Two-Minute Exercise Routines: Good Ways to Get Moving When You Least Feel Like It

In the AARP Bulletin (Jan-Feb 2012), I read an article called “Sitting: Hazardous to Your Health.” I thought, “If sitting is hazardous to your health, I’m in big trouble.” This past year, because of a plethora of energy-related health problems, I have spent most of my time either sitting or in a horizontal position.

The article stated, “Mounting evidence suggests that sitting for long periods increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, cancer, and early death, even for people who exercise daily. And yet Americans now sit more than they sleep, spending an average of 10 hours a day in a car, at work, and in front of a television [or computer]. Older adults are the worst offenders, according to federal government statistics: almost three-quarters are sedentary, and more than four in 10 get no leisure-time physical activity at all.” 

Yikes! I was one of them. Pretty scary, but what was I to do? I didn’t have the energy to do any kind of exercise at all for more than two minutes at a time.

When I offered that excuse to Minerva Huerta, one of my health care providers, she reminded me of the amazing value of just two minutes of exercise. I had followed her advice a couple of years ago to step away from my computer every 30 minutes for a two-minute exercise break and had been amazed at the difference it made. Now she said, “Exercise two minutes every time you think about it all through the day. Every little bit counts. It really does!” She explained that two minutes of exercise gets the blood flowing, clears the head, stimulates the lymph system, slows down muscle atrophy, and increases your overall feeling of well-being.

How I Started

Here are some of the two-minute routines Minerva suggested. They have helped me enormously and could help you too. I often set a timer because I sometime think I’ve exercised two minutes when it’s really only been 15 seconds!

1. Walk around any room that provides enough space to walk in a circle. As you walk, lift one arm, then the other over your head, making a circle with your elbow as you roll your shoulders.

2. As you continue walking, hold your elbows up till they are parallel with the floor and swing them first to the left, then to the right.

3. Stand still. Lift both arms high as you take a deep breath. Quickly drop your arms as you expel the breath in a big whoosh. Do this several times.

4. If you have an exercise ball, bounce on it for two minutes, lifting your arms in a circle over your head as explained in the first exercise. Breathe deeply.

5. Just plain walking, of course, is always an excellent exercise, and walking outside in the fresh air is even better. And remember, even two minutes counts!

Lying Down Exercises

Perhaps you share with me the experience of needing to spend a lot of time in a horizontal position. Even then, two minutes of mild exercise can be beneficial. Here are some exercises Minerva suggested I do lying in my comfortable bed.

1. Lift one leg at a time and give a little kick until your legs feel tired.

2. Do a bicycle-riding movement, lifting both legs if you can or one leg at a time if that works better for you.

3. Lift your arms and do punching motions towards the ceiling.

4. Roll your shoulders.

5. Hold one-pound weights and lift your arms up and down.

We Need to Stand Up Frequently: Even a Minute Will Do

I’ve learned that standing up itself is an important form of exercise, even when I have to lie right back down again.

Epidemiologists say that getting to your feet regularly can help protect you against cancer. Fitness guru Chris Freytag said, “We’ve engineered movement out of our lives. We need to engineer it back. Evidence shows that people who take the most standing breaks throughout the day—even as short as a minute—have slimmer waists, lower cholesterol, and better insulin response than those who take the fewest, regardless of how much other exercise they get [otherwise].” (Chris Freytag is the developer of the workout program 10 Pound Slimdown Xtreme).

Conclusion

I’m grateful I learned that every minute counts when it comes to exercise. Now, instead of berating myself because I can’t go to Curves anymore or go on thirty-minute walks, I congratulate myself every time I exercise for two minutes or stand up for one minute!

Haven’t I heard that by small and simple things, great things can come to pass? Well, one- or two-minute exercises are certainly small things. But they can literally bring to pass great things. Implementing this one practice could be one of the most important things you ever do to safeguard your health.

 By Darla Isackson