Stop Being So Damn Efficient!

As women, we tend to become masters at being efficient. You know the drill. You've finished folding the laundry and are about to carry it upstairs. Then you think, almost subconsciously, what else needs to go upstairs? I'm heading that way anyway. Next thing you have a laundry basket pilled high with odds and sods that need to be upstairs.

Or perhaps you've come home with the shopping. Hell bent on getting it inside in one go you load up in both hands (possibly teeth), and march triumphantly to the door.

We all do it, so why do I bring it up?

One of the most common, and often fair, reasons women have for not exercising is a lack of time (or more usually a lack of free time when they have the energy). Between work, family and fatigue getting yourself to exercise can be a real struggle.

So here is a life hack for you: Become less efficient!

Unlearn all those skills you've spent years honing. I can genuinely hit near 10,000 steps in a day without leaving home. How? I hear you cry! By being less efficient. If i'm hauling laundry up the stairs and I know there are other things to go up too, I take the laundry first, then I come back down, put the basket away and get the next things to go up. I split it up to make one trip into two or even three.

I know it sounds mad and it rages against everything in us, but this is how you add that little bit extra into your day. Those few extra steps and stairs. And you don't have to stop there:

• Need to bend down? Nope. Now you're going to squat down (and back up again of course).

• Think you can just stretch to grab that teatowel? Nope, you're going to grab it with a twirl.

• Skip the escalator and take the stairs.

• Park away from the door and get in those extra steps (and bit of fresh air).

• Stick on some music and have a boogie while you cook (you'll be amazed how many extra steps you get in).

• Do your pelvic floor exercises while waiting in line.

• Find little ways throughout your day to become less efficient and move more!

By becoming less efficient you can sneak micro workouts into many aspects of your day. Giving your body that little boost, burning a few extra calories and working some muscles that would otherwise have been left alone.

No it's not going to give you "A beach bod in six weeks or your money back!", but it will get you utilising your body and generating an additional calorie burn that you wouldn't have otherwise.

So, throw out the Multitasking Handbook and get Less Efficient!