How can you create an environment that is better suited for maintaining good fitness? The first thing is to deconvenience the home and of course your work environment as well.
At home, we tend to have a nice cosy armchair, we’ve got the remote control here and something there, and everything is easily accessible. I’m not suggesting you strip out all the furniture from your home as Katy Bowman did, which she talks about that in her book Move Your DNA, but I’m suggesting you just make the home a little less convenient, just so it promotes more movement. That all contributes to fitness.
Similarly, for your workplace. We tend to have our desks set up. My desk is reasonably well set up for convenience, but I do have other things in the office. For example, there’s a kettle ball, a foam roller and we make sure we set alarms so that we stand up every hour, even every 30 minutes. Deconvenience your office environment as well. Don’t have your phone and your pad and your laptop and your pen and your mobile phone there, but move things around. Maybe your phone is in your coat, which is in the corner of the office. Just do things that stimulate you to get up and to move around a little.
Also, active transport. Walking wherever you possibly can, standing if you can. You can get a standing work station to help with this, which you place your laptop on. Alternatively, you can use a stack of books to prop your laptop up on and spend nothing at all on it. Move the books or the laptop table, sit down, you’ve got a sitting work station again. The principle of active transport is basically to try and use yourself to get from A to B to C. Rather than hailing an Uber, if it’s a short distance, walk it. I have a three stop rule on the tube. If my journey is three stops or less, I’ll walk it. It quite often saves me time and it’s certainly healthier.
There are lots of small ways that you can set up your environment, whether it’s work or home, to promote fitness. Think about what you can do to deconvenience the space and get a little more movement. Set some alarms to prompt you as well, when you’re deep in work. Enjoy the benefits of improved productivity, improved creativity, better fitness, and overall better mood and energy. What’s not to love?
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If you’re reading this, you’re are probably in a reasonably senior position, running your own business or have a busy life running the home and juggling other responsibilities. Either way, you’re busy. The convergent pressures of work and family life have probably meant that the time you did have to spend on health and fitness has disappeared. Why not talk to us and see how we can help.
Leanne Spencer is an entrepreneur, coach, TEDx Speaker, author of Remove the Guesswork, and founder of Bodyshot Performance Limited. Bodyshot is a health and fitness consultancy that helps busy professionals get more energy by removing the guesswork around their health, fitness and nutrition. Visit www.bodyshotperformance.com or email [email protected] to register your interest in our services and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.