insideKENT Magazine Issue 34 - January 2015 | Page 84

HEALTH+WELLNESS
FITTING EXERCISE IN cont.

If the reason you can’t get out to the gym is that
you have very young children, don’t worry. You
can still exercise – just take them with you. Wrap
the babies up, strap them into the pushchairs or
prams, make sure you both have plenty of
refreshments with you, and leave the house. It
doesn’t matter where you go – the shops, a
friend’s house, the library, or just around the
block – because it’s the act of walking (and
pushing the buggy) that is key. The fresh air is
great for little lungs (not to mention big ones) so
it’s good for everyone involved. Make it part of
the daily routine and soon you’ll stop thinking of
it as exercise at all. The more you do it, the further
you will go, and as a bonus, your child may even
sleep better thanks to all of that good air.
Stairs are an everyday obstacle. Useful as they
are at getting us to places we need to go, if there
is an easier route (a lift, an escalator), most of us
will take it. But what if you didn’t? What if you
always went for the stairs, and pushed yourself
to climb them a little faster every time you
encountered them? Would that be good exercise?
Definitely! You could even time yourself, and see
how long it takes you to knock seconds off of

your best time. Make it a game – the children
certainly know how to do it – and exercise will
never be the same again.
It’s the mundane tasks that can and should be
made fun. Does anyone actually enjoy washing
the car, for example? Wouldn’t we rather spend
money and have someone else do it? For the
most part, yes. However, when you realise just
how many calories you can burn by doing it
yourself, you might change your mind. Save
pennies and lose pounds (in weight) by regularly
getting the bucket and sponge out and cleaning
the car up. Get the family involved for a bit of
together time – just be prepared to change your
clothes when you have finished! The sense of
achievement you will feel afterwards will be great
too, and it always feels better driving a clean car.
Don’t have a car? No problem, clean your
partner’s, your parents’, your friends’. Even if you
don’t want to charge for your services, you’ll at
least get a nice cup of tea and their gratitude.
Remember at the beginning of the article when
I listed all of the un-fun things that adults have to
do that stop them playing? Housework is one of

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those things. A clean house (not necessarily a
tidy one, space can be at a premium, and
children’s bits especially have a tendency to end
up everywhere) is a more restful, happier, and
comfortable one. If you have a clean house, you’ll
never worry about guests turning up unexpectedly.
Therefore, it’s a good idea to do the housework
– especially since housework burns calories.
Whether it's lugging the vacuum cleaner up and
down the stairs, scrubbing the kitchen floor, or
leaning over the bath to clean the awkward bits
in the corner, all of this and more gets the heart
rate up, gets the blood pumping, and can start
you on the road to getting fit and healthy.
All of these things and more – anything that gets
your heart rate to speed up, that makes you
sweat (a little), and that makes you breathe a little
harder – will ease you into exercising without you
even realising what is happening. Soon enough,
you’ll be feeling fitter, healthier, happier, and ready
to take on the next step – whatever that may be.