Don’t you just hate it.
There’s so much material out there telling you that you can’t exercise every day. Telling you to rest your muscles and rest yourself.
The worst part is, that they aren’t wrong.
Overworking yourself can prevent your gains and put you on the journey to burning out.
Problem is, though, some of us need to exercise every day.
It’s so important for our mental health and getting us through our day that we can’t go a day without it.
I know it’s easy for me to say, it’s my job. But there are plenty of others who feel the same.
If you aren’t exercising every day, every morning, you are denying yourself of a day where you are in a better mood, have more energy, and even reduce the risk of illnesses such as heart disease or high blood pressure.
In this article, I’ll share with you 7 exercises you can do every day to keep your body and mind healthy.
They can work in a routine, or as a single exercise, but each one is here because it helps keep your body fit and strong, without the need for too much rest.
Let’s get into it.
What Are The 4 Types Of Exercise?
There are a fair few different types of exercise, each with a different purpose and different targets.
Not one single type of exercise can satisfy all of your fitness needs, and having a variety in your routine is important, especially if you’re doing it every day.
Nothing beats changing things up, and I love having a routine that goes from building muscles to increasing endurance.
But, what are the 4 types of exercise we need to include in our routines?
- Aerobic: These types of exercises increase your heart rates and breathing, ultimately improving your cardiovascular health and fitness. A common source of this type of activity is endurance exercises, such as running or swimming.
- Muscle Building And Strength: This type of training is so important to me and many others. From pumping iron to bodyweight exercises, stronger and bigger muscles are what most people desire and this is targeted through moving weights.
- Balance and Coordination: This is such an underrated aspect of the fitness world, with your balance and coordination contributing to many aspects, such as keeping you upright when you squat, or making sure you don’t keel over when lunging. To improve your balance and coordination, you need to be training the muscles in your core, and incorporate compound movements into your workout.
- Flexibility and Agility: Don’t get me wrong, lifting weights and running is important, but what is the point if you’re getting injured all the time, or your posture is ruining your shape? This is why I always include flexibility movements into my workouts, with the aim of improving my agility and overall shape.
7 Exercises You Should Do Every Day
Running
I get it. Running isn’t for everyone.
Some either love it, or they hate it. It’s one of those exercises that require physical hardiness, and mental toughness to go with it.
Hey, even just the thought of doing a marathon gives me the shudders.
But, that said, I’m getting there.
Not toward a marathon, now way.
But I’m slowly making steps towards running more, and it does wonders for me, especially now I do it consistently.
Running improves your endurance, being one of the aerobic exercises we talked about earlier.
It’s excellent for helping me stay in my calorie deficit and keep fit, and I’m ever so slightly starting to enjoy it.
It can take your mind off your busy life and gives you something to strive for.
Each and every day I am trying to beat yesterday’s personal best and can feel my heart and lungs thanking me for it.
How To Get Into It
Getting yourself into the world of running can be a daunting and confusing prospect.
How can such a simple exercise be so difficult to start?
Well luckily, here’s a step-by-step of how I got into running 5k every day.
- Start by going on walks. Walking the dog, walking to work. Anything that involves getting your legs used to long distances and beginning to get your lungs active.
- Now, introduce small jogs. Whether that be for small distances or with little walking breaks between each section of running. Keep it light and don’t push yourself too hard, let your body get used to it.
- After a couple of weeks of this, try to run a bit longer. If you need 1 or 2 breaks that’s okay. But I want you to try and run a couple of kilometers without stopping.
- Once you can run a certain distance without stopping, try and beat the time the next day. You will soon find that running becomes a lot easier and surprisingly a lot more fun.
Related Post: How Running Benefits Mental Health
Push-Ups
Pushups are arguably one of the most famous exercises, well-known as a feat of strength worldwide.
And this is for a reason.
Pushups build strength and muscle.
Performing them every day will help noticeably tone your upper body, help with core strength, and improve the support around the shoulder and elbow joints.
Do you remember the pushup trend during the pandemic?
The trend where people would try to accomplish 30 pushups a day, every day for 30 days.
Hey, I even tried it. While it was difficult at first, after a week or so, it became easier.
I became stronger.
I even felt healthier.
These are just a couple of the many positives push-ups every day can have.
How To Do It
- Find a flat, relatively comfortable surface that you could place your hands on without feeling uncomfortable.
- Crouch down and place both hands on the surface shoulder-width apart.
- Kick your legs out behind you. Engage your core and keep your back straight.
- Bending at the elbows, lower your chest until it is an inch from the ground.
- Pause for a second in this position.
- Push your body back towards the original position by driving through your hands. You should feel the tension in your chest.
Check out this video I posted showing me doing 1000 push-ups in one day!
Planks
Here at Grizzly Functional, we like simple.
Everything in the gym seems so complicated like you need to be hanging upside down while curling some weight to get stronger and bigger.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
The plank is an example of taking things back to basics.
