So you want to exercise more. But where to begin? There are so many possible exercises to choose from, whether several resistance exercises for every single muscle in our bodies, cardio, or a bajillion team sports. Then there’s the question of how much?? How many sets of how many reps of each weight should I do, and how long should my runs be? Whether you’re a complete newbie or a seasoned fitness freak, there’s a whole type of exercise we should all be adding to our repertoires: Intentional incidental exercise.
We already do incidental exercise: whenever you walk to the fridge, or to the train station, or brush your teeth, you burn some calories. It may not be much, but it’s a certain baseline. It’s easy to think of these as just depending on your life circumstances, but what if I told you that you can design more of these into your life?
There are three main ones I’d like to touch on today, noting that there may well be endless other ways to do this. These all involve changing how you get from A to B. Two of these work for almost any location, and the third depends a bit on the surroundings:
- Walk
No matter how far the journey is, there’s almost always an easy way of involving more walking. If you’re flying across the world or driving between cities, of course you shouldn’t be walking all the way. You don’t have to. But whatever mode of transport you use, you can aim to at least slightly increase the amount of walking involved, step by step.
Going on the subway or the bus? Get off a stop or two earlier and walk the rest! Driving? Park earlier and again, walk the rest! Walking through the airport? Skip the moving walkway (that’s the flat “escalator” – I had to look the name up) and get in a decent mini-workout with your luggage.
Walking is the underrated exercise. It’s easy to overlook, given that no equipment is involved, no preparation, and anyone can do it (barring debilitating injury or disability). But as easy as it is to overlook, it’s equally as easy to do, so there’s no excuse. And just because it’s easy, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have benefits. It has them in spades. I’d like to explore the benefits in-depth another time, but in a nutshell, you’re burning calories and moderately burning fat, keeping your glutes engaged, reducing stress, and just getting some time to think (or avoid overthinking) and see the world.
If time is an issue, make time for it! To the degree that you can, you can design your journey in such a way that you get there on time while not having to rush. Sure, you could get there faster by driving or public transport, but how are you spending that time? Unless you’re under extreme pressure to finish some task while on the train, you’ll feel a lot better having walked at least part of the journey than sitting non-stop packed next to strangers. Even if you don’t enjoy the walk itself (which you can totally learn to), you’ll feel better after.
And for those situations where you may not need to do work while travelling, but time is of the essence, there’s an equally elegant solution:
2. Bike it
If the vibe of this post didn’t make it clear, I’m of course talking about bicycles, not motorbikes. These things are absolute happiness machines. They get you from A to B reasonably fast, give you a good workout without over-exerting yourself (depending on the journey, of course), and you get to take in your surroundings without being separated by a barrier of glass.
The best part is that at least here in Melbourne, most short-medium, urban trips are actually faster on the bike than on public transport. I can’t imagine Melbourne is completely unique in this sense, so there’s a good chance biking will save you time wherever you are. And it doesn’t pollute. And it’s free!*
Of course, it’s not free if you don’t have one. But you don’t need anything fancy – you can easily score a decent quality bike on Gumtree/Craigslist/Marketplace for under $150 (that’s AUD, so it’ll be even cheaper in USD). Given the money you save on public transport and/or gas, that pays off in no time.
Some places are hillier than others, so I wouldn’t recommend immediately biking up and down a hilly area if you’re starting from a place of relatively low fitness. But even there, you can incorporate more biking in baby steps. Again, you can split the journey – bike and walk, bike and drive, bike and public transport. It’s less flexible than walking as you’ll have to leave the bike somewhere and come back to it, but it’s still very much an option.
If walking involves mostly the calves and glutes, cycling uses your calves and hammies more, so some combination of both would give you a fair bit of variety. Moreover, while walking is more of a consistent effort (with a bit of variation in elevation), cycling is closer to an interval workout given the starting and stopping and more frequent elevation changes. In other words, it’ll burn more calories and fat over the same duration compared to walking.
I see a bike as an integral part of any happy person’s life.
3. Take the stairs
Technically, this is also walking, but it requires a bit more equipment and targets slightly different muscles than regular walking (and the same ones more intensely), so it deserves its own category. Besides, if walking is for short distances and biking for medium ones, stairs are for short vertical distances. Rather than public transport, taking the stairs replaces elevators and escalators.
You could argue that we invented escalators and elevators for a reason, but to that, I counter thusly: we also invented stepping machines for a reason. They improve your cardio, lower your heart rate, and help make your bum look (and feel) nice.
But fear not, you don’t need to dish out on a fancy step machine, or even go to the gym to use it. Just try and use the stairs for at least part of your vertical journeys, whenever available. Just as conveniently as walking partway, you can take the stairs for a level or two, and then use the lift, or vice versa. Then, over time, you can increase the ratio of stairs/lift travel.
Many underground train stations have two flights of stairs plus escalators with a brief, flat break. You could take one flight of stairs and the other by escalator, and aim to walk all the way eventually. If you’ve only got an escalator, at least walk up (or down) it. Don’t just stand there. Besides all the health benefits though, by taking the stairs, you’ll generally avoid the majority of the foot traffic and save yourself having to push past people and say “excuse me” a hundred times (if you’re in a hurry).
Start today
It took me a while to make leg day a regular part of my gym routine. Part of that was laziness, but part was also that I already had fairly sexy legs for a non-leg day person – which I developed specifically through this combo of walking, biking, and stairs. Not to mention the stress these relieved compared to the “convenience” of other modes of transport, the journeys enjoyed, and the fitness level maintained.
Wherever you need to go today, walk a few steps more than you planned to. Take the bike (or start researching where to get ones nearby). Take at least a few stairs. It may feel painful at first, but you’ll get used to it. And you’ll feel a lot better after. And (I can’t say this enough) it’s free. And releases no emissions other than the farts you’d have released at home too (joking aside, walking can aid digestion).
Not just that, but you can use this baseline you’re building up to then have an easier time getting into other forms of exercise. These three alone aren’t sufficient for all-round health, but they go a long way and will make other exercises seem that much more accessible. And if you already do other exercises, these will add more consistency into your life.
They’re easy, healthy, and free. But they only work if you do them. So add them to your very next journey, and reap the rewards for a lifetime.
*Ok, so is the free tram zone, but the other benefits of no pollution and speed still help biking take the cake.