Great Ideas

It is recommended that you should participate in physical activities that include endurance, flexibility and strength to keep your body healthy. Here are some easy every day examples to include these activities:

Endurance
Flexibility
Strength
Other Ideas

Endurance: endurance activities help your heart, lungs and circulatory system stay healthy and give you more energy (4-7 days a week)

• walking
• golfing (without a ride-on cart!)
• yard and garden work
• propelling a wheelchair ("wheeling")
• cycling
• skating
• continuous swimming
• tennis
• dancing

Flexibility: activities that can help you to move easily, keeping your muscles relaxed and your joints mobile (4-7 days a week)

• gardening
• mopping the floor
• yard work
• vacuuming
• stretching exercises
• golf
• T'ai Chi
• Bowling
• Yoga
• Curling
• Dance

Strength: activities that help your muscles and bones stay strong, improve your posture and help to prevent diseases like osteoporosis (2-4 days a week)

• heavy yard work, such as cutting and piling wood; shoveling snow
• raking and carrying leaves
• lifting and carrying groceries
• climbing stairs
• exercises like abdominal crunches and push ups
• wearing a backpack carrying school books
• weight/strength training routines

Some other ideas to fit physical activity in:

• get off bus 10 minutes before your intended stop and walk
• fit a 10 minute walk into your lunch break
• if you are a stay at home parent, try fitting in a TV fitness program; dance with your children for 10 minutes; go to the park and actively play with your children
• take the stairs instead of the elevator -
• o stretch breaks at your desk or while riding on the bus
• walk to do your errands (you can count that walking around the mall!)
• make physical activity a family event
• when going out with friends, think of activities where you can include physical activity