It’s really hard to stay motivated to go to a gym consistently.  Some people are intimidated by working out around others.  Some have no clue what they’re doing and are embarrassed or worried they’re going to injure themselves.  Others are confused because there’s always a new workout on the cover of Men’s Health or Cosmopolitan.  And well, then there’s always the bunch that supposedly don’t have time to workout but never miss an episode of American Idol.

Working out doesn’t have to be that difficult.  First of all, if you’re intimidated, embarrassed or concerned, try hiring a trainer, even if it’s just for a single hour.  I promise, it will be helpful.  Even though I workout 4-6 times per week, I still try to add in other ways to stay healthy and get in a little extra workout whenever possible.  It helps to keep me focused and as long as it doesn’t interrupt the rest of my life, why not?

So, today I have 7 tips for you that are simple, fast, and won’t take longer than a few minutes extra each day, if even that long.

7 Simple Fitness Tips

1. Unless you work on the 103rd floor, consider taking the stairs.  Just by taking the stairs to the 4th floor where I live, I add an extra approximately 11,000 stairs to my daily routine per month.  For me, it is usually faster than the elevator, doesn’t make me tired, but does keep me active.

2. Unless you’re going to a professional sports game where the parking lots are miles long, park a ways away from the front door.  I park approximately 500 steps away from my truck at my house even though there is parking approximately 50-100 steps from the front door.  This adds an additional 22,400 steps per month to my activity, if you account deduct the 100 steps per day I could be walking.

3. Buy a pedometer.  You can find them for relatively cheap, around $20 or so, and if you’re a competitive person like I am, it will become a game against yourself.  Set your goal for 10,000 steps per day.  If you buy a little fancier one it will even calculate miles and calories burned.  Track your progress in a simple Google Docs spreadsheet and try to improve a little more each day.

4. Buy a bluetooth headset for your office.  If you’re usually stuck at your desk all day long on conference calls, buy a bluetooth headset for your office phone.  Then, take your calls from the headset and walk around your office if you don’t need to be behind a computer screen.  If you’re going to try this, make sure you get a Plantronics set.  They’re the best, bottom line.

5. Pick up workout bands.  You can hide these easily in a desk drawer or carry them in your bag when you’re traveling.  These little bands will allow you to get in a decently intense workout when you can’t make it to the gym.  Even if you do make it to the gym regularly, you should add these into your workout.

6. Go for a walk around the building at lunch.  Take 10 minutes at lunch time and take a walk around your building.  Just this little additional exercise will help to energize for the long afternoon ahead and will add a couple more thousand steps into your daily routine.

7. Do a set of pushups or situps.  It’s mid-day and you’re tired.  You’ve been staring at your screen for what feels like 60 hours and it’s not even lunch time yet.  Hop out of your chair, pop down and knock out a set of pushups.  Nothing crazy so you don’t mess up your office attire, just 10-25.  Even if you did 25 pushups only 3 times per week, it would add up 300 extra pushups per month.

As you can see, none of these suggestions are particularly hard, take up a lot of time, and are all meant to give you an extra burst of energy.  Whether you workout constantly or don’t even know what the word “gym” really means, adding any one of these tips into your daily routine will help you out.

What easy things do you do to try to keep in shape, stay healthy, and stay energized?

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Photo by: Phillip Klinger

This was originally posted on workshifting.com but thought it might be useful and interesting over here too.  If you haven’t checked out workshifting.com yet, please subscribe and let me know what you think.

As a web commuter we spend most of our time in cafes, airports, hotels, flying, driving, or a number of other places and modes of travel.  This means that we’re usually at the mercy of whatever is closest and fastest for food.  We’re also constantly surrounded by food which leads to the temptation to snack more than usual.  Before web commuting became a regular part of my life, anything that included traveling was excuse enough for me to eat anything and everything I could find.  Fast food at the airport. Check. Multiple snacks on the plane.  Yup.  A cookie at the cafe. Uh huh.

Now that I spend most of my time away from home, I’ve had to re-evaluate that strategy.  It was great while it lasted.  The temptation is always there for us though, isn’t it?  If you work in a traditional office, you only have to worry about the vending machine or bowl of candy at the receptionist desk.  Not us.  We have to be even more conscious of it because our offices are places where there’s normally food of some kind being served.

So, what can we do to make sure we’re eating healthy as a web commuter?

6 Tips to Healthier Eating as a Web Commuter

1. Pack trail mix or granola.  There are a ton of varieties out there now so you can find the kind that fits your taste.  I find some of my favorite at Trader Joes.  Alternatively, you can make your own easily.

2. Don’t fall victim to fast food restaurants at the airport.  More and more airports are taking the time to bring in local fare, celebrity chefs and other nice touches that allow you to avoid fast food.  Looking for a list of some of the top airport restaurants in the country?  Frommer’s recently published their list of the 13 Best U.S. Airport Restaurants.

3. Avoid the super grande mocha double espresso frothy chocolaty drink that you always get.  Starbucks has a great nutritional guide to help you out.  Hint: Go skim.  You can’t really taste the difference and it lowers the calories and fat by a lot!

