Exercising also improves fitness – this is how you add effective muscle movement to your day

A couple of squats while waiting for the coffee to drip. Walking to the local store, shopping for extra weight in the backpack and the same route back. Or if you drive to the store, what if you look for the farthest parking spot and postpone your purchases with a cart there? You get extra steps and pushing the cart is already light exercise.

Every step and minute on your feet is a plus. Or like a master’s in exercise science and UKKinstituut’s exercise planner Katrina Ojala says: today everything is calculated. While it was previously thought that a moment of movement should last ten minutes, in the light of new research, all exercise has health benefits. Just by standing up and taking a couple of steps. It’s worth it, because with brisk exercise you reduce the risk of overweight, type 2 diabetes and arterial diseases. You may even gain more years of life.

The following squat push-up is a particularly versatile movement, so if you do it for a minute three or four times a day, you’ll get a nice muscle workout for your day.

THIS IS HOW YOU DO THE SQUAT PUSH-UP

GET in a shoulder-width position, feet and knees pointing slightly outwards. Bring your hips back and lower into a squat, legs coming to a 90-degree angle. Get up.

Do a push-up either against the back of the sofa, a table or a wall.

Continue like this, i.e. do squats and push-ups alternately for one minute.

➤ The movement especially strengthens the hamstrings, buttocks, pectoral muscles and extensors. The muscles of the mid-body and hip area, as well as the hamstrings, also get a workout.