Regular physical activity is important for both mental and physical wellbeing, but exercising shouldn’t feel like a punishment. Staying active is difficult for a lot of people because they find things like running or weightlifting boring and sometimes painful, and it’s hard to find energy and motivation to do something every day if it’s not fun. Going to the gym for the first time can also be nerve wracking and overwhelming. The truth is, being active can mean a lot more than spending an hour at the gym, and there are lots of fun and creative ways to get your blood pumping if typical forms of exercise are not accessible or fun for you. At the end of the day, any form of activity is good. Since you’ll hopefully stay active the rest of your life, pick something that makes you happy!

1. Dance

As simple as it sounds, dancing can be a great workout. Although there are plenty of youtube videos that you can play from home that take you through a dance workout, you can also just try playing some music and get moving in whatever way feels good. 
 

2.  Home workouts

Although this technically is classified as structured exercise, what stops many people from exercising is feeling intimidated by the gym, not being able to afford a membership, or not having available transportation. There are many free home workout videos online, but you can also get creative with household items like jugs of water and heavy books as weights. 
 

A good home workout might look like:

• A 5 minute warm-up consists of: 1 minute of marching in place, 1 minute of high knees, 1 minute of jogging in place, 1 min of jumping jacks, and 1 min of butt kicks.

• Alternating 2-4 times: 

• 1 minute plank, focusing on keeping a straight line from the crown of your head to your tailbone

• 10-20 jumping lunges (or normal lunges)

• 10-15 squats (optional: use a jug of water, heavy book, or some sort of weight held in front of body)

• 10-20 pike push-ups (start in a downward dog position and perform the push-up by bending your elbows out and aiming your head between your hands)

• 10-20 glute bridges (lay flat on your back and bend your knees until your feet are close to your bottom, then lift your hips and squeeze your glutes at the top and come back down)

• 20 plank shoulder taps (plank with arms straight under shoulders and take turns tapping one shoulder and then the other, trying to keep the rest of the body still)

3. Adventure

Hiking and walking is great exercise, and planning hikes to somewhere new or long walks exploring the city with friends can be really fun. Before you know it, you’ll have walked for way longer than you ever would have on a treadmill.
 

4. Exercise with a group

Planning runs with friends, trying new workout classes, or going on bike rides together can hold yourself accountable to exercising frequently and also make it more fun. 
 

5. Say yes to stairs (and the other activities we all avoid)

Many times we’ll choose the closest parking space, wait for the elevator, or choose to drive somewhere that’s only a short walk. All of these choices make our lives very convenient, but at the end of the day we were meant to move, and being too sedentary can have many negative consequences to our health. The next time you choose to drive to the store that’s only a 10 minute walk or call an elevator to travel one story, consider choosing to move instead. Being active in small bits throughout the day can add up, and splitting it up into small parts can be a lot easier for some people than a 30 minute workout all at once. 

Quickfire Tips:

• Hula hooping, scootering, and jumping rope are all ways of being active that we may not have done since we were kids, but can be super fun to try again!

• If exercising for a whole hour feels monotonous or you’re too busy, try a HIIT workout. HIIT stands for high intensity interval training, and it involves doing hard moves for a very short period of time (like 30-60 seconds at a time) with small breaks of 15-30 seconds for a total of 20-30 minutes.