Last week, we discussed using food to reduce the cost of health care. But there’s something else we must do that will also help you keep those costs down.
Exercising.
Being healthy isn’t only about food; it’s also about using food as fuel. We sit more than ever, and this constant sentience is slowly killing us. Exercising is one way to combat our sedentary lives and stay healthy, which will also help us reduce the cost of health care.
Exercising
Once upon a time, cavemen had to hunt and gather their food. Exercise was a part of their lives, and food was scarce. Now, we must hunt and gather our exercise, since food is plentiful and fitness scarce.
Sitting all day at our desks rots our muscles. These muscles are what help us burn the fat and calories we take in throughout the day, so we must find ways to move each day and rebuild those atrophied tissues.
Unfortunately, for many of you, exercise is a harsh word, and “working out” makes you want to cry.
Think of exercise as proactive living. Investing in your proactive lifestyle is going to save you loads when it comes to medical bills later in life.
The more you move, the healthier you’ll be. Find movements you love and do them — with maximum effort — for at least 15 minutes everyday.
Doing Zumba for 15 minutes a day could burn more than 150 extra calories, so the more you push yourself to really move, the more you’ll burn. Add some weight training to your workout, and you’ll significantly boost your burn factors.
You can also increase the time you exercise. If you love dancing, won’t you want to do it longer? Dancing all out for an hour will earn you a whopping 500 calorie torch.
Dancing, obviously, isn’t the only way to burn calories.
Get in the habit of moving more and moving well. You can focus on the numbers once you’ve grown accustomed to the routine.
Treadmills are great if the weather isn’t. But, if the weather permits, skip the machine and take a walk around the block. Fresh air helps your lungs, and the change of scenery will serve as a terrific mental boost. Again, you can turn up the caloric heat by alternating jogging or running with your walking.
Optimum fitness and health is about truly learning to love a new lifestyle. It’s about becoming comfortable with getting and staying healthy. It’s about surrendering your chair in exchange for a better mood, a happier outlook on life, and ultimately, a lower health insurance bill!
Maximum Effort
If you love a challenge, there are workouts that can help you reach your goals faster.
This type of exercise is called High Intensity Interval Training. While the name might sound scary, it’s something you can do without any experience.
The only requirement in HIITs is to push to your maximum effort for a short period of time, then rest for an even shorter one.
If you want to make the absolute most of your 15 minute investment, this is a great way to make sure you’ll push hard and sweat.
But, you don’t have to be Schwarzenegger to do it.
A few ideas:
HIITs can be as easy or as difficult as you want. Starting out, you’ll be more likely to stick to it if you make it a mountain, easily conquered.
As long as you perform the exercises back-to-back with a short rest in between “rounds,” you can turn any set of exercises into HIITs that will be torch sessions for your calories. The more calories you burn, the better you can manage your weight. The better you can manage your weight, the more you strengthen your heart, stay healthier, and earn the better health insurance rates that you deserve.
Try combining these classics for maximum burning effect:
15 push ups
15 triangle push ups
15 body weight squats
15 dead lifts
15 leg lifts
Do the reps quickly, but with the proper form. The faster you can do them correctly, the bigger your burn. Since these are bodyweight exercises, you won’t bulk up or pack on lots of muscles, but you’ll trim down and tone up.
If you don’t like traditional pushups, modify them by doing them on your knees until you get used to them.
As long as you stick to the format, you can turn any combination of exercises into a HIIT. Just do your exercises hard and fast for a 20 second to 3 minute duration, with a 10 second to 1 minute break in between — for a total of 15 minutes each day.
You’ll build your strength, stamina, health, and wealth with a small daily investment of time and energy. Once you’re ready to shop for the lower health care coverage you’ve earned with your new healthy eating and exercise routine, you can visit a health comparison site like HealthCompare.com to get a free health insurance quote and find out how well your efforts have paid off.
Have you tried HIITs? What exercises do YOU do daily?
{ read the comments below or add one }
Exercise is important. I do it at least 4 days a week at the health club for at least an hour each time. Combo of cardio and then weight lifting. The quick 15 minute workouts won’t work for most people because you are much more likely to get injured that way. You are rushing to beat a clock and you are pushing lots of weight around. Easy to get hurt doing it—especially if you are older. So, exercise is great, but spend more time doing it, and do it slower—at least the weigh-lifting part of it and you will notice results without injury.
Adding this sort of exercise was my goal for 2013. I need to become healthier so I can work longer because I can’t afford to retire.
I am starting my goals again today. Mindful spending, healthy eating and some exercise every day. I even made lists written in big sharpie letters on cardboard of these sorts of exercises that I could do 4 days per week.
It would also save me a lot of money if I lost some weight so I could fit in to my clothes and not be forced to wear the same few things over and over again because those items are the only ones that do up.
Totally agree! It not only helps save healthcare costs but it also helps relieve some of the workweek stress we all know too well of. Great blog post!