CHANGE #20

Make at Least Three Everyday Activities More Challenging

(Or as I like to call it… burning calories without actually working out)

SIMPLY PUT… Pick a minimum of three activities, tasks, or errands you do every day and find a way to make them a little more challenging so you’ll burn more calories.

A few years ago, a friend of mine kept complaining (and complaining and complaining) that she had no time to go to the gym because of work (and the long commute and the hours and being tied to her desk and seven hundred other things). So about a half mile before my wit’s end, realizing that an explanation alone wouldn’t be enough to convince her that all that noise was just an excuse, I decided to show her instead.

So I got a heart rate monitor and made her wear it for an entire day—from sunup to sundown—to show how many calories she could burn without ever having to step foot in a gym. If you know me, you’re aware that when I commit to something, I fully commit: I packed a bag and spent the night at her place, so that we’d be ready to go the next day.

At 6:00:00, the alarm went off.

At 6:00:04 (give or take a centisecond), we went to work.

We strapped on the heart rate monitor and immediately knocked out 25 squats while she was brushing her teeth and another 25 waiting for the coffee to brew. We did a couple of wall push-offs in the elevator while leaving her building, balanced on each foot at the subway stop, then got off a stop early from her job and walked. Even on the job, I had her doing biceps desk presses in her office (explained later in this chapter), triceps dips using her desk chair (also explained later in this chapter), upper cuts while on a conference call, a few lunges on her way to lunch, and a few more wall push-offs on the back of her door afterward.

By 1:00 p.m. she had already burned 300 calories. By the time she went to bed that night, she was up to 700 calories and had put in a full-body workout without stepping foot in the gym, taking a minute away from her job, or having to put on any workout clothes.

That was the last time I heard her complain about having no time to exercise.

Look, are there days when I don’t get to the gym? Of course there are. Are there days when I don’t work out? Never. I just have to get a little creative on those non-gym days, which, as you just read, isn’t that hard to do.

The problem is that it’s in our nature to want to make the easiest choice possible. It’s in our nature to do things quicker and more efficiently.

Texting your kids from the kitchen that dinner’s ready instead of walking upstairs to tell them is the easy thing to do.

Waiting for the next big rainstorm to wash the dirt off your car instead of getting outside with a bucket and sponge and doing it yourself is the easy thing to do.

Stuffing all of your laundry into one basket so you only have to make one trip upstairs instead of three is… yes, you got it… the easy thing to do.

Don’t settle for easy. Let everyone else do that.

These are all wasted opportunities to do something good for yourself. They are free gifts that burn additional calories but cost nothing and require no preparation. So think about everything you do, everywhere you go over the course of the day, and choose three things to challenge yourself with.

DON’T STOP THERE…

When it comes to this Change, open up your mind to all possibilities, because there are millions of ways to challenge yourself more out there, even if you never leave your home.

Whenever I’m emptying the dishwasher, I squat down, grab a single glass, plate, sippy cup, or whatever else just ran through the rinse cycle, and stand up before putting it where it belongs. Would it be easier to bend at the waist and grab as many things as humanly possible to save time? Obviously. But instead, I’ll squat down and grab just one because I know I’m working my entire lower body and burning a few extra calories.

That’s one of a hundred examples of ways to create calorie-burning scenarios. All you need to do is avoid looking for the easiest way from point A to point B. Instead, it’s time to find the more scenic route and make whatever it is you’re doing more interesting, active, challenging, or fun.

Once you get the hang of it, you’ll start to find that you won’t settle for just making three activities more challenging. If you exceed that number, I’m happy. So long as whatever you’re doing never cuts into your time to finish your 10,000 steps each day (or your strength-training sessions), then the more the merrier.

Tips and Tricks

There are countless ways you can do this, but here are a few obvious—and some off-the-wall—ideas that can get you thinking about how to do it.

Trade in the mop for some elbow grease. Any house chore you hate doing is probably one that requires a little hard work—and blasts a few extra calories. If you’re 140 pounds, ten minutes’ worth of light cleaning burns off about 27 calories. Just ten minutes! But take your cleaning seriously and you’ll burn even more: 37 calories at a moderate pace and 48 calories if you clean at a vigorous pace.

Other suggestions:

• When wiping counters, surfaces, and appliances, switch arms to give both an equal workout. (FYI: Removing soap scum really tones your arms.)

• When unloading the dishwasher or hanging up clothes, squat down for each item instead of bending over to pick up several items at once.

• Before putting groceries away, grab a bag, lift it in front of you to shoulder height, and then bring it back down to your waist. Do 15 of these with each bag before unloading it.

