Think Christmas shopping will keep you from doing exercise? Here are a few sneaky elf exercise tips to help you still get a workout in while you are out finding all on gifts on your gift list. Start your shopping trip well hydrated.
Power Walk: Park your car far from the doors in order to get more steps into your day. Walk between stores at a moderate pace to burn calories and fat. Take the stairs: or, if store stairs are too scary, climb the escalator stairs instead of just passively riding the escalator up. Circle the store in the outside aisles to get more steps in before you explore each aisle. Remember to wear comfortable shoes for walking.
Work your arms: Do a few bicep curls with your packages while walking to next store or when taking packages to car.
Engage your core: When standing in line to pay, engage your abdominals and glutes with some squeezes for 15-30 seconds. No one will notice you are doing them. Put a heavy item in your cart to push around just for exercise and then put back when you are leaving.
Work your calf muscles and glutes: When reaching for something on shelf overhead, be mindful to powerfully come up on your toes. If reaching down, squat and squeeze your glutes.
Waiting for a friend in a dressing room: Do a few wall sits. Put your back against a wall and squat down as if you are sitting on a chair keeping your knees at a ninety degree angle and feet pointing forward. Hold as long as you can and feel your thigh muscles working.
Practice better posture while you are walking: Imagine you are at the beach instead of the mall. Stand tall, tighten your abdominals and walk as if you are wearing your bathing suit.
When you get home, you can always do a round of the 12 Days of Christmas Workout to round out the day:
12 bent over rows
11 medicine ball (or dumb bell) wood chops (each side)
10 reverse lunges
9 shoulder presses
8 squats
7 hip bridges
6 triceps dips
5 push ups
4 Burpees
3, 20 sec wall sits
2 chin tucks
1, 30 sec plank