February is Healthy Heart Month, and The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, spread throughout the week. The goal is to spend less time sitting and more time moving in a way that fits into your daily lifestyle.
Cincinnati Sports Club shares their Top 10 tips to get the family active and keep them moving!
According to Suzi Wood, who has been a Personal Trainer at Cincinnati Sports Club since 2017, “Only about one in five adults and teens get the recommended 150 minutes of exercise each week that is necessary to maintain good health. Incorporating movement into our daily lives doesn’t have to be a high-intensity cardio workout such as running on the treadmill or kick-boxing. If you’re sedentary, sitting less is a great place to start. Just moving more and being more active can help you think, feel and sleep better and perform the usual daily tasks more easily.”
Wood recommends these Top 10 Easy Tips that can be incorporated into our daily lives that can help us hit the magic 150 mark:
- Walking your dog instead of letting it out in the yard, easy for kids to help!
2. Setting a timer every hour to remind you to get up and move for 5 minutes.
3. Doing a vigorous cleaning around the house or office, turn on some tunes, give the kids a duster and have a dance party while cleaning!
4. If you have a longer lunch break, spend half of it going for a walk either solo or with co-workers.
5. If you like to read, download an audio book and listen while walking on the treadmill or outside, or sitting on a spin bike. If you are walking outside, call a friend to make the time go faster. There are many educational podcasts for children and nursery rhymes for kids of all ages!
6. Invest in a standing desk
7. If you are in management, hold your next team meeting while standing or walking (whether in person or virtual).
8. Opt to use the carry basket in the grocery store for smaller trips rather than the cart… ask your local grocer if they have kids carts; encourage your little ones to push and pull their own tike-sized carts.
9. Get a head start on Spring yard work on nice days – weeding, raking leaves from the flowerbeds, mowing the lawn, start a pollinator garden with your kids!
10. Enjoy a family walk after dinner.
Wood concludes, “It all adds up! Try out a few of these tips over the next month, and you’ll be surprised how much more you are moving in your daily life, and how easy it is to hit 150 minutes per week. These tips can be habit-forming, and once you start incorporating them, it will have you wanting to do even more!”
For more than 33 years, Cincinnati Sports Club has been continually evolving and growing to meet the changing needs of their members, across 16 sprawling acres, providing the best elements of a health club, social club, and medical wellness facility to fulfill the whole person that they serve by keeping them active, connected and engaged. For more information, visit here.