The Blog About Exercise, Incidentally.

Walking The Preseli Hills in Wales (where the Stonehenge Stones come from!)

I like to move. It makes you feel good, it releases endorphins, and I have a set of ligaments that require I do exercise every day. I am a keen walker, I could walk for England, and when I live here I basically do walk all of England. I also do Pilates, Yoga, Deep Water Running (ask my myotherapist) and I umpire a lot of netball.

When it comes to formalised exercise, I’ve played netball for twenty three years, did Tae Kwon Do for several, I danced as a kid before I gave it up to play footy, I used to run 5kms most mornings, there were years when I went to the gym four to five times a week, I go on a long bike ride once a week, I walk Charlie nearly every day and so on. So when it comes to moving, I’ve got form, or at the very least motivation. 

There are many articles on the benefits of daily exercise. There are many different matrices on the best type – 10,000 steps per day, 30 minutes daily, moderate walking, high intensity twice a week, Cross Fit four times a week – you get the gist.

Every body is different and every life is different, and depending on the seasons, your physical health, your work and family load, everyone has a different level of opportunity to engage in organised, regular and consistent movement.

This is where Incidental Exercise is our friend. This is the exercise and movement you do when you’re ‘living’. You are probably not wearing gym clothes and runners that cost the same price as the GDP of a small African nation, you are definitely unlikely to be taking a #gymselfie while you do it, and no one in very tiny hot pink lycra shorts will be yelling at you down their microphone ‘You can do it now! Give me three more!’

For readers with children, you would get plenty of incidental exercise, the young child ‘squat lift’, the evening ‘pick up toys’ routine, and the pram push/child carry event that happens on a daily basis. Many women are encouraged to do their Kegel Exercises while they sit at their desk or eat their breakfast, and anyone who has done rehab from an injury will be well acquainted with standing next to the wall in some pose extending or lifting a limb. Case in point, as humans we do move most days, and you’ve probably already been doing a lot more exercise than you realised, this article is about recognising what you do and making it an acknowledged habit and movement choice.
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I am a very big fan of Incidental Exercise – this is how I do it, how I don't take myself too seriously when I'm doing it and how I tweak it to make sure I can get as much of it in my daily life as possible. 

Scenes from the Toothbrush Squat Sesh

Brushing My Teeth

When I brush my teeth, I do squats. I do basic squats, I do lunge squats and occasionally (at the insistence of my sister who is a dancer), I do plie pulses.
My dentist must be thrilled, because I aim to do 20 to 25 each time, which means I brush my teeth for a considerable amount longer than I used to. Less plaque and better glutes – win/win!

Doing the Dishes

Calf Raises. Even if it is just twenty while I stand there and wash. Slowly up and with the voice of my Pilates Instructor ringing in my ears, even more slowly and controlled down.

Always Take the Stairs

At the airport, at the movie cinema, at the shopping centre, at someone’s apartment complex, in an office building, at every single train station (even the ones on the Tube with 170 stairs!) – I take the stairs. It is ingrained in my mind, that when I see a staircase, I move up it. 

Get Paid to Move

You might have noticed that I listed ‘umpiring netball’ as a form of exercise. That is because it is, a LOT of exercise. Umpires can cover 2km on average per game, and we often do four to seven games a night, which include running, jogging and sprinting at different paces. One of my fellow umpires said to me recently, ‘If you’re not sweating, you’re not umpiring’.  Best of all, it is social, you make new friends (and see lots of old ones) and yes, you get paid, to exercise.

Picture taken before I umpired 6 games in 32 degree heat. For 'Post Umpiring' picture, just Google "Puddle". 

Lift the Shopping Bags

When I lift them out of the trolley, and out of the car into the house, I lift and rest them back three times before moving them. A little bi/tri workout with bags full of potatoes? Yes please! 

Never met her, but she seems to do Television Roll too...

Television Roll

If I’m honest, the only television I really watch is the Cricket. And the Golf. And the Formula One. And the Tennis. And the Netball… you get the gist. Oh and The Chase. Whilst I watch them, I get the foam roller out, and I roll. Thanks to many years of Pilates, I have a full selection of roller based exercises, so I add a couple of those around the stretching, and I roll while I watch.
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This often leads to half an hour of stretching and engaging my core that I didn’t notice I was doing because I am distracted by answering all the questions right in the Final Chase and applauding that last 6 Glenn Maxwell hit. 

Quick Stop to the Shops

I have a specific backpack for my bike, it already has my bike lock, a water bottle, some spare change, a hanky and a towel in it. This means if I decide to take my bike, I walk out and grab my backpack and I’m off.

This is very handy on days when I just need a few little things from the shops. On particularly busy days when the palaver of getting a car park takes longer than it does to drive to the shop, I jump on my bike and pedal down to pick up a few bits and pieces. And yes, I look incredibly smug as I pedal off past the traffic jams and back up the hill with my backpack full of apples. It takes me maybe ten minutes longer than driving, but I’ve ticked off exercise for the day. 

Overachieving incidental exerciser - lifting the bike over the car to get down the drive... 

​Walk the Dog

It seems obvious, but not all dog owners are dog walkers. If you have a four legged friend, use them as motivation to put your runners on and get out the door, regardless of the weather – dogs are all terrain! Charlie would cover a decent 20kms a week in walks, which by extension means the human he is walking also covers the same. As he is a rather ‘strong dog’, I also get quite a few ‘seated rows’ in as I walk him on two leads and often have to pull him back from the human/bird/dog/twig he is about to launch at.

As to the benefits of walking, I used to think people driving and walking past smiling were looking at me, I soon realised they were looking at Charlie (who incidentally is quite handsome). Nonetheless, I have really good aerobic capacity to console myself with.
 
Incidental Exercise is open 24/7, it is available for everyone, and it is free. You will have your opportunities, whether it is squatting when you lift your toddler, taking the stairs each morning to work, or jumping off the tram a stop early to walk home. Just keep moving, your body will love you for it, incidentally. 

Charlie - with the infamous 'walk me' face. A fan favourite.