The Parking Garage Workout

I saw a great thing today. I left my office for a meeting right before lunch. I returned at around noon. As I drove up to the top floor of the parking garage I saw something I had not seen before. I usually am in my office so I was unaware of all the walkers we had in our building. The parking garage has nine levels. On each level I saw at least one pair of people in sweats walking either up or down the levels.

Now, I would not recommend this if your parking garage is prone to people speeding and zipping through, as it would become a safety issue. I did like the idea of walking in pairs. Not only does it give you someone you can talk to, but it also keeps you accountable to someone should you not feel like exercising. Your walking buddy could push you to exercise or vice versa.

Most of the people