Start Moving!
Posted on: January 24, 2010
The Silly Nutrition Undergrad has moved. Come to Juicy Fresh Bites for new content on health and nutrition!
Calling out to all who are not doing any form of physical activity right now: what’s stopping you from getting active?!
The awesome benefits of getting more active:
- Reduces risk of developing chronic diseases (including diabetes, heart diseases, hypertension, etc.)
- Assist in weight control
- Improves your mood – release stress and stimulate production of “happy hormones“
- Reduce risks of developing various types of cancers
- Helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles and joins
- Strengthens your cardiovascular system – your heart and lungs work more efficiently, boosting your energy level to do things you enjoy
- Promotes better sleep – help you to sleep faster and deeper
- Meet new people, make new friends
- Boosts your self-esteem
- Lots of fun! – Who said exercising is always boring and dry, it can be as fun and as interesting as you make it to be!
These are only a glimpse of the positive aspects of exercising regularly. The list can go on and on…
By reading through the ever-growing list of health benefits shown above, you will be able to get a very clear idea that exercising is a very cheap yet effective way to prolong your productive years and to help you achieve greater happiness and a deeper appreciation for life.
Getting active doesn’t necessarily mean hauling yourself to the gym every other day and sweating madly on the treadmill. It can be as simple as walking, doing gardening or just completing a home workout for about 30 minutes each day. Plus, you don’t even need to complete the whole 30 minutes in one session; you can split 30 minutes into 2 or even 3 mini workouts and squeeze those sessions into your busy schedule.
The bottom line is: you just got to start moving and do it consistently!
So here I have prepared a list of activities that you can easily fit into your day, whether you have 10 minutes, 15 minutes or even 2 minutes.
The one exercise tip that I have for you is you simply just got to have a “Just Do It” mentality. When you have that mindset, you’re already more than half way to achieving your fitness goal.
General Fitness Resources:
- ActNowBC: Physical Activity – A great website packed with different resources to help you learn about different aspects of healthy living. The section on physical activity offers an extensive list of articles that answers many of the fitness questions you may have.
- Fit-in 15 – customize your own 15 minute workout from a list of simple activities that target strength, flexibility and cardiovascular health.
- MizFitOnline.com – A great resource on fitness and healthy living. When you have a minute or so, just click on one of the many exercise demonstration videos and learn a new move to tone your body.
- BodyRock.Tv – Looking for an intense at-home workout that going to make you sweat like mad? Here’s the ultimate place to go to for workout routines. I visit it a lot when I need inspirations for new workout moves and when I need motivation during the days when I just don’t feel like moving. Check it out!
Specific Workout Ideas / Routines:
- 2 Simple Ingredients That Will Boost your Morning Energy – a quick, 2-min exercise routine designed to jumpstart your day for increased energy, better mood and less fat!
- 4 Quick Arm Toners – When you’ve got about 10 – 15 minutes (for example, when you are watching TV), you can easily tone your arms and chest with these 4 simple moves.
- Tone Your Butt and Thighs – No weights? No problem. Use your own body weight as a resistance and work those gluts!
- 15-minute Ab Workout – The belly area is often a trouble zone for many people. Sparkpeople has put together a Youtube Video that targets the abdominal area. The instructions are given in a clear and easy-to-follow manner and those moves definitely work the abs!
- One Hundred Pushups – Pushups can be a great way to train many muscles in your upper body. So, try this challenge! It is an easy way to assess and improve your current physical strength.
These links have helped me tremendously when I started to exercise on a regular basis, and hopefully you will find them useful too.
As Woody Allen once said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”. So what are you waiting for? Get up and get moving, just do it!
The Silly Nutrition Undergrad 
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