How to Workout While You Watch TV

Portrait of smiling young woman sitting on a swiss ball for exercising in her living room

9 Ways You Can Get Fit While You Watch TV

A study from the University of Queensland in Australia has just been able to put a number on how harmful watching TV can be. According to the study, every hour watching TV sitting down or lying down cuts your life expectancy by more than 20 minutes.

While cutting down on your television watching habit can help, it may not be practical to suggest that you should stop watching television altogether. Instead, you can try to turn TV time into time that you get some exercise on the side.

Turn Commercial Breaks Into Exercise Time

Commercial breaks don’t have to be times that you gorge on snacks until your show comes back on. You can use the few minutes that you have at each break, instead, to jog in place, to skip rope, to do a few push-ups, or to climb up and down a flight of stairs. If you’re watching television on a streaming service, you won’t have any commercial breaks, but you can pause the show once every 10 minutes.

Try Circuit Training

You don’t necessarily need to wait until a commercial break comes up. You can get some exercise in while a show is on, as well. Circuit training can be a lot of fun when you’re watching a show. All you need to do is to put all the equipment that you need together; skip rope, kettle bell, dumbbell and so on, and switch from one exercise form to another once every 2 minutes. You can finish a few complete circuits of all the exercises that you have in mind by the time your show ends.

Exercise Your Core

If you’re getting a workout in front of the TV, lunges and squats can be the perfect kind of exercise to try. Not only do they help you strengthen your core and your lower body, they are easy to do while you keep an eye on the TV. When you perform these moves, you get to work out your behind and your thighs, all while helping build a better sense of balance.

Try Hula-Hooping

A hula hoop can be great exercise for television time. You don’t have to concentrate on hula-hooping too much as you do it, and you can still burn off 10 calories for every minute that you gyrate. Hula-hooping can help you work out your waist and build better abs.

Practice Yoga

Yoga is one of the best exercise forms for television watching. It’s quiet enough to let you concentrate on your TV show, while you burn calories. While you may not get all the benefits that you would if you focused on your form, you’d still benefit.

Buy Home Gym Equipment

A treadmill, a stair-stepper, or an exercise bike can be great investments if you want to get some exercise in as you watch television. When you don’t feel like going to the gym, you can turn on the TV and hop on one of these machines. These exercises are routine enough to not require concentration, leaving you free to enjoy your show.

Try To Lift Weights

Lifting weights can help you burn calories quickly, lose a few pounds and build strength. When you train with weights, you lower your risk of injury, as well. Lifting weights can be a convenient form of exercise to try in front of the TV. It would be good idea to include two weight training sessions a week in your routine.

Watch TV While You Balance Yourself On a Stability Ball

If you feel don’t feel like getting any real exercise when you watch TV, simply sitting on an inflatable stability ball, rather than on the couch, can help. You’ll have to keep adjusting your position to keep yourself upright, giving yourself a valuable workout in the process.

Be Restless

From swinging your legs to restlessly moving back and forth as you sit, there are a number of repetitive movements that you can make to while away the time, and get some exercise in. Fidgeting can help improve your rate of calorie burn.

Finally, you need to be sure that you don’t dip into a bag of snacks the entire time that you’re exercising in front of the TV. You wouldn’t want to do anything to cancel out the benefits of your TV exercise routine.

Watching television doesn’t have to be a sedentary activity. It can be a time that you get a lot of exercise, and enjoy yourself as you do it. All you need to do is to resolve to work out every minute that you watch your favorite show.