It’s simple but effective, and a prime example of an exercise that hits our core muscles, helping with our balance and stability.
They help improve your flexibility and coordination, with all the muscles in your back and glutes being required to keep yourself in the position.
Finally, the plank is tough on our minds and our fitness levels.
It requires us to fight through the pain and keep our breathing controlled, helping with endurance and focus.
This is a real jack-of-all-trades exercise that you need to start doing every day even for a couple of minutes.
How To Do It
- Find a flat, relatively comfortable surface that you could place your hands on without feeling uncomfortable.
- Crouch down and place both hands on the surface shoulder-width apart, and kick your legs out, similar to the pushup position.
- Rest your forearms on the floor, engage your core, and control your breathing.
- Try and hold this position for as long as you, keeping your body as still as possible.
Related Post: 10 Best Core Structural Exercises – Train With Purpose, Improve Your Life
Squats
Compound exercises, like the squat, are crucial to building strength, improving our stability, and increasing our agility.
The squat builds your glutes into tree trunks, even with just your body weight.
But lowering your body to the ground requires your core muscles to work in tandem, to keep your body balanced and upright.
I don’t just enjoy squats for their muscle-building and strength-improving capabilities.
Doing this exercise every day will help your cardiovascular health improve, help you lose weight, and remove all stress built up through life.
How To Do It
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Engage your core and keep your torso upright.
- Lower your behind to the floor by bending at your knees. Do not bend your back.
- Try to get yourself as low as possible, holding the position for a second to increase the time under tension.
- Drive upwards through your heels until your legs are fully extended.
Related Post: 15 Best Squat Accessory Exercises
Burpees
Very similar to the pushup, this bodyweight exercise not only requires the strength of your whole body, but it also adds the plyometric feature which can help to improve your agility.
Basically, this exercise by itself can target all 4 exercise groups we discussed earlier.
The beginning of the burpee requires your upper body strength, with your core muscles needing to get involved for stability.
The jump then requires your agility and coordination, with the added bonus of improving your endurance.
Doing burpees every day will noticeably improve your body.
Simple tasks like walking up the stairs seem easier, your cardiovascular health will improve (reducing the risk of heart disease), and, most importantly a lot of us, your whole body will tone up.
How To Do It
- Find a flat surface and get in the pushup position.
- Lower your body to the floor, bending at the elbow, while keeping your back straight.
- Drive through your palms, until your arms are straight.
- Kick your legs back into your body, drive through your heels, and jump upwards.
- Keep your legs extended and body upright.
- Land as softly as you can, as soon as your feet touch the ground, drop back into the pushup position, and repeat.
Related Post: Crossfit Vs Bodybuilding
Yoga/Stretching
I’ll tell you a little secret.
I never believed in yoga, or even stretching.
People would tell me, “you really should stretch after your workout”, and I would tend to mumble an expletive under my breath and ignore them.
Well, karma comes around, and I got injured.
I pulled my back in a weight-related injury that would have been avoided by stretching.
So, stretching and yoga can help avoid injuries, but there are so many more reasons I have fallen in love with them.
Yoga has helped my frame of mind, keeping me level-headed in various situations.
Not only this, but I am way more flexible, stronger, and balanced than before.
I’ve even been sleeping better!
Adding yoga, or at least stretching into your morning routine, is so important.
Try and learn how to control your breathing and learn a few basic poses, then start trying to get a bit more complex.
Related Post: Benefits Of Yoga For Bjj – 10 Best Yoga Poses To Improve Your Grappling
Meditation
Another perfect addition to your morning routine, while meditation isn’t an exercise for your body, it is perfect for training the mind.
Meditating has actually improved how I work out.
It has helped my frame of mind, improving my mental toughness and keeping me balanced mentally.
While I would tend to go into my day in a bad mood, meditating has opened my eyes. It has taught me to be grateful and mindful.
It is truly underrated.
How To Do It
- Start by downloading a mindfulness app, this will help beginners learn how to meditate.
- Try to empty your mind of all the negative thoughts.
- Concentrate on your breathing, sensing the air flowing through your nose and out your mouth.
- Practice each day. Note how easy it becomes after just a few weeks, and how it can positively impact your life.
Related Post: How Does Exercise Improve Mental Health
Final Words
Keeping your body healthy is so important.
By just reading this article you are on your way to improving your lifestyle, and if you implement even a couple of these exercises into your routine, there is no doubt about it, your body will thank you.
If you are consistent with it, you will notice changes in how your body looks and feels in just a few weeks, just like me.
I felt fitter, stronger. I felt more level-headed and that I had a more positive outlook on life.
Do you want to know the best thing about these exercises?
You can do them all from the comfort of your own home.
I am an avid believer that you can work out wherever and whenever. I have even written a book about it, “Train Wherever The F*ck You Want”, which you can pick up here, for free.
What are you waiting for? Give it a read, now.
So, what do you think about the 7 exercises I do every day?
Would you do the same?
What exercises would you add?
Let me know in the comments below.