COLUMN: Exercising the lazy way
Imagine sitting down to a wonderful night of television, and you don’t want to do anything but sit on your La-Z-boy chair or your couch. At the same time, you have to exercise or do something to lose some of that winter flubber you gained through the cold, hard months of isolation. Well, never fear – you may be able to lose half a pound.
You know that stick on the side of your La-Z-boy chair? It takes some strength to lift it up yourself, instead of having your roommate do it for you. If your chair is old, it could take a lot of strength and involve even pulling or straining a muscle.
If you don’t have a La-Z-boy chair, do you have a remote? If you have a remote, pressing the buttons could involve exercising your finger – a part of your body that doesn’t always get exercised. The farther apart the buttons are, the more your fingers get exercised and stretched.
If you have neither a remote or a La-Z-boy chair, simply lifting the legs could work while you watch television. First you would start lifting your legs from the knees down keeping the part from your knees up to your butt on the couch.
You can also move your butt off the couch and manually change stations or change the video in the VCR. Or if you are eating popcorn, picking the popcorn bowl off the ground can sometimes be no small feat.
If this last exercise proves too strenuous, consider arm stretches, which involve moving your arms up and down.
If none of these exercises are beneficial, there is always the ab flexer. This exercise involves you putting a stationary object on your stomach and lifting your head and butt at the same time in an upward motion. If you manage to pull this off without dropping the stationary object from your stomach, you are a better person than many of us.
If all else fails, try mouth exercises. Just yell at people to get stuff for you. It won’t make you any more popular with roommates and friends, but you’ll get those mouth muscles exercised. They are muscles that go unnoticed and un-exercised.
So do some exercises to bring in the glorious spring season, and wash away the gray winter days.
Julie Sulunga is a junior majoring in journalism. Comments can be sent to jsulunga@yahoo.com.