We all know how much fun shopping is, there is quite frankly no better way to spend your time, no in fact... no better way to spend life! But just in case, just, in, case, you're not as a big fan of shopping as some people we thought of a few exercises to make the weekly shop a bit more interesting. Get tired for all the right reasons and turn your weekly shop into a weekly workout...
Basket Bi-cep Curls
Not exactly the most complicated of exercises but a classic. Let the basket hang by your side, pull the basket up until your elbow joint is at 45 degrees. We suggest sets of 10, the basket will get heavier the more you add so things will get harder the longer the shop goes on. Remember to swap hands and keep working both arms.
Basket Squats
When you need to pick something off the bottom shelf try this simple exercise. Bend your knees until your basket is flat on the floor, keeping your back straight all the time. It's really important to bend your knees and not your back. Also keep your feet flat on the ground and you should feel your tights working, especially if you have a full basket.
Trolly Plank
This exercise is great for your core. Plant your feet flat on the floor, cross your arms across the handle of the trolly. Slowly roll the trolly forward until your body is straight and you are balanced on you toes (Figure 2). Hold for a few second and slowly pull the trolly towards you until your feet are flat on the floor (Figure 1). This seems easy but pace yourself, it can be sore the next day if you do too many.
Tip Toe Walking
Don't be put off by the terrible picture and if you're looking at this for the art quite frankly you're looking the wrong blog. This exercise is quite simple, as the name suggests. You just walk on your tip toes. Although you may look slightly strange while you walk this exercise is great for your calves. If you don't fancy walking on tip toes for the entire shop you could do calf raises in sets of ten until you feel like you've done enough.
Supermarket Sprints
WARNING! This exercise is only recommended in an extremely quite or empty supermarket, do this exercise at your owe risk, and quite frankly at the risk of others! Supermarket aisles are wonderfully straight and their uniform lengths make them great for keeping the distances consistent. We're not sure where the shopping comes into this one, perhaps leave your trolly at one end of the the shop and sprint back and forth to collect items...
Having spent some time playing with the camera I decided to go a bit quicker to catch up. The result... a 13 stone Brummy running down a mountain in Northern ireland screaming 'I've built up a head of steam!'. Shortly followed by a bone crunching thud as said Brummy over balanced and clattered to a stop in deep snow, which remember, covers rocks. Guess which one stopped me? Yeap, rock. The rest of the hike went by with a failed attempt to slide down the mountain on our backsides and little else other than beautiful scenery and great trails to walk on... with a sore knee.
