{"id":1619,"date":"2012-07-03T05:04:28","date_gmt":"2012-07-03T09:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/?p=1619"},"modified":"2012-06-25T23:01:45","modified_gmt":"2012-06-26T03:01:45","slug":"make-exercise-fit-your-life-top-multi-purpose-muscle-builder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/07\/make-exercise-fit-your-life-top-multi-purpose-muscle-builder.html","title":{"rendered":"Make Exercise Fit Your Life — Top Multi-Purpose Muscle-Builder"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, you are too busy to work out?\u00a0 Some of my readers who are young moms expressed this problem. After a busy day of homeschooling, housework, and just keeping up with kids, there isn\u2019t enough time or energy left to do exercises.\u00a0 Going to the gym means arranging babysitting.\u00a0 Even going for a walk is a challenge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Other readers who work in an office or have other demanding jobs that don\u2019t allow for a lot of physical movement have a similar complaint.\u00a0 After a day of mental strain, you feel like collapsing, not pushing your body further.<\/p>\n

How can you work out when you don\u2019t have time?\u00a0 One answer is to build the workouts into\u00a0 your daily routine. \u00a0Instead of adjusting your life to your workout, make your workout fit your life. You don\u2019t have to go\u00a0 to a gym and lift weights. But you do have to move.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll be looking at creative ways to sneak some muscle-building, fat-burning exercise into life as you know it.<\/p>\n

Here is suggestion number one:\u00a0 Start squatting.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mean instead of sitting — although I was fascinated by the way the La Hu tribal people in Thailand would squat as if they were sitting on invisible stools.\u00a0 While I was trying not to squirm and to find a less-excruciatingly-painful position sitting on the floor of a bamboo hut, they would simply squat.\u00a0 They could do it for hours with no sign of tiring.<\/p>\n

But we aren\u2019t aiming for that level of strength.\u00a0 Instead I\u2019m suggesting that you not do sets of squats (unless you want to) but to start squatting to pick things up.<\/p>\n

For my young mom readers, finding something to pick up is certainly no problem.\u00a0 Instead of bending over to pick up the toys, the spilled popcorn or the plate someone left beside the sofa, do squats and pick them up while you are on the down cycle.<\/p>\n

The rest of us will need to work it in.\u00a0 Look for things to pick up.\u00a0 I read about one man who did this by placing post-it notes around the floor of his cubicle.\u00a0 Every hour or so he would get up, do a few squats to pick up some of them, one at a time, and then go back to work. By the end of the day he would have picked up all the post-it notes and finished his prescribed number of squats.\u00a0 \u00a0 You may squat down to pull a few weeds from your flower bed.\u00a0 You can squat instead of bending down to load the bottom shelf of the dishwasher.\u00a0 Be creative and look for ways that work for you.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how to do a squat correctly:<\/p>\n