Exercises to do if you can't be arsed going to the gym, getting changed into activewear, or even leaving your house. (2024)

So y’all are interested in exercise, cool cool, I can help with that.

Kia ora, I’m Lou O’Reilly and I take out the worst of all fitness and nutrition takes and put them firmly in the trash. If you’ve landed here from somewhere random, welcome! You can subscribe right here, if you like what you see.

Just for funsies, let’s hack exercise so you can put in the least amount of effort possible and still feel good for it. You may think I am taking the mick, but I promise you these exercises are valuable and worth doing even in teeny tiny amounts.

Shall we dive in?

Almost anyone can go to the gym and follow their nose. But what about if you don’t wanna go to the gym. I frequently do not want to go to the gym. But I still need to move my body so it doesn’t seize up and stop working.

So here’s some exercises you can do when you don’t really want to. I’ll list them from lowest to most effort, and y’all can fill your boots!

The I can’t be arsed getting off the couch but probably should exercise.

Start from a sitting on the couch position, and sort of slide yourself onto the floor. (Or just get up from the couch and sit on the floor.)
Next, get up from the floor to a standing position, and repeat. Sit on the floor, and stand up. Make it harder by lying down on the floor and getting up from there. You can do this while watching tv, talking on the phone, or playing candy crush. Do this for as many reps as you like. And if it’s easy, make it harder by not using your hands, or using weights, and try different floor placements to switch things up a little.

This exercise comes from a boss move called The Turkish Get Up, but made easier so most of us can give it a crack.

This exercise is awesome for mobility and uses pretty much every muscle, and joint you have, which in turn is excellent for being able to move well as we age. Because at the end of it all, being able to move without help for longer is really the important bit of all of this. Pro tip, if you think you will struggle to get yourself up from the floor, make sure someone is at home to help you if you need it, or that you have a chair or something to assist.

The I want to feel virtuous for multi-tasking exercise with a self-care task, like making a cup of tea exercise

One of my favourites because I like making endless cups of tea, is using the kitchen bench as a push-up prop.

We love a self-care cup of tea, and now, you can do some sneaky exercise while you are waiting for the kettle to boil.

First, get all the things ready to make a cup of tea (or whatever you like) and then while the kettle is doing it’s bubbly joyful thing, put your hands on the edge of the kitchen bench and do a few push ups against it.

Push-ups against a wall or bench are infinitely better than pushing up from the floor on your knees, because the knee push ups (when you can’t do a full one yet) is a completely different move, and if the goal is to do a full push up from the floor, using your knees probably won’t help you as much as pushing up against a wall or a bench etc.

I like to try as many push ups against the bench as I can do in the time it takes for the kettle to boil. If push ups against the bench doesn’t float your boat, try a squat instead.

The make the most of an average to long hallway and bodily function exercise

Love this one too. Great for heading to the bathroom, or maybe on the way back if you’re kinda busting a bit.

Start at one end of your hall way, and lunge your way to an empty bladder! Or, lunge back to where you were after you’ve done what you needed to.

Super good for a short term goal. It’s a fixed distance, so the end is in sight if this one is particularly challenging. We’re looking for a steady forward lunge here, or you can make it harder and lunge backwards if you like. Maybe let your house pals know what you’re doing and why so they can either join you but preferably not be too concerned about you.

The I have a treadmill at home but find it super boring exercise

I love a treadmill. You can just stop when you’ve have enough. Some people find it boring though, and endless when they fix a nonsense time frame to it like 30 minutes or seven hours etc. Any amount of time on a treadmill is beneficial. Got three minutes? Cool. You can get a long way in three minutes.

But back to the boredom busting.

Instead of setting a time goal, set an entertaining length goal.

Instead of saying you’ll do 30 minutes on the treadmill, say you’ll listen to one half of a podcast, or a whole one. Or you’ll listen to three of your favourite songs. Or another thing that’s positive and fun. Using that as a timer kills the boring time away.

But also, if you just want to just feel the after effects of a really good treadmill walk. set it to an incline of 12 - yep that’s super steep, but slow it right down to like a 3 or 4 speed or similar. You’ll get the same workout and sweaty endorphins, in a shorter timeframe. Winning!

The gym and exercise needs a damned rebrand.

Whoever the almighty tool was who said the gym and exercise are for wEiGhTlOsS needs a bloody good talking to.

How much cooler would those sweaty big box gyms be, if we took wEiGhTlOsS out of the equation and left the sole purpose of going to the gym and exercising to be getting fit, getting stronger, and increasing our mobility and flexibility.

Super cool, that’s what.

You really can’t exercise your way out of nutritionally vacant diet. Like, the two things are just not on the same vibe at all.

Exercise is for being able to carry and put away my groceries when I’m older. It’s for keeping my heart as healthy as possible for as long as possible. It’s for not needing help to get up from a chair.

A nutritionally dense diet is for filling up our body’s bucket so it works really well, helping us sleep better at night, and keeping us free from colds and viruses and other gross things like that, more often.

Thanks for reading this newsy. I really appreciate the time you give to me for this and I hope you get some value from it. If you have any questions you can reply directly to this email or if you’ve landed here from a link, email lou@sweatypals.nz. You can also follow me onTwitter here, andinstagram here.

Please remember while I am a qualified fitness trainer, and I’ve done a couple of nutrition papers, I am not a registered dietitian or nutritionist. Information shared here is through my own lived experience, personal study or a peer reviewed study I have nerded out on reading and sharing with you.

Lou xx