Microworkout To Bring The NewNormal Work-Life Balance

In a recent study, our smartphone was aptly described as an ‘adult pacifier’, as we have it on us at all times, and tend to be less inhibited when we use it (compared to a laptop or desktop computer).

The devices are so invaluable that most employers now provide us with a phone to help us stay connected to our colleagues, but does this connectivity tether us to work 24/7?

It’s a question that seems increasingly pertinent in our coronavirus age, as so many of us are working from home on a semi-permanent basis. It creates the inevitable dilemma around when exactly work time begins and ends each day.

This blurring of boundaries can create considerable challenges for our work-life balance, especially when employees have so much else on their plate at the moment too.

That’s the traditional line of thought — that any blurring of boundaries between our work and personal life is a bad thing

Work-life balance is a concept that describes the ideal situation in which an employee can split his or her time and energy between work and other important aspects of their life.

Achieving work-life balance is a daily challenge. It is tough to make time for family, friends, community participation, spirituality, personal growth, self-care, and other personal activities, in addition to the demands of the workplace.

Because many employees experience a personal, professional, and monetary need to achieve, work-life balance can be challenging.

Employers can help employees achieve work-life balance by instituting policies, procedures, actions, and expectations that enable them to pursue more balanced lives, such as flexible work schedules, paid time off (PTO) policies, responsibly paced time and communication expectations, and company-sponsored family events and activities.

Work-life balance reduces the stress employee’s experience. When an employee spends the majority of their days on work-related activities and feels as if they are neglecting other important components of their lives, stress and unhappiness result. An employee, who doesn’t make time for self-care, eventually damages their output and productivity.

The workplace that enables employees to achieve work-life balance is particularly motivating and gratifying to employees, which makes them happy. And happy employees, whose needs for work-life balance are achieved, tend to stay with their employer and are more productive.

Concept of Microworkout to Bring Work-Life Balance

A microworkout is a tiny spell of exercise that lasts just 1-5 minutes. It is often spoken about in conjunction with the term “kaizen.” Kaizen is the Japanese word for “improvement,” which has been co-opted to mean “making tiny changes to a process in order to yield huge results.”

The philosophy is that a small action, when repeated daily, can add up to something profound.

This is the concept of the microworkout. While many people attempt to start 4 hour training programs to no avail, working out for just 5 minutes a day is far more achievable. Will the results be as great?

Not to begin with no, but the point is that you’ll use this as a way to form new positive habits that you can then use to introduce hardcore training.

Likewise, you can use microworkouts two; three, or five times a day and that way distribute your training throughout the day. The result is that you exercise a fair amount, but in a far more palatable manner.

Moreover, your metabolism stays rose throughout the day, and you don’t undergo those long, unhealthy periods of uninterrupted inactivity.

But there’s a similar concept that is even more effective. That is to train as a part of your daily routine. In other words, you’re turning your regular activities into microworkouts. For example, that means you’ll be performing calf raises on a curb while waiting for the bus, doing curls while carrying bags, or even doing tricep dips on the couch while watching television.

This type of training completely solves the issue of time. You don’t have to “fit in” your exercise, because you’re doing it at the same time as something you already would have done.

Better yet, it takes the idea of continually exercising throughout the day even further. This is actually how the human body is evolved to train. We are not intended to go through long periods of complete inactivity.

But can it be as effective? That depends on your approach and your goals. For weight loss, calorie burn is calorie burn no matter how the activity is distributed.

For building and toning muscle, cumulative damage over a short period of time is often needed. That said, there are quick ways to accomplish this (such as with eccentric isometrics) and by understanding these concepts you can work effective training into and around your regular routine

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