21 habits to get more daily movement
Finding little ways to add extra exercise into your day
If you're looking to get more movement in your life, you've come to the right place. In this post, we'll discuss 21 habits that can help you be more active. With these habits, we've included examples on how to anchor them to an existing habit in your day, and ways to make them tiny, which will improve your chances for success.
We like to use the Tiny Habits Method to break our habits down and make them almost impossible NOT to do. The Tiny Habits Method is based on the work of Dr. BJ Fogg, who is a world-renowned habits expert. If you're not familiar with his work, we highly recommend checking out his book, Tiny Habits. In a nutshell, the Tiny Habits method says that you should make your habits as small and easy as possible, and anchor them to an existing trigger in your day. This makes them much easier to stick to, and eventually, they become second nature. You may have also heard about this concept in the book Atomic Habits, where author James Clear labels it "Habit Stacking."
Tiny Habits and Habit Stacking work great for getting movement in. ittle bits of movement throughout the day can add up and make a big impact on your overall health and wellbeing!
When we're talking about these Tiny Habits for exercise, we've started using the term "Movement Snacks" – little bits of exercise you can “bite off” to increase movement throughout the day. This is a way to get the benefit of daily movement quickly, even when you aren't feeling it. With movement, it's SO helpful to focus on small habits that you can incorporate into your day that don't require a lot of time or effort. When we anchor Movement Snacks to an existing behavior and make them small, we have a better chance of making the habit automatic, instead of something you have to think about.
For each of these examples, we use an anchor-habit that may already exist in your life. Then, we attach a new Tiny Habit, that takes less than 30 seconds. We make it small, so that it can become automatic for you. You can and WILL do extra credit and do more than what's written most days.
21 Tiny Habits to Add More Movement to Your Daily Life
"After I use the restroom, I'll step out the front door."
"After a meeting ends, I'll stand up and stretch."
"After I finish a beverage, I'll walk away from my desk (and walk around the office)."
"After I put my shoes on, I will do 10 lunges (5 on each leg)."
"After I hit send on an email, I will take 10 steps around my office."
"After I arrive at the office, I will open the door to the stairs (to take the stairs instead of the elevator)."
"After I pull into the parking lot, I'll find a parking spot far from the entrance.(so I can walk to the store)."
"After I hear the stop before MINE called on the bus or train, I will pull the cord (to get off early and walk the rest of the way)."
"After I walk into my bedroom at night, I will set a timer for 30 seconds (and begin to stretch)."
"After I walk into my office, I will set a timer for 5 minute (and drop into a squat)."
"After I put my coffee cup in the dishwasher, I will set a timer for 1 minute (and drop into a plank)."
"After I finish begin brushing my teeth in the morning, I will do 10 squats."
"After I start the microwave timer, I'll drop into a plank while my food cooks."
"After I turn on a podcast, I'll stand up (to walk/pace around instead of sit)."
"After I finish my work for the day, I will set a timer for 5 minutes (and do some jumping jacks/run in place)."
"After I walk into my room at night, I will set a timer for 2 minutes (and do some light stretching)."
"After I check instagram, I will do 5 squats."
"After I post on Facebook, I will do 1 wall pushup."
"After I send an email, I will do 3 sit-ups."
"After I pet my dog, I will drop to the floor (to stretch)."
"After I take my break, I will walk around for 1 minute."
How do you find a micro habit that can work for you? There are many ways to get more movement into your day, but there is no "right" way. Find what works for you and do your best to stick with it. The above has examples of ways to make your habit small and examples of triggers/anchors in your day that could prompt you to take action. But please note, habit recipes are personal to you and your routine. Think about your day and jot down potential anchors. The more specific, the better.
More Example Anchors: Your Existing Habits That Can Trigger Your New Exercise Habit
Standing up out of bed
Flushing the toilet
Drying your hands
Putting your toothbrush back in its holder
Walking into the kitchen
Turning the coffee maker on
Opening the front door
Walking into your office
Opening your laptop
Shutting the dishwasher
Turning on the tea kettle
Hanging up your keys
Picking up a dog leash
Feeding your cat
When it comes to anchors, the key is to be as specific as possible. For example, rather than saying "after I get home from work," try "after I hang up my keys." Now that you have a list of potential anchors, it's time to start thinking about which ones will work well with your movement goals. Think about what type of tiny movement you could squeeze in with those anchors. Start with a couple that happen at different times of the day. Write them down, commit do doing them, and see which ones work. You will likely need to change things up to make it really fit. There's a lot of trial and error.
Extra Help on Habits
The whole point is to get some extra movement, right? So keep your bar for success nice and low. Any extra movement is a WIN and can have an impact on your health! We've given some examples and this should get you off to a good start. Also, wWe recommend reading Tiny Habits or taking advantage of our habit coaching options to help fine-tune your habits with a coach, if that would be helpful.
Also, having someone to celebrate those small wins with you can be very helpful as well. We know that a few extra steps can add up to a lot, and the real-human buddies at shelpful help their members with those extra steps every day. Members call their Sshelpers accountability buddies, accountability partners, accountabilibuddies, "naggedy ann" ;), coaches and friends. No matter what you call it, it's helpful.
When it comes to reaching those bigger goals, we've seen the support of an accountability partner work very well. In fact, a 2018 North Carolina State Universitystudy of 704 people taking part in a 15-week online weight-loss program found that participants with buddies lost more weight and waist inches than those who took the course without buddy support.
