or whenever I check the time), and making sure to take a drink from my water bottle after each email I initiate. ;-)
I take walks around my building when I am at lunch for work to get some exercise.
Whenever my family wants a “treat” or specialty coffee, we have to walk to get it!! We will walk to the store about 2 miles away for ice cream or snacks, and on the weekends we treat ourselves to coffee. BUT we have to walk about a mile each way to get there!
My husband and I walk every day. It’s about a 2 and a half mile walk and it’s uphill and downhill all the way. This gives us time together enjoying nature.
I am responsible for the day I create for myself. The choice is up to you. It can be either “Good morning, God!” or “Good God – morning!” and with that initial intention set for the day I start with a great whole body stretch before leaving bed (like a cat stretches..) then I do ankle rolls and should shrugs. As walking through the bedroom door I grab the door frame and again stretch those shoulders and stand on my tip toes. Lunges to the bathroom where I brush/rinse the mouth and wash my face to wake it up. All day long I think of various ways to use the different muscles in my body. It’s fun and creative cause I just don’t like boring exercise!! Happy dance how ever you can think it up!! Have a fun day now….
I try to park as far away from the office building as I am able. I try to walk to as many meetings as possible (3-4 blocks from my office building). Every little bit helps!
I tried both sleeping beauty leg exercise and (calf) raise the bar while brushing my teeth in the morning. I really felt the burn and helped wake me up in the morning. Its difficult for me to perk up in the morning so I really love this tip! I find that I don’t need my morning coffee anymore! A glass of water with a drop or two of my Young Living lemon essential oil is more than enough to get me through my morning now.
I cannot wait to start working out again and feeling all the wellness oils can bring into my life after I have this baby girl in a few days or so. I’m 38 weeks pregnant so any day now! :)
Thank you for the wonderful tips!
My way of getting exercise is walking. I do not own a vehicle so I either walk or bus. I walk dogs for a friend 3 times a week so I am committed to at least get 5 or more kilometers a day with them. I am not a type to go “workout” but I try to stay active throughout the day .
I wear a step tracker and it reminds me every hour if I haven’t moved enough. Gets me up and makes me move around more.
Great tips! It’s easy to forget those times when multitasking can include healthy movement! I needed this! Thank you!
I love bicycling with my husband and grandchildren . It is such fun to get your exercise while you play.
It’s been really helpful to me to make some kind of exercise a priority in the morning (a dvd, yoga, run, etc) and then also do something active with my family in the evening (bike ride, walk the dog together, a game in the backyard). Making time for just me and also making time to be a healthy example to my family has been so rewarding!
I like to have my husband hold my feet and then I do situps while we are watching television in the evening. It’s like being back in the Army. Haha
When sitting at work or at home watching TV, I spell out the alphabet with my feet. It helps bring circulation to legs, ankles, and toes! For a great finsih, I apply a couple of drops of Sacred Mountain to the bottom of my feet.
I enjoy taking my dog for walks in the neighborhood or out in our community – more steps for both of us!
I take the stairs whenever I can. I also park away from the door so I can walk farther and get 10,000 steps in during the day.
I wear 10 lb ankle weights during daily activity. It automatically steps it up a notch.
I love to add ankle weights to daily activity…grocery shopping, walking the dog, anything! Put ’em on in the morning and wear them all day. Any walking you do is automatically great exercise!
One of the easiest things to do while sitting before or after eating is leg lifts, raising feet completely off the floor. I love doing this combined with the Tibetan practice of five deep belly breaths before and after meals. This piece has also reminded me to drop lavender into my chai latte I just got in a coffee shop. Delicious!
First thing in the morning I take my capsule of Grapefruit Vitality then my little doggie & I go for our morning walk. We take 3 -5 short walks per day (she is 10/12 years old with a heart condition). I also use a thera-band for stretching everyday and do beginners yoga. My husband smiles at me when I do calf raises while doing the dishes, but hey…whatever works! I drink at least 80 oz of water everyday. I stopped drinking soda and tea 8 years ago! Frankincense & Copaiba are AWESOME!!! As are all of the YL oils I’ve tried so far!
I like to take a couple mile walk around a lake near my work during my lunch break. Helps to de-stress and take a mental break from work, while getting in some nice enjoyable exercise!
When I’m brushing my teeth I do squats with leg crunch. So you start with a squat, come up and bring your leg up in a crunch. I switch sides and do this for two minutes.
I have 2 very active boys, so bring some of their energy helps me stay in shape! I love to go for bike rides or play chase, in the basement, when it’s raining. Oh and we love to play, “If you are happy and you know it..” game. That’s a good workout! Do jumping jacks kick your legs. Y Africa boys keeps this At Home Mom in shape!