Share your top tips on how to fit exercise into busy everyday life with Fitbit and win a Fitbit flex - NOW CLOSED

[TheOtherHelenMumsnet]

Fitbit have asked us to find out how and when Mumsnetters fit exercise into their everyday routine. Here is some more info from Fitbit: "Fitbit is the leader in activity trackers and is dedicated to helping people lead healthier, more active lives. Fitbit takes a common sense approach to fitness. We believe that the key is to make it easier for consumers to be more active, eat smarter, and get enough sleep - in short, that small changes to your daily routine can add up to big results. To that end, we aim to create innovative, inspiring products and online services that harness the power of new technologies to make people more aware of their everyday activities and motivate them to do more."

We're talking about everyday things you do to be more active - do you have any top tips or advice to share? It could be a time-saving measure which means you free up more time for exercise, or it could be a way that you've found of exercising while doing something else perhaps?!

Everyone who shares their advice or top tip on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a Fitbit Flex - a wireless activity tracker worn on the wrist which measures steps, distance, calories burned and also sleep (RRP £79.99).

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may appear in an email MN will be sending out, and potentially elsewhere.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw
MNHQ

Here are my tips for increasing my step count throughout the day:

• get off the tube (London) me or two stops early and walk the rest of the way. Or walk to a stop further away before getting on the tube.

• if you drop your kids off at activities after school or weekends, instead of going for a coffee and waiting for them to finish, walk! Walk the local area, around the block, whatever.

• at home, don't try to minimise the steps you take around the house. Maximise them. So, walk from the kitchen to the bedroom to get someone thing, but only pick up one of the things you need. Take it to back to the kitchen then go back and get the next thing. In other words, do two or three trips back and forth rather than one.

• walk up and down escalators instead of just standing on them. Never take lifts, use the stairs.

We live in a village and any exercises classes are a bit of a distance away so instead of attending a Zumba class I will take one in my living room with the X Box Kinect - still a great, fun way to exercise.

Also you can't beat walking the dogs and also the cross trainer is in the lounge so I can jump on that while watching TV.

I think the secret with exercise equipment is to have it somewhere you will use it - it didn't get used when it was in the garage.

Apart from walking to school and the shops, gardening, playing with the kidsetc. I like to exercise in the kitchen whilst cooking, a few ballet moves, splits etc.

I stay focused with my stomach exercises by doing interval training doing the adverts from 5-6pm before my OH gets home from work. Its an hours tv for my son as a treat as he doesnt normally watch it and i get to do sit ups & yoga. I also horse ride while DS watches from his buggy gets him fresh air and me some aerobic exercise.

I lost all my babyweight without really trying, both times by not owning a car and walking everywhere while carrying baby in a sling. We never got a double buggy when we had #2, so I was carrying him in a back sling until he was 18m. Weight crept back on once they were out of buggies and I had to slow to child pace, so now I've started doing the NHS C25K podcasts in the evenings, or while oh cooks tea at weekends.

I do the Davina 30 minute exercise DVD once the kids are in bed. I have to work myself up to it but always feel better for doing it.

I use the ten minute fitness dvds to squeeze in workouts. The best core strength tip I've been given is to not push the buggy from your arms, instead pull in your tummy muscles, shoulders back and push from your core you should be able to just balance your hands on the handles rather than grip them tight. Always need to do more though - I really wish I'd known about pilates pre pregnancy, I might have had some stomach muscles left!

I schedule it into our daily routine so husband has his nights out cycling and I have my exercise classes at the gym. Works perfectly and is not negotiable.

Used to be a member of a gym but now realise I get more exercise and fun by taking the kids to the park.

My exercise is swimming. I swim four times a week and go as soon as I have taken the children to school - it seems much easier first thing in the morning On Tuesdays I have a double session, I swim alone and then again for 30mins whilst DCs have a lesson!

We walk to school but it is only 10 mins away so not far. Also do the usual stairs not escalators/lifts and walk rather than use the car.

It is important not to think of exercise as optional but 'essential' and good for the mind and body.

This might sound mad, but not having any Spare cash for gym or any time to run to school , I decided I had to do something so when I'm preparing breakfast and dinner, I do squats and lunges to the fridge and in the mornings run up the stairs two at a time , while driving to work i will do pelvic crunches , these little things have helped me tone up my legs for summer and no more crossed legs when I sneeze !

DS is now nearly 6mo so these tips are based on immediately before, during or after pregnancy.

• walking: everywhere. I have increased it to places a couple of miles away to which I used to get the bus. Also having DS in the carrier makes the impact greater.
• Wii Fit: I realise I may be one of very few, but I like it!
• enhancing other stuff I do: fast-paced walk to Post Office a mile away when I was at work, running up stairs/escalators, standing/stretching instead of sitting.
• DS: rocking him seems to help my abdominal muscles, holding and playing with him helps to strengthen my arms, and so on.
• cleaning/organising: our home needs a lot done (for a whole variety of reasons), so I have been spending min. 3 hours at least 1-2 times a week to tackle different areas. I'm hoping to be done within 2 months... in the meantime, I find it's a good activity to getting my heart pacing and move different muscles. Once it's complete I will still be setting aside a couple of hours a week to maintain the cleanliness and organisation I think.

