In personal finance, the Holy Grail of money seems to be “passive income”. When most people talk about passive income, they mean money that you earn without any active involvement in the process. There are actually very few true sources of passive income (despite the promises of hucksters), and even those that do exist (rental properties, dividend-yielding stocks) aren’t purely passive. (Well, maybe dividend stocks are.)
Lately I’ve become enamored with the idea of passive exercise. I’ve long praised the wonders of walking to the store — a classic example of what I mean by “passive exercise” — but now I’m discovering other sources of activity that mirror the exercises that I choose to do for fitness. I don’t do these activites specifically for the exercise, but the exercise is an added bonus.
Picking berries, for example, can give me an amazing stretch. We have a couple of low-bush blueberries. My hamstrings get no better stretch than when I’m harvesting this fruit. The other day, Kris and I picked beans at a nearby farm. I stretched a lot of muscles trying to stay comfortable.
Also, over the past week we’ve been working to clean my mother’s house. I’ve noticed that carrying heavy loads from one room to the other gives me a great workout, very much like lifting weights.
Or when I climb our stairs every day, if I take two steps at once, and move s-l-o-w-l-y, I can get a good stretch in my quads.
Now obviously these passive exercises don’t isolate muscles the same way a proper weight-lifting session would, but I do feel that looking for ways to get just a little more exercise each day help with my overall fitness goals.
I’d actually love to find more ways to squeeze bits and pieces of “passive exercise” into my everyday life. Do any of you do stuff like this?
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
UH… YEAH. I am very happy when I do what you are calling “passive exercise” – or what I call “living”. Remember, life used to be about using your muscles together (in tandem with each other), which is how they are supposed to be used. A “proper weight lifting session” (isolated exercises) is not what the muscles are supposed to be for.
Everytime I do work (or fun) and my muscles hurt during and after, I smile to myself that I’ve just helped my body be fit and stay youthful. Everytime.
So every time YOU move the contents of your house, clean a garage, rake leaves, mop a room, work in a garden, wash a car, hike some hills, climb stairs in a building, prune trees, rearrange your closet, load your car… etc… anything but sit in front of a TV or computer… REJOICE. Remember what you are doing for yourself.
You can spend 1-2 hours resting at night afterwards, but your body won’t get any better (and your work or play won’t get done) in front of that TV.
HA!
But see, I spend most of day in front of the computer. This sort of thing — “passive exercise” — isn’t usual for me. It’s been fun for me lately to find ways to get a little more exercise just doing day-to-day things. Or, as you say, “living”.
I look for places I can interject such things, although I’m not doing it everywhere I could. Really, I’m quite sucking at this whole concept of getting fit, be it slow or quick or at all.
That being said, I’m proud to say that I’ve only used the elevator at work all of four times this year, and every single time was due to a social aspect (basically carrying on a conversation with a coworker). I work on the third floor of a building, and so I traverse the stairs up and down at least once per day, often twice, sometimes even three or four times.
I’ve also taken to modifying it. I’m not just walking up and down the stairs. Sometimes I try to sprint it a little bit. Often I’ll try to stay tip-toed all the way up the two flights. Sometimes I combine the two. Today I tried doing a tip-toe walk, but including small stretches at each step, so I probably looked like a dork, bouncing lightly on each step, but I got a decent little workout.
Lately I’ve been doing calf raises while brushing my teeth. It serves two purposes – gets in a little bit of extra exercies and forces me to actually brush my teeth for the two full minutes that I should.
Where are you at re 100 pushups? I looked for your Saturday update to no avail. I’m starting week three of the regime, after repeating week two THRICE. If you stop posting updates, I’m gonna worry that NO ONE ever finishes this program.
Cheers!
Love this
it’s just part of being a really fit person. I’ve made conscious decisions to live where I can get this kind of living in my life. Right now, I teach paddling at a day camp, and I live within two miles of almost everything in town. I wish I walked more (for example, I don’t walk to the supermarket that is two miles away), but I always walk when going downtown. I agree with Lauren that I love the feeling of soreness from muscles used after a good activity.
In terms of “passive” exercise, I also like playing organized sports. I play recreational ultimate frisbee, and it’s a fabulous workout. I spend the better part of two hours 2x a week running around and having fun. I absolutely know it’s a stealthy way for me to get in extra exercise.
I love this idea. It’s funny, but I’ve been thinking of it from the opposite direction. We have worked long and hard to remove physical exertion from our lives: cars, remote controls, you name it. I have been attempting to remove many of these “hindrances” to movement from my life. Not only does it get me moving, but it forces me to reconsider what this time I supposedly “save” means to me.
