Integration, Part Three: Get A Micro Workout In

* Don't forget some light stretching afterward!

The final option for integrating mobility seamlessly into your day,  besides ditching your car (at least for part of the way to work), working in bursts of activity throughout the day or changing the way you plunk down in front of your computer, is a micro-workout. 

It is the same idea as little circuits or challenges that take ten minutes or less, as not to disrupt you from anything. At the moment, I am doing the 100 push ups challenge, 200 sit ups challenge and 200 squats challenge. It goes like this: I downloaded the free 100 push ups app from the Windows phone store, which has the aforementioned three challenges, as well as a pull ups challenge. On Monday night I do the push ups, Tuesday the sit ups and Wednesday, the squats. I repeat the cycle Thursday, Friday and Saturday, then rest on Sunday. 

These challenges are great because they adjust to your level. Whether you can do one push up or fifty, it will calculate the right number of reps for you. Hundreds of bodyweight exercises might sound scary, but you can do modified versions of these exercises and you go at your own pace. You can do them any time, morning noon or night.  And they are over in no time at all.  (I usually crawl into bed, remember, mutter an expletive, crawl out of bed and quickly bang out my micro-workout so I can get back under the covers.) Look around on the internet for these things, there are planking challenges, "10 best body weight exercises" circuits and things all over that can be done in 5-10 minutes without any implements or impediments (except your attitude.) 

Another thing you can do is put an exercise bike, treadmill or elliptical trainer in front of your TV. Take a leisurely stroll, easy ride or light climb during one TV show. You'd be watching it anyway, sprawled out on the couch or in bed, it takes no extra time out of your day, only a little bit of effort.

So, how are you going to integrate? By changing your commute? Walk breaks? Standing at your desk? Micro workouts? Treading at your TV? You'll be surprised at what a tiny little workout can do for your mind and energy levels.