Best Ways to Get Incidental Exercise

What Is Incidental Exercise? 

Incidental exercise occurs when it is part of your daily routine. You are already likely to be engaging in incidental exercise without even recognising it.  

How Much Daily Incidental Exercise Makes A Health Impact? 

Health authorities recommend approximately 30 minutes of moderate exercise daily. Research has indicated that as long as your incidental activities are of moderate intensity, you can improve your overall health and prevent some of the chronic health conditions associated with an inactive lifestyle. 

Incidental exercise keeps your metabolism working, burns up calories, ensures your joints, muscles and bones are functioning as they're meant to and prevents the health risks from being sedentary for long periods of time. It also keeps you mentally engaged rather than the fatigue that can set in from being in the same place, unstimulated, for long periods of time. 

Who Should Engage In Incidental Exercise? 

Everyone who is physically able to. Incidental exercise is free and when you add up the additional time spent moving over a day and a week, it can have a significant impact on your physical health. Even if you’ve got an injury, a health condition, or your level of fitness is very low, there are small and incremental ways to include more activity into your day.  

What Are Some Ways I Can Build My Incidental Exercise? 

Here's some ways to engage in incidental exercise at home: 

• Take the stairs instead of the lift or elevator 

• Walk instead of driving  

• Offer to walk with your friends, neighbours or family when they're taking the dog for a walk, keeping 1.5 metres between you and other people 

• Work in your garden or engage in some home maintenance 

Can Incidental Exercise Replace Formal Exercise? 

While it's possible to get your 30 minutes a day of recommended exercise with incidental exercise, this is the bare minimum to keep you healthy. We recommend you combine incidental exercise with more formal training programs if possible.  

That’s because as we age, our bones and muscles, metabolism and hormones benefit from regular, weight-bearing exercise which is best conducted with the supervision and guidance of experts in strength training. Optimally, two sessions of strength training a week for 30 to 45 minutes along with aerobic exercise such as walking, cycling, running or dancing combine to ensure your health is not only maintained but constantly improved. 

While walking an extra block, cycling or taking the stairs is easy to choose and to do without aid, there’s so many benefits to formal exercise that it would be wisest to engage in both formal and incidental exercise. 

Where can I find a Formal Exercise solution? 

Home Fitness Network provides a convenient online place to learn how to train safely, efficiently and to have skilled professionals providing guidance and motivation. 

Home Fitness Network provides access to daily fitness programs for all ages and fitness levels, including kids and youth. This is ideal, especially, for those who are struggling with motivating themselves, and are looking for an at-home solution to keep everyone in the household moving and active! 

The Conclusion? 

Incidental exercise is definitely beneficial for your mental and physical health, especially where it adds up to around 30 minutes daily.  

Ideally, this needs to be part of your daily habit. Taking the stairs once a week isn’t of great benefit.  

Combine informal exercise with daily programs from Home Fitness Network to support prevention of chronic health programs and maintain optimal physical health.