More Easy Ways to Add Exercise to Your Life!

"You can’t hire someone else to do your push-ups for you." — Jim Rohn

Looking for some easy ways to add some little bits of exercise to your busy schedule? Don't have enough time to get to the gym or take a one hour walk? Here's an idea: take advantage of some of those minutes when you are waiting for something and do a few pushups! Much of our day is spent waiting for little things like water to boil for tea, an egg to cook, coffee to brew, steaks to grill, etc. What a perfect time to do some pushups!

You don't even have to get all the way down on the floor; you can do them against the counter. Challenge yourself to see how many you can do before your coffee machine is done making your cup of coffee, and then try to do more every day. Before long, you'll have super-toned arms without even taking one extra minute of time out of your day. You were going to make that coffee anyway, right?

My boys Chris and Nick getting in a few pushups.

“The only pushup you won't be able to do is the one you never do.” ― Gwen Ro

Here are some benefits to doing pushups:

1. Strengthens multiple muscle groups

When you do a pushup, you are using your biceps, triceps, abs, back, chest, shoulders, and even your thigh muscles! Because of this, pushups are classified as a compound exercise, so you're getting a lot of workout in with just one exercise.

My son Michael doing pushups at the beach

2. Improves posture

Pushups strengthen your core as you hold your body straight, which gives you better posture, which in turn helps all your organs to function better.

3. Doesn't require any additional equipment

All you need is your body. No weights, machines, bands, etc.

4. They're easy to modify

You can do pushups against the counter, on the floor, using a chair, you can do them on your knees instead of your toes, and you can even do handstand pushups against the wall.

Christian doing some handstand pushups to boost his performance in water polo.

5. Protects your shoulders from injury

Pushups strengthen the muscles around your shoulder joint, which helps protect your rotator cuffs. Injury to the rotator cuff is very common and debilitating among the elderly, so it serves you well to strengthen the muscles surrounding your rotator cuffs to help protect them.

6. Promotes cardiovascular health and HGH production

When you engage in exercise that uses multiple muscles, you get your heart working hard to get oxygen to all those muscles you're using, and it also triggers your production of Human Growth Hormone (HGH), which is also considered the fountain of youth. We produce lots of HGH when we're young, but it tapers way off when you finish growing. HGH promotes higher energy levels, better exercise performance, lean muscle mass, hair growth, stronger bones and heart, better healing, higher quality sleep, improved cognitive function, brighter mood, and easier weight management.

So the next time you're in the kitchen, whether you're making some coffee or steaming some veggies, use your waiting time wisely and get in as many pushups as you can. A simple habit that takes no extra time and pays big rewards!

Are you following along with my 52 Simple Changes That Will Transform Your Life? #13 on the list is "Do pushups against the counter while you're waiting for water to boil, your coffee to brew, your eggs to cook, etc". Write this down and hang it up on your mirror. You can get the whole list by clicking here. If you implement all 52 simple changes this year and make them habits, by the end of this year you will have significantly improved your diet, your fitness, your mental, emotional, and spiritual health, your house will be cleaner and more orderly, and you will make some serious strides in your financial situation as well. Who doesn't want all that? Get the list, and make those changes! Small changes add up to big wins!