You spend 8 hours of your day at work, taking care of the house, driving your children to their activities, cooking dinner and going to bed. For many, the days are timed and non-essential activities are naturally sacrificed, including sport.

How do you get back in shape when you have a busy schedule?

Walk to move more

There are simple ways to do physical activity, without necessarily having to go back and forth to the gym or commit to hours of fitness training. By following some of these simple tips, you can quickly get back into shape.

More movement every day

Ideally, we’re supposed to get up and move around every 30-60 minutes throughout the day to keep our circulation flowing, and to allow our bodies to stretch and warm up. But how many of us actually do it? You can do this, however, by “tricking” yourself to get up more often.

For example, drink from a glass of water rather than a bottle. This will encourage you to get up more often to fill it. You can also keep all your work utensils stored rather than available on your desk, so you can get up to get them when needed.

Stay up

This is perhaps one of the easiest ways to exercise. Although it may not seem like much, standing is much healthier than sitting. You burn more calories standing up, and it’s incredibly helpful to your posture because it decreases slouching. It also helps keep blood sugar stable after a meal, and encourages more movement. Opt for a raised desk that encourages you to stand at work.

As soon as you can, walk!

We all take a meal break, and we can easily use that time to get moving and burn some calories. Instead of eating in the office cafeteria, go buy the useful ingredients for your meal. You can also make it simpler: replace your meal with protein and go for a walk on your lunch break.

How to be physically fit?

Physical exercise is essential for overall fitness. But how you exercise is also important , as are your diet and lifestyle choices. It is the combination of all these factors that makes getting back into shape quick and easy.

Aerobic or cardiovascular exercises like brisk walking, running , swimming, and bicycling help strengthen your heart because they keep it at a faster rate for an extended period of time. Aerobic activities also help manage blood pressure and cholesterol, strengthen the spine, and prevent weight gain while improving your energy levels.

While aerobic exercise involves lower intensity sustained for several minutes or even hours, anaerobic exercises are short and quick, and they help increase muscle strength . Activities that involve fast fractions of energy like sprinting or weightlifting are defined as anaerobic. A combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise is needed to be physically fit.

Strength training can build endurance and help lose body fat while building lean muscle, which encourages your body to burn calories more efficiently. Strength training also helps counter muscle loss associated with aging. Push-ups, pull-ups, and exercises on free or guided weight machines are all examples of muscle-building activities. Exercises that work major muscle groups should be done two or three times a week for best results.

80% of your fitness and health success will depend on your diet . If you’re not losing weight, it’s because you’re eating too many calories. If you can make slightly better food choices and fill your plate with plenty of protein and vegetables, you’ll automatically take in fewer calories.

However, most people can’t stay disciplined because they try to make too many changes at once: their stomach freaks out and they run back to comfort food.

These small changes can lead to big successes in the short and long term, and most importantly get you back in shape quickly.

If you are starting the sport or picking up the pace after a long break, prefer low impact sports that will give you all the benefits of sport without injuries.

Swimming

Swimming is not only a complete physical training; it is also a low-stress activity and an ideal sport for your heart. Swimming keeps you at a healthy body weight because it burns lots of calories, improves lung capacity, builds muscle strength and endurance. In addition to this, swimming is the perfect sporting activity for the whole year because it can be done indoors, outdoors, and even at the beach.

Tennis

Tennis is considered one of the best aerobic exercises, on par with jogging and cycling. You can burn up to 600 calories playing an hour of tennis . All small, fast movements like sprints, pivots and serves allow you to expend energy in short but powerful bursts. Tennis increases arm strength, coordination and cardiovascular health.

Cycling

Bike lessons are fun and available everywhere. You can cycle outdoors with a group or take indoor classes at your local gym. Not only does cycling increase cardiovascular fitness, stimulate muscle strength and flexibility, but it also promotes a good mood while strengthening you mentally.