Make the most of your office space. There are times for all of us when work has us so crazy we want to run around in circles out of sheer frustration. The good news—you’ll burn off some calories. The bad news—you’ll look silly doing it, especially if you work in a tiny office.

Other suggestions:

• Paperclip squats: Drop a bunch of paperclips on the floor. Squat down and pick up each one individually.

• Triceps dips: Place your butt on the edge of your desk, palms on either side of you. Bend your elbows as you slowly come off the desk and dip down a few inches, then push back up. Aim for three sets of 10 to 15.

• Biceps work: Sit at your desk and place your palms under the desk facing up. For thirty seconds, push up on the desk as hard as you can to engage your biceps. Do three sets of 30.

Wall push-offs (see here.) Aim for 35 to 50.

Be noble instead of needy. If you’re ever in a situation where there are limited seats and you have the choice to sit or stand (on the bus or subway, at a party or concert), give up your seat and stand instead—you’ll burn an additional 30 to 50 calories per hour for being courteous.

Other suggestions:

• If possible, invest in a standing desk.

• Count the number of steps from your car or subway to your office and increase it by ten every day by finding a longer route.

• When on the phone, get up and pace.

Use a basket instead of a shopping cart. Carry one or two baskets (one for each hand) when shopping. As you walk around, just squat down to place both baskets on the floor, stand back up to grab what you need, squat back down to put it into a basket, then lift both off the floor and keep shopping. It may take you an hour to shop, but think about your glutes!

Make every meeting an opportunity. Instead of just meeting a friend for coffee, or going out for dinner on a date, get creative and meet to do something active, whether it’s going for a run together, hitting a climbing wall, playing tennis, or anything that gets your heart rate up and lets you socialize at the same time.

Be the “playdate” house. Unless your kids only have friends who are extremely tidy (they don’t), opening your house up for a playdate is a guarantee that things will get messy and displaced. After the fun’s over, you can offer to help clean up with them.

Have a stand-to-squat rule. Whenever you’re stuck standing for short periods of time—like brushing your teeth, waiting for the microwave to ding, or blow-drying your hair, for example—squat down an inch or two, hold that position for a few seconds, then stand back up. The move is so subtle that even if you’re in public, no one will notice you’re doing it, but you’ll be conditioning your butt, thighs, and calves with every dip.

Rethink your rooms, then reorganize them. Moving furniture around may be a hassle, but it’s a hassle because it takes effort—64 calories’ worth every ten minutes!

Sweat through the commercials. Whenever you’re watching TV, make the most of the commercial breaks by picking one of the following five exercises without stopping until your show comes back on.

1. Squats (see here)

2. Hip Raises (see here)

3. Upper cuts (see here)

4. Kneeling Push-ups (see here)

5. High Knees The Motion: Standing with your feet hip-width apart and arms bent at 90 degrees, quickly raise your left knee as high as you can, lower it back down, then quickly raise your right knee as high as you can and lower it. That’s 1 rep. Keep alternating without stopping.

Shrink the size of your tools. Instead of grabbing the largest rake, broom, or shovel you can find when cleaning up leaves, sweeping the floor, or shoveling snow (or doing any chore where using a larger tool can help you save time), pick a tool that’s as small as possible. You’ll still get the job done, but it will force you to spend more time burning calories to do it.

The “So You Know” Science

Running, cycling, and aerobics are popular activities when trying to lose weight, but cardiovascular exercise is actually any activity that raises your body’s need for oxygen. Once that happens, your heart and lungs start working harder than usual to deliver that oxygen, and your body ends up burning calories as a result.

Despite what may be trendy, your body doesn’t care what activity or task increases its oxygen need. It could be pushing your kids on a swing, raking leaves, or chasing after someone’s serve on the tennis court. The only three things that matter to your heart are frequency (how often you challenge it), intensity (how hard you push yourself ), and time (how long you keep it challenged for).

Any activity that elevates your pulse to between 50 and 70 percent of your maximum heart rate (MHR)—and keeps it there—will do the trick. (To find your MHR, just subtract your age from 220.) But if you don’t have a heart rate monitor, use this tactic:

• If you can talk during the activity but singing would be too difficult (or you can get a few words out, then have to stop talking to take a breath afterward), your pulse is probably somewhere in the range of 50 to 70 percent of your MHR.

• If it’s easy to speak long sentences as you go, you’re most likely not doing anything at a pace that’s keeping your pulse in that 50 to 70 percent zone—so step it up.

• If you’re unable to talk, then be careful, because you’re pushing yourself too hard and more than likely have a pulse that’s above 70 percent of your MHR.