I do gym class in my lunch hour. 45 mins so can just squeeze it in. Only bums&tums tho as no time for a shower. Also swim whilst DS has lesson and walk round the field whilst DS has football class

I commute to work by bike two or three times a week. It is 12 miles from my house to where I work, and as I live in London, this takes me just the same time - 1 hour- as it would by walking and public transport.

It means I can fit in 4-6 hours of vigorous exercise a week without having to find extra time to do it in. (Although I am aiming to compete in a triathlon this year so also do three half hour runs, one or two half hour swims and a three to four hour ride with my cycle club as well each week).

It's surprising how much activity you can fit into everyday life - SPD during the last weeks of pregnancy brought me to an almost complete halt. I could shuffle walk, but anything more than 50 yards (5 towards the end) would cost me in pain afterwards. Swimming would have helped, but I couldn't afford the walk to the pool and getting dressed afterwards was painful and difficult.

So after my son was born I started pretty much from zero. Fortunately my SPD cleared up fully afterwards. It took me a few months to start taking walking freely without pain for granted! I did a mother & baby yoga class which was great for helping me to figure out what I could manage in terms of regaining flexibility/strength. But mostly I just walked everywhere - the benefit of having a baby who napped most reliably when being walked in the pram is that I spent at least two hours a day walking. I reckon that's about 6 miles! Round and round the nearest shopping centre carpark (flat and easy to push) initially, then up hills when I felt confident I could make it back.

Realised I wasn't just "back to normal" but reasonably fit when forcing DP to walk over the hill for our Sunday lunch out instead of taking the car - he moaned about how impossibly steep the hill was and how difficult it was pushing a pram up it.

Challenge now is for DP to start doing more activity - at the moment, trying to shop more locally so walking round to local shops instead of going to the supermarket in the car is one thing that helps, plus he can talk to DS on the way round instead of DS being in the carseat in the back.

I get together with some other people who work in the same building twice a week to do Pilates/Abs during lunch break. It's good fun and knowing that other people come along helps with the motivation. There are meeting rooms with TVs and DVD players available which we can book and we have a couple of exercise DVDs (10 Minute Solutions mostly). On the other days I try to get out for a walk with a colleague during lunch.

I've had a pedometer for a few years now, and aim for at least 10000 steps a day. I can easily achieve this if I walk to and from school twice a day. It's about a mile one way. I also park at the leisure centre and walk into town, if I'm going shopping, again that is about a mile. I have a watch that counts my lengths when I go swimming which I find motivating, and I have a waterproof mp3 player so I can listen to music while I swim. I often get together for a long walk with other mums during the week, more fun and good to chat.

Busy working mum with a dog to walk and 2 kids. If somewhere is walking distance I walk it. If not, I drive but park a reasonable distance away and fit in a walk then. The dog and I get plenty of exercise that way.

I mainly exist on incidental exercise as by the time I have some time to myself, the lady thing I want to do is go out and exercise! I walk the dog, run about with the kids and have a job that means I rarely sit, but I do rather covet a fit bracelet to help me up my daily activity levels.

I cycle to work, including 3 miles each way with 50kg of kids in a trailer. We try and cycle everywhere at other times too. Sometimes I extend my route to work to make it longer and night riding on my mountain bike at night after the kids are in bed has been a lifesaver for staying fit as I find it hard to fit in exercise while they are awake! Requires big lights to see properly in the dark and also some friends as I don't like doing it al

Oops. Don't like doing it alone!

I've also shifted from doing just cycling to a bit of running as its really easy to run for a quick half hour.

Also - if you like cycling - get a turbo trainer

I keep fit by not owning a car, walking everywhere with buggy/heavy bags etc, having a very active job, going to zumba, and doing youtube workout videos for abs/general fitness.

Working, single parent so gym/classes not an option for me anymore. I don't have a car so walk everywhere, I try to get my 10000 steps a day in. My walk to work is uphill and includes lots of steps.
Other ways I fit exercise in are doing squats in the kitchen whilst cooking, doing crunches/bicep curls/lunges/press-ups etc during tv ads, gardening, running around park with ds, skipping in garden for 5 minutes.
Even 5 minute bursts throughout the day make a big difference, and it's the only way I can do it as I'm too tired for a full on workout after ds is in bed.

Keep a bike well serviced with the tyres pumped up and a big shopping basket on the front, and you are a lot more likely to jump on it to go somewhere rather than get out the car.

Never use a lift if you can avoid it.

My personal favourite - belly dancing exercises while the kettle is boiling keeps you supple.

If you travel for work, always take a swimsuit and camping towel with you in case you have a spare hour near a leisure centre.

At the park, go on all the swings and slides and so on with the kids.