The Easiest Way to Sneak Exercise Into Your Day

You don’t need to go to the gym to make positive changes

I’m going to say it: I’m not big into the gym.

Like many people, I get whiny when I think about getting dressed, walking the two blocks to the Planet Fitness by my house, and then having to side-eye the gym rats who hog my favorite machines. I’ve perfected a vigorous mental gymnastics routine based entirely on excuses.

I’ve shared before the importance of exercise and offered some good tips on how to get some non-gym activity. Despite my reluctance to get sweaty in front of a bunch of strangers, I really do appreciate how valuable exercise is, not just for your body but for your mind. Any day where I don’t do at least something physical, I feel sluggish and cranky the next day. It’s also invaluable in warding off my chronic pain and preventing further disability.

However, I still hate blocking out an hour of my day for exercise. As a freelancer, I’m not salaried and I don’t have time to mess around during working hours. By the time 6pm rolls around, all I want to do is chill out with my dog and watch some Hoarders while I knit. This is why I’ve spent so much time plotting how to avoid the gym without becoming a weak-kneed blob.

Since I wrote the article linked above, I’ve found the absolute perfect way to add body weight strength training and even a bit of cardio into my day, one which totally surpasses all the advice I gave before.

The Room Tax and Computer Tax

Each time I enter or exit my room, I will do a rep of leg or core exercises, often with the kettlebell I leave by my door. I do a rep of arm exercises with light weights each time I sit down in front of the computer or get up to do something else. I cycle through a few simple body weight exercises throughout the week, picking two different ones to do each day for the Room Tax and Computer Tax respectively.

It’s quickly become automatic and I don’t even think about it when I get up or sit back down; if I forget to do it, I will do twice as many when I return to the computer.

Why is the Room Tax easier than the gym?

It takes advantage of some basic psychology.

We perceive multiple short periods of activity as less difficult

Would you prefer to have three 30-minute classes spaced throughout the week, or one 90-minute class once a week? I imagine that most readers will choose the three 30-minute classes, because it’s less intimidating than sitting still and paying attention for an hour and a half.

This makes sense because we can only pay attention for so long — research suggests we need a “brain break” every 45 minutes. A 30-minute class is well within that sweet spot, so you can remain laser-focused for that entire class, while you’ll probably check out halfway through the 90-minute class.

When you break that up even further, 30 one-minute exercise breaks will actually seem far less intrusive and difficult than one single 30-minute sweat session. After all, you’re only adding a minute to your bathroom break rather than having to block yourself off for a precious half-hour.

You are repeating the activity more frequently

The more often that you repeat an activity, the more ingrained it becomes. Think about any other routine you have, like brushing your teeth in the morning or saying goodbye to your family when you leave. After a while, it just becomes so natural that you really only notice when you don’t do it.

Part of the reason that it’s often difficult for people to develop a gym routine is because you need to give yourself rest days in between heavy sweat sessions. When you’re in the crucial formation phase of a habit, even missing one day will make it difficult to pick it up again. That’s why when you’re learning something, whether it’s a language or an instrument, experts encourage you to practice every single day, even if just for five minutes.

Doing smaller exercise sessions multiple times a day helps cement an exercise routine better than 30-minute sessions three times a week. Yes, it might not give you the same results in the same timeframe, but it will encourage consistency, which will create better results over the long term.

The Room Tax mimics natural human behavior

We hear constantly that sitting is bad for us, but we often don’t stop to consider why it’s so damaging.

Our hunter-gatherer ancestors were on the move most of the day: picking berries, hauling firewood, chasing down prey or walking to the nearest spring.

They didn’t get all of their exercise in tiny half-hour bursts while being mostly sedentary the rest of the day. Instead, they would have large bursts of strenuous activity followed by similar periods of rest lounging around the fire. Even while resting, however, they were still engaging their muscles by squatting.

Sitting on a chair for eight hours a day is simply not normal for our species, and its detrimental effects can’t be ameliorated by short (or even long) gym sessions a few times a week.

It is far more natural to sit for a while, then get up and engage the muscles for a bit, then rest again, rather than 30 minutes of exercise followed by 36 or 48 hours of rest.

Regular activity simply makes you feel better

This is purely anecdotal, but since I began doing the Room Tax and Computer tax three weeks ago, I have felt inordinately better. I have more energy and focus, I’ve been sleeping better, and I have a more even mood. For someone with bipolar, that last point is a HUGE plus for the Room Tax method.

While I can’t find solid research on this, I suspect that the reason this method makes me feel better is because it’s offering my brain a consistent endorphin boost. A normal workout session causes an explosion of endorphins, but it’s short-lived. Anyone who has felt cooped up and cranky after skipping the gym can tell you that those endorphin withdrawals really suck.

The research on how much exercise is needed to release endorphins is a little contradictory, but Pure Recovery California, a Joint Commission-approved addiction center, states that “Endorphin release begins as soon as heart rates pick up, muscles contract, and the body moves in dynamic ways.” This seems to track with my own experience: as long as I perform my exercises powerfully enough, I feel a small boost in energy. Of course I’d get a larger boost from longer sessions, but the one or two minutes of all-out exercise throughout the day is enough for a pick-me-up.

Is this method as effective as a long exercise session?

It really depends on what exactly you’re looking for. If you just want to maintain muscle tone and perhaps add a bit more, this is sufficient. However, if you are looking for significant gains in cardio or strength training, you are going to want to opt for a longer session because you want to push your muscles to total fatigue.

When you are strength training, you are actually creating micro-tears in your muscles, which are then repaired during rest periods. The muscles then perform what’s caused hypertrophy, where they will rebuild themselves stronger so that next repetition will not be as damaging. If you want to create noticeable bulk, you will need to push your muscles much harder and then rest for much longer than if you are performing light repetitions.

With these smaller exercise breaks, you aren’t tearing your muscles enough to cause noticeable hypertrophy. However, your muscles get to work repairing themselves after each repetition, granted that it is strenuous enough to cause those micro-tears. If you are very consistent with this method, you will probably notice a very modest increase in muscle tone after six to eight weeks.

Again, this isn’t going to get you ripped, but if you’re reading this article, you’re probably not really going for that anyway; you’d be reading articles by actual fitness experts and seeking more scientific ways to improve your fitness. This method is solely about protecting the muscles you already have and perhaps, in the long run, giving you a more streamlined physique.

The Room Tax builds consistency in everyday people

The most powerful benefit of the Room Tax is that it helps you stay active every single day, which is essential for good health. If you’re not already a gym rat and don’t think you’re capable of becoming one, the Room Tax enables you to get into a routine of moving your body. Perhaps it could even spur you to take on longer and more strenuous workout sessions, as you’ve become used to simple bodyweight exercises.

As someone who lives in the Midwest, where snowstorms and heatwaves can leave me cooped up for weeks on end, the Room Tax is a much more attractive option than shivering or sweating my butt off on the way to the gym. Why scrape off my car and shovel the driveway if I could simply incorporate exercise into my day without ever leaving home?

The Room Tax is not going to create an enormous change in your physique, but every little bit helps! Now get lifting!

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