There is one topic that is either hit or miss with you… Exercise.

You either love it or you tolerate it because you know that exercise is one tiny piece to the puzzle titled, “Your Success.”

Learning to like exercise takes a lot of time, just ask bariatric patient Maria Besenski who said, “I was finishing an hour of cardio workout with my trainer last week and she said I had done enough and didn’t have to complete the last three minutes of running. I did it anyway, as that was my favorite part of the workout. ME, the woman who hated running chose to do it.”

“I would never have thought I would have felt that way.”

Many patients before surgery find it very difficult and sometimes painful to exercise due to health conditions such as difficulty breathing/shortness of breath, knee or back pain, aching joints, and heart conditions.

And then after surgery, many patients don’t even know where to begin their exercise routine. We’ve created this blog to help you incorporate exercise into your daily routine if you don’t have time to go to the gym or if you need a little help starting a routine and learning to like exercise.

First, let’s talk about the seven benefits of exercise.

• Exercise burns calories.
• Exercise reduces fat while building muscle.
• Exercise increases energy.
• Exercise helps lower blood pressure.
• Exercise improves your mood and self-esteem. (HELLO, endorphins!)
• Exercise enhances the immune system and strengthens bones.
• Exercise reduces stress.

Now that we know the benefits of exercise, how can you incorporate exercise into your daily life?

It’s easy! We have some tips for you to try that won’t even FEEL like exercise.

Start any activity with a warm-up. Stretch right when you get out of bed. Do some jumping jacks while watching the morning news!

Use stairs!So your office is on the fifth floor? Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalators. If the only stairs you encounter during the day are in your home, place dumb bells at the bottom of your stairs. When you’re walking up your stairs pick them up and do a few reps, but leave them at the top of the stairs. Pick them back up when you’re walking downstairs and leave them at the bottom of the stairs. Do this every time you walk up and down the stairs.

Park your car further away from your destination. Are you going to the grocery store? Park at the back of the lot and take the extra time to get your steps in. Have a front row parking spot at work? Skip it. Park in the back! You’ll get added exercise to your daily routine in no time by making this one change.

Practice good posture. Make sure your back is straight to strengthen your core.

Walk while you talk! Say you’re on the phone with someone for 30 minutes? That’s 30 minutes of walking you’re fitting into your day!

This is a fun one! Do 15-20 squats every time you go to the bathroom. It’s a quick and sporadic way to sneak fitness into your schedule.

Do calve raises when you’re in line, anywhere. In line for lunch? Calve raises. In line for the bathroom? Calve raises. In line at the store? Calve raises! You’ll have tighter, toner calves in no time.

Do you carry a lot of bags inside after you go shopping? Do bicep curls with your bags as you walk inside. Think of it like a challenge to your arms. How many reps can you squeeze in before you make it inside?!

Some more fun ways to sneak in exercise is during regular household activities. Calve raises while doing dishes, lunges while vacuuming, squats while folding your clothes or making your bed.

Do you see how easy it can be to sneak exercise into your daily schedule?

In order to stay healthy, we encourage you to try these nine little ways to sneak exercise into your schedule.

Try these tips for a week and see how much better you feel knowing you’re making tiny little differences that will amount to extremely big differences in your health!