As a parent, you want to live a long, healthy life with your family. You want to enjoy those future grandkids. One of the best ways to stay healthy is to build muscular strength.
You already get some biceps work just from lifting your little ones. However, for a full-body workout, you need to exert a little more effort. Here are eight simple ways to build strength without dropping a fortune on a pricey gym membership.
1. Take Your Kids to the Park
The COVID-19 pandemic gives you one more reason to take your kids to the playground. Research shows that spending time in nature could increase your immune function. The magic lies in phytoncides, plant substances that defend against predators ? and strengthen the human body against germs.
While there, seize the opportunity to sneak in a workout. Doing pullups on the monkey bars improves your grip strength while sculpting shapely shoulders and arms. Don?t worry if you can?t lift your full body weight. Use the set designed for younger children and use a few toes on the ground for assistance.
2. Get Into Gardening
Did you miss out on the gardening craze that swept the nation during the initial months of the pandemic? While you might run into a few seed shortages, you can still get outside and dig in the good earth. Use containers if you are an urban apartment dweller with only a balcony or patio.
For maximum muscle gains, make your outdoor chores into a workout. Pull weeds by hand instead of opting for chemical herbicides. You?ll save your family from troublesome chemicals while increasing your upper body strength. Do you have a lawn? Why not invest in an old-fashioned push mower for maximum exertion during your weekly chore?
3. Walk or Bike
Are you one of those parents contributing to a cloud of exhaust fumes in the pickup line at the end of every school day? You could do the planet a solid and increase your exercise quotient by walking to pick up your little one instead. Their legs will also appreciate the stretch after sitting at their school desk all day.
What if you live too far away? A bike ride shaves minutes off your journey and there are a lot of health benefits of it. You can even opt for an electric model if you need extra help powering up steep hills.
4. Take the Stairs
Did you get the dreaded ?all hands on deck? email and return to the office? If your complex features elevators, opt for the stairs instead.
You burn 0.17 calories for every step you ascend. However, fat burning isn?t the only perk of using foot power. You?ll also sculpt lean quads and hamstrings.
5. Knead That Dough
Do your Saturday mornings find you in the kitchen, busily prepping your family?s meals for the week? Transform the chore into a mini upper-body workout by passing on the convenient appliances and doing much work by hand.
You work your arms, chest and shoulders every time you roll out cookies or knead bread dough. Even the simple act of chopping vegetables for the weeknight wok burns more calories than sending them through the food processor.
6. B.Y.O.B.
No, this subheading doesn?t refer to alcoholic beverages. It means to take your cloth bags to the grocery store. Doing so helps keep the planet greener while giving you the chance to get in an extra upper-body workout.
How? Cloth bags won?t tear, unlike plastic or paper. If you have a few heavy-duty canvas models, you can load them up as heavy as your strength will allow. You?ll have to make fewer trips from the car in the rain. Be sure to balance your load with bags on either side so that you don?t throw your back out of whack.
7. Clean Your House
Does looking under your bed leave you sighing at the collection of dust bunnies there? You could hide the mess with a dust ruffle ? or burn some serious calories by doing your fall house cleaning.
Vacuuming for half an hour burns over 100 calories if you weigh 150 pounds or more. You can build upper-body strength as you lift and move furniture to get beneath and behind it.
8. Pull Your Weight
Who said you needed a bunch of equipment to build strength? If you have a body, you have all the tools you need.
Perform bodyweight exercises such as squats and forward lunges during television commercials. If you?re looking to sculpt incredible abs and upper-body strength, Ashtanga yoga is an athletic option that will have you supporting your weight on your hands while doing inversions. You can also perform push-ups and crunches right on your living room floor.
Build Strength These 8 Simple Ways
As a parent, you want to stay your healthy best to watch your children grow and thrive. Build strength without joining a gym in the eight simple ways above.