Spare time...what’s that? When life is a continuous cycle of work, studying, taking the kids to soccer practice or other household chores, it can be difficult to find time for ourselves and for our training routine. As a result, we end up feeling impatient and lazy. How do we suggest you tackle this? 1 word: multitask. Here are 3 situations where most people see a daily task, but a Free Athlete sees an opportunity to train:
Look forward to taking the stairs
It starts with your mindset: Try to see “annoying” tasks as chances and challenges. For example, rather than “having to” take the stairs to your apartment everyday, think of it more as an advantage than an inconvenience. A flight of stairs can easily be changed into a mini workout. Sprint up them one day, focus on squeezing your butt the whole way up the next, play a coordination game by split-lunging each step or simply miss out every second step and lunge your way to the top. You can even hop up on one leg or if you really want to work those glutes, squat jump each step. Just always remember to focus on technique and posture without putting too much stress on your joints. Take our word for it: do this regularly and you will feel the same burn and see the same results that come after an effective training session. No more escalators. #NoExcuses
Extreme grocery shopping
Does grocery shopping usually steal your Saturday morning training session from you? Then we’ve got some good news: you can steal it back without having to go hungry for the week. All you need to do is leave the car at home, balance the weight of the items you purchase in two bags and get going. You can also add the following exercises to get more out of your trip to the shops:
- Do a few sets of shoulder shrugs: Simply extend both your arms keeping them close to your body. Then, holding a shopping bag in each hand, elevate your shoulders as high as you can while keeping your arms straight and extended the whole time. Hold the contraction for a few seconds, release and repeat.
- Use your bags for a set of bicep curls before you unpack them. All you need to do is hold each bag (best to use reusable rather than plastic bags for this in case they break) with your palms facing upwards, keep your elbows close to your torso and try to keep your upper arms as still as possible as you lift the bags towards your shoulders by curling your biceps.
And there you have it - the time you need to transport your groceries home has turned into another mini workout.
Kitchen or training ground?
Some people love spending time in the kitchen, others hate it. Either way, we’ve all got to eat, so it doesn’t hurt finding ways to make your time in the kitchen - regardless of how big or small it is - more effective. Here’s how:
- Why waste your time waiting for your eggs to boil when you could be doing some elevated split lunges? All you need is a kitchen stool, ideally the max. height of your knees. Standing in front of the stool, stretch your left foot back so it sits on top of the stool and keep your right foot on the floor in front. Your upper body should be upright and your shoulders back. Now, bend your right knee to a 90° angle until your left knee touches the floor - just like you would do a normal lunge. Go back to the starting position by extending your right knee again. Do a few reps before you switch sides.
- Hate doing the dishes? Then let’s make it a bit more interesting by turning this annoying must-do into an effective calf-training session. Simply do some calf raises while cleaning up. You can either do many repetitions in sets or hold the calf raise for a few seconds before lowering down to your heels again. No need for any other equipment, just you, your calves and well...the sink.
It’s not always easy to find “spare” time. But with the right mindset and a few changes to your daily routine it is easy to stay active. Just remember, these life hacks shouldn’t replace your weekly workouts - try to set these in stone.