If you spend a lot of time in front of the computer – consider getting one of those big fitness balls to sit on. It does help build core muscles. It also helps with posture because it’s harder to slouch while sitting on it.
I also sit cross-legged on the floor when I watch TV. It helps keep flexibility in my hip joints and improve posture. At first, I couldn’t sit for more than 5 minutes or so, but I can go for almost an hour now. It helped to elevate my butt a bit with a firm pillow – kept my legs from falling asleep right away and kept my back straighter. As you get better, you probably won’t need the pillow.
Cheers!
Brigid makes a good point of sitting cross legged. Instead of infront of the TV, you could start a meditation practice.
I am at a desk a lot of the time and i too try to use the stairs and take breaks from time to time. I also stand in front of my chair and go to sit but stop shy of the chair seat and then go to a stand. This squating motion is very good exercise and you will feel the “burn”. Just remember not to lean forward. Keep your back straight. You can also do leg raises from your chair and dips (as long as your chair does not have wheels LOL!) I also stretch on my breaks from slowly touching your toes and curling back up to arm, shoulder and neck stretching.
The fitness ball suggestion sounds great. Has anyone done this for a period of time? I think I would have to slowly introduce that and probably at my home office rather than work.
I used to take two buses for commuting. Now, when possible, I just use one and walk the remaining part.
I also stopped using electrical stairs at subway, and I think my quads are getting in a better shape.
I think my next step will be to sit cross-legged on the floor when watching tv, as Brigid does. As she said, that will help to improve posture and flexibility.
Well said Lauren!
A few years ago, I saw a study performed on a Amish community up here in Canada (Waterloo, Ontario to be exact).
They outfitted the adults with pedometers and tracked the number of steps that were walked each day.
The men walked approximately 19,000 steps while the women recorded just over 14,000 steps.
No aerobics classes or weight lifting or spinning.
Just hard work…resulting in 0% male obesity and 9% female obesity
Link to abstract – http://www.ms-se.com/pt/re/msse/abstract.00005768-200401000-00016.htm;jsessionid=LqyTj8hyT3ST1TkWg0gT2g1LRzm1KQV0LGQlKVxJv2nX92zRlkpj!-1124491571!181195628!8091!-1
Something that I have been doing for years is laying on my belly in bed when I am reading. Doing this I have kept my spine flexible, strengthened my lower back and stretch the front of my body. I prop my self up on a pillow and rest on my elbows.
It’s amazing how many things turn into “exercise” when you quit doing anything most of the time but sit in a chair. Sitting on the floor? Reading in bed? So true, though.
Why do grown-ups quit sitting on the floor or reading in bed? And besides getting all mature and professional, we also get very efficient at doing things.
Exercises I add to my day:
I add both calf raises and lunges to my tooth-brushing regimen. I park at the first place I see rather than the closest space I see and walk. I walk any place close. I sometimes hold a squat before sitting all the way. I do leg lifts in my desk chair while the computer tells me to “please wait.” I run to catch the door if it’s closing so I don’t have to enter the secret code. I carry around way too much crap in my knapsack that I drag to and from work. I pace while waiting for the bus. I sometimes do bicep curls, etc. when carrying purchases in bags with handles on the way to the car.
Ways I refuse convenience:
I take stairs instead of the elevator. I use a fork instead of a mixer (usually). I use a knife or cheese grater (or blender) instead of a food processor. I don’t have an electric can opener or carving knife. I hang my laundry to dry.
I know people who deliberately refuse to move into a first-floor apartment so they will be forced into some exercise.
I have been sitting at my desk more then normally lately, so I have taken an extra step. I do small leg lifts and calf stretches under my desk and will do arm lift with small weights while I sit and read reports. I don’t count because I can’t read and count at the same time but by the end of the day some muscles are sore, so it is doing a little help.
I thought of a couple more this morning.
When brushing your teeth lean forward until your elbows are resting on the countertop in the bathroom and then relax your back and focus on sticking your but up in the air towards the ceiling. When I do this the backs of my legs stretch. I hold this the entire time I am brushing my teeth. It feels great.
The other one I got from my 12 year old cousin. When he is standing and talking to someone he reaches behind his back with his left hand and grabs ahold of his right elbow next time I see him he has switched hands. It is a great stretch for the upper chest and shoulders. (I can only grab in the middle of my forearm.)