Getting fit doesn’t always have to be in a gym.  It can happen at your house, in your local park or on the dance floor!  How can music help you get fit?

Having been a personal trainer and health coach since 2001, the focus of my efforts is on the passion I have for play (exercise). I even wrote a book as a way to help those less inclined to move their bodies (1.4 billion people in this world are inactive) with a practical and back-to-basics approach looking at exercise as play. I want to help people realize the power of fitness beyond weight loss – and rediscover what it is to feel healthy from the inside and out. 

It all adds up!

I love to dance – not professionally or anything – especially when my favourite songs are playing! Here is a fun fact – the average song is 3-5 minutes long! Coldplay’s “Adventure of a Lifetime” song is 4:45 seconds long. Can’t think of songs, well, here’s a cool thing. Take the guesswork out of it – Spotify has a playlist called 5 Minute Long Songs.

Only have 5 minutes?  That’s OK. Start with five, and if you love it, I guarantee you will want to dance more. String four 5-minute songs together, and there’s your 20 minutes threshold! Or, one song at a time, four times throughout the day – you get the idea!

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

As Benjamin Franklin once famously said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” 

The reality is that most people don’t think about PREVENTING disease until they have a health crisis. The World Health Organization recommends adults accumulate 150 minutes of exercise a week to keep healthy. That is a mere 22 minutes a day.

Sadly, most people don’t get that much. Why? Often the biggest reason is time. A recent study showed that 30 minutes a day of light activity like household chores and walking for errands lowered the risk of dying early by 12 percent. So what can you do?

There is another way!

Consider the idea of a Bare Ass Minimum (BAM).  In my book, I write about the potent effect of the BAM mindset. It’s a term I learned in my coaching journey, and my clients love it, especially those that don’t feel they can squeeze another minute to “workout” into their day. Ask yourself what the LEAST amount (bare bottom minimum) you are willing to start with each day – an amount of time you are 100% certain you can commit to is. Start there.

Play (exercise) looks different for everyone.

Don’t like dancing – no problem. Play can be anything – for some, it’s a sport, a fitness class – for others, it’s dancing in the kitchen while making dinner, jumping over puddles, doing a few squats on their coffee break or skipping the escalator and walking up the stairs. 

Just get moving!

Look at the whole day as an opportunity to play more, sit less and turn up the music. As a result, the positive effects of heart-pumping movements cause your body to release endorphins naturally – endorphins are your happy and pain-killing hormones – and also improve your circulation because more oxygen is going into your blood. Increasing oxygen decreases stress. 

So I challenge you – Don’t play by the rules: there are no rules for play!

If this article might help someone you know, feel free to share it OR join the FREE Play For Life Facebook Group and connect with other people who want to take control of their health for life.