As writers, we tend to be a sedentary group. I know this from personal experience because I cant sit and write for many hours at a time. I'm sure this won't come as a surprise to you when I say prolonged sitting is bad for you. I'm not breaking any new ground with this blog post. I'm not a doctor, personal trainer or nutritionist, but I think everyone in America knows that you're supposed to get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day and you can look up all the scary ways sitting is killing you if you want, but I wont rehash those things here.
Exercise is good! It stimulates brain function, making you smarter and more productive! Smarter people than me have proved this.
In the spirit of spring cleaning, I decided to make determined steps to spruce up my habits and lifestyle. The first thing to go was the three-hour writing sessions at my desk. I don't have a standing desk to switch between sitting and standing, or room in my tiny apartment for a treadmill to make a walking desk. If these options are available to you, they are highly recommended by those smart people I mentioned earlier.
For the rest of us, getting exercise while we attempt to stay productive, requires a bit more ingenuity. I decided that stopping every 45 minutes to get up and move works well for me. This is about the time during a writing session when my focus starts to wane and I open up a new tab and head over to Pinterest. Instead of spending my time between bursts of writing in the rip currents of my Tumblr dashboard, I took a page from superstar YA writer Marissa Meyer's, Cress and found tons of fun earthen videos, info graphics, and danceable songs that Crescent Moon might have discovered for her exercise breaks in her satellite.
Couch Workout (10:00)
Freestyle Kanye Dance Break with Kath and Levi (3:11)
Learn the choreography for All About That Bass (4:51)
Yoga for Beginners (23:44)
Detox Yoga to get in touch with your inner Amity (20:00)
Bollywood Dance Workout (10:00)
Get abs like Roan (5:00)
For all the girls with a book boyfriend, learn the choreography for "I Really Like You" (6:24)
Kickboxing Ballet so you can fight like Celaena (35:00)
Run to your mailbox and back like you just woke up in The Glade (2:00)
"Sugar" Dance Warm-up with Illea's Sweetheart America (4:25)
Pilates for Beginners (30:00)
"Uptown Funk" Zumba for Capitol citizens (4:42) and choreography breakdown (11:25)
Deep stretching yoga for a peaceful mind (34:22)
Friends don't let friends skip leg day (5:00)
Plus MORE 10 Minute Workouts (10:00)
These videos and exercise plans, on their own, aren't a complete workout regimen. They are simply a mean of getting you up out of your chair to have a little fun. I will definitely add more to this list as I find them! Have fun writing and moving!
