As you clean out your house or apartment this spring, you may find yourself strapped for time and unable to fit in a full workout. It’s okay to skip your workout some days, but you don’t want to fall out of your healthy routines too much as the weather brightens up and our social lives get hectic. With spring cleaning upon us, chores are the perfect activities to turn into mini-workouts. Little bursts of activity throughout your day can be equally as effective as a full-fledged 45-minute workout at the gym. Below, check out some ideas about how to turn your household chores and activities into mini-workouts, from your XPRO’s on Xponential+.
Mailbox Cardio
Turn your trip to the mailbox into a small blast of cardio! Instead of slogging down your front walkway or driveway to pick up the day’s bills, lift your heart rate with some high knees or walking lunges to get the mail. Then pick a second exercise for the way back inside. Butt-kicks, squat jumps, or lateral shuffling are all fun options to break a little sweat. Perhaps once you’re heart rate is up, you’ll be inspired to fire up a STRIDE or CycleBar workout on XPLUS to keep the momentum going.
Folding Frenzy
Folding and putting away laundry has to be one of the most monotonous chores in the house. Make it more fun by doing exercises as you put certain types of clothing. For example, STRIDE XPRO Lauren Reid, suggests that every time you hang a shirt back up, perform 5 jumping jacks. For every pair of pants you fold and put away, do 3 pushups, and for every pair of socks you reunite, perform a burpee. You can be as creative as you like with your exercises and adjust the number of repetitions depending on how much time you have.
Vacuum Lunges
Vacuuming can already be a solid workout for your shoulders as you push and pull the vacuum away from yourself, but you can also bring the legs into the mix, says Row House XPRO Josh Honore. Lengthen your strides as you push your vacuum across the room and perform walking lunges to bring some heat to the quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
Microwave Moves
As you prepare lunch or dinner, nothing is more excruciating than waiting for your food to microwave. To take your mind off of whatever delicious item you’re waiting to eat, hold an isometric exercise for the one or two minutes that your food is heating up. A plank or hollow hold can be a good test of core strength or burn out your legs with a wall sit, recommends Pure Barre XPRO Katelyn DiGiorgio.
Couch Core Work
Watching TV isn’t necessarily a chore, but it can feel like it sometimes with the laundry list of shows and movies there are to catch up on! The couch can be the perfect place to execute some basic core exercises. Club Pilates XPRO Brittni Johnson suggests trying the following for a few rounds of work:
And if your chores are already daunting or exhausting enough, perhaps a 15-minute sweat session with an XPRO on XPLUS is a better way for you to move. The most important piece of advice to remember is that it’s your workout so you have to find what works best for you!