4. Just because you’re there, doesn’t mean you have to eat.  Save on the cost of a couple cookies and make a small donation to charity.

5. Step away from the peanuts! If you’re flying, and have the choice, opt for one of the healthier options.  I happen to like the Terra Blue Chips available on JetBlue.

6. Get outside! We’re so trained to go work from a cafe, hotel lobby or sandwich shop but why not go out to the local park and do some work for a little while?

I have always been someone who enjoyed being fit whether it be working out, playing sports or just being active getting out and about.  But, unfortunately, over the past couple years I have been on again off again with working out.  I’ll do really well for a few months and then I let something like travel, vacation, busy work week or another excuse throw me off.  I’ve never stopped being fit such as choosing stairs instead of elevators or trying to eat decently healthy but I haven’t committed to it in the way that I have in the past.

You see, I tend to have an obsessive and competitive personality.  What this equals is that I always have to be the best at what I do and I obsess over ways to become the best.  Well, with not working out on a regular basis, it has driven me crazy because I know the things that I can do to immediately improve.  It drives me crazy that others are in better shape than I am.  I’ve spent a lot of time throughout my life studying nutrition, nutritional supplements, and working out.  For a few years I was a manager at GNC in college where I would devour 10-15 magazines per month and read every book that was sent to us.

As I make the commitment to get back into shape, I wanted to share with you some of my top tips to getting back in shape.

Top 10 Tips for Getting in Shape

1. Buy some new gear – Go to your local athletic store and buy a new outfit including proper cross-training or running sneakers.  Not only will it make you feel better and put you into the mood to workout, it’ll help you be more comfortable and proper footwear will help to protect against injuries.
2. Create a new playlist – Put together a fast-paced playlist that you’ll use when you go to the gym with your iPod or other MP3 player.  I tend to load hard-hitting rock or alternative songs for when I’m lifting weights.  If I’m doing cardio, I have a playlist of uptempo songs usually pop, hip-hop or club music.  You’ll find you’re workouts will be a lot better if you’re not already doing this.  Who really wants to listen to themselves gasp for breath while working out anyways?
3. Always be a student – Go out and buy the rack of magazines, pick up a couple new books and find some websites that you enjoy reading.  Become a student of being healthy.  Not only will you learn tons about how to eat properly and put together workout plans based on your goals, it will also help to keep you motivated.  When I’m really into working out I will typically read 4-5 magazines and 1-2 books per month.  My two favorite magazines are: Men’s Health and GQ but there are tons more.
4. Set small obtainable goals – One of the things I think discourages people the fastest when they’re trying to get back in shape is setting a goal that seems impossible such as losing 50lbs or dropping 8 pants sizes.  Set small obtainable goals and write them down.  Maybe if would be a big win if you made it to the gym 5 days this week, lost 3lbs, or didn’t eat fried food for 2 weeks.  These are very obtainable and measurable goals.  A bunch small wins will turn into obtaining that larger goal.
5. Track your progress – You should record everything including your goals, your meals, and every workout along with a picture of yourself once per month.  This will help you to track your progress and see those small wins as well as helping you to set new goals.  What I also find this does, for me at least, is that I will not cheat on a meal or I’ll make sure I get that workout in that I don’t feel like doing because I don’t want to have to write the fried food or missed workout into my journal (unless it’s a cheat day of course!).  It keeps you accountable.  You could even make this journal public to keep you even more accountable.
6. Reward yourself regularly – I find that people fall off track because they go too far too quick to the other spectrum.  You’ve spent a long time not eating healthy and/or not working out regularly.  Going to the other extreme and droppin everything you were doing previously, may actually cause you to fall off.  Start by cutting back and also don’t be afraid to reward yourself regularly.  I allow myself to have small rewards.  For example, if you eat a lot of chocolate, try cutting it back and just have a small square each night after dinner.  You’ll still be cutting back a lot of calories, fat and sugar and at the same time you’ll be satisfying your craving.
7. Workout with a friend – While I don’t always have this luxury, I do find that I stick to my schedule a lot more when I’m able to workout with a friend.  When Laura and I first moved to Boston she was transitioning between jobs so that meant she was home every night.  Every night we would go to the gym as soon as I got home and then have dinner together.  It kept us accountable to each other and made it fun!
8. Just get started – One of the most important things with getting back into shape is to just get started.  Is it a sunny day out right now as you read this?  Lace up your sneakers and take a walk around your neighborhood.  Hop in the pool and try to swim a couple laps.  Just do something active!
9. Have fun - Most importantly, have fun with it!  Don’t see getting in shape as another task.  Choose activities that you enjoy doing and can do often.  If you don’t like gyms or are intimidated by them, go for walks, or bike rides, go swimming, run hills, do a hike and enjoy the view.  Whatever it is, find something that you enjoy and keep doing it.  You’ll find that you’ll soon begin wanting to explore other activities.

What are some of your tips for getting back into shape?

In my next post I’ll cover some of my tips for eating healthy which can sometimes be the more difficult thing for people to accomplish on their path to getting in shape.

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Photo by: stacya