Casual Fitness
So, I've came up with an idea, I'm most likely not the only person that thought of this, the idea of casual fitness. This idea of subtly adding fitness to your every day life.
I kinda got the idea partially from one of the reasons Europeans are generally more healthy than Americans (outside of better healthcare), they walk EVERYWHERE. No hopping into your oversized F-150 to go grab some milk from the grocery store. If walking is too much, they ride a bike.
So, I tried to figure out how to become more fit easier. Of course I still keep my usual workout routine, calisthenics with a bit of free weights. However, I've noticed a significant shift in my energy levels throughout the day.
Working full time and being a dad is exhausting, and I don't think even a kilo of cocaine could make me consistently not tired, but ever since I started implementing more instances of casual fitness, the more energy I've had throughout the day.
The idea is to do small acts of fitness every day, throughout the day. Nothing crazy, just something that can add a few minutes of exercise into your day. This can be as simple as parking your car further from the grocery store, using a standing desk, getting up and stretching more frequently, rolling around on the floor.
For me, I work on the 6th floor of my office building, so I take the stairs. Trips up and down, I will use the stairs and minimize my use of the elevator. Am I out of breath by the time I get to my desk? Yes. But it has been getting better, and my quads have been feeling stronger, and my resting heart rate sits usually in the 60-70 BPM range, a full -10 BPM!
I did my first pistol squat not too long ago thanks to casually working on my mobility throughout the day. Instead of sitting down on my butt, I do what I see being called an "Asian squat" by Matt Hsu from Upright Health. I just call it "squat time" and it is a queue for my cats to come over and get pets and scratches. I used to think I couldn't do a weighted deep squat, but now I do it no problem.
To make it more fun, I use bear crawls when playing with my daughter. She runs, I chase her in bear crawl position. She loves it, and its fun for me. I'll often even just kinda roll around on the floor, traversing my living area remaining low to the ground and working on my agility and balance.
This idea of casual fitness has helped me lower the barrier to exercise. Combining total time spent, I probably spend an extra half an hour to an hour just basically moving more in more ways.
Combined with calisthenics, everyday can be a fitness challenge. See a giant cement pipe out while camping? Hang on it, climb it, make it fun. I found a huge cement pipe, did a dead hang, tried to L-sit, and used my daughter as a little extra weight. It was tough and my abs sore, but that shows it's working.
It's not about trying to lose weight (though if that's your goal it certainly can help), its about longevity, playing, making your body more competent than before.
Anyway, just thought I'd share this with anyone reading, maybe it'll help you. If you can't do much, just do what you can, anything over the course of weeks/months/years is better than nothing at all.
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