Remote work eliminated commuting and reduced my physical activity very much.
Hello! This is Kanekiyo. Is there anyone out there who is not getting enough exercise because of remote work and fewer opportunities to go out? I imagine there are many such people out there, and I would like to write an article about the twists and turns of my life as I have started to get into the habit of exercising a little more after too many days of not exercising enough!
Commuting to work is also exercise
When I was working in the suburbs of Tokyo and commuting by train to the city, I walked quickly between my home and the station and the office and up and down the stairs at the station on a daily basis, so I was able to do what could be called light exercise without having the mindset of “doing exercise. If I felt that I had not been getting enough exercise recently, I would get off about two stops before the nearest station to my home and walk home to get rid of the problem. Walking home at night, walking faster than usual with my arms swinging a little wider than usual, was not a hardship at all for me, but rather a pleasant experience.
I have always played basketball as a hobby, often three times a month. I love to exercise and even went to tennis school. After the birth of my second child, I moved to the countryside where there is no train service, and my life changed to a life where I always go out by car. I no longer walked to the station or climbed the stairs at the station, and since I was no longer going out to work remotely, I became a person who did not exercise at all. One day, I had an opportunity to go to Tokyo on an errand and climbed the stairs instead of the escalator at the station. I realized how much I had neglected my body on a daily basis.
Conscious exercise is necessary.
I had always had a desire to exercise, as I often get a headache from stiff shoulders from sitting in a chair and staring at a computer, and my weight has gradually increased little by little. I thought, “If I want to exercise like I used to, I should play basketball or tennis, but I can’t do it alone. But I can’t do it alone, so it’s difficult…” I’m interested in online yoga and Pilates, but I’m too stiff to do them…” I bought a lightweight 2kg iron array and an air jump rope to do something I can do during my work time.
I kept it in a corner of my desk, and when my eyes got tired, I would take a break and get up from my chair for a moment to do air jump rope, or at a moment’s notice, I would hold an iron array and move my arms… I assumed that this would work, but it never quite became a habit.
The next game we tried was Ring Fit Adventure on the Nintendo Switch. The kids wanted this one, and I bought it for them, hoping I could do it with them. First, I watched the kids play the adventure mode to see what it was like, and it looks like a lot of work! I was hoping that the workout load could be adjusted and that defeating enemies and going up in levels would motivate them, but I got fired up and said, “Okay, let’s do this today!” and I had to get my mind into ring-fit mode, and I couldn’t keep doing this either.
It had been a while since I stopped playing RingFit, and I heard from an mgn member that Fitness Runner looked easy and good, so I decided to try the demo version. The first tutorial takes a little bit of time for explanation, but after that, the actual exercise time really only takes a few minutes, so I was impressed that there was no resistance to getting started, and decided to purchase the trial version before the trial ended. The kids complained a bit that there are RingFit programs where you can just train…. As it turns out, I’m glad I bought it! I can start with a few exercises that don’t take too much time, and since I lowered the bar to do it two or three times a week, I am able to continue without getting overwhelmed. I don’t have a specific time in mind when I want to do it, so it is great that I can do it quickly whenever I have time, such as in the morning after I finish making lunch for my oldest daughter and before I wake up my second and third daughters, or at night before I take a bath. Recently, after sweating, my skin feels smooth and my stiff shoulders feel a little better, so I feel that just a little bit of exercise and sweating has a positive effect on my body.
Find the right exercise regimen for you!
In my case, I currently feel that I am getting a little more exercise than I used to by getting into the habit of doing the fitness runner two or three times a week. The calendar on the home screen of the fitness runner marks the dates I do it, so I can visually confirm that I’m doing it right. I can visually confirm that I’m doing well, which also motivates me. To tell the truth, it took me quite a while to get to this point, because there were some things I didn’t do immediately, such as stretching exercises I saw on Youtube and simple muscle training exercises I could do while lying down before bed, in addition to the things I wrote about here. I think it’s okay to try various things that interest you until you find a way to relieve your lack of exercise that you can enjoy without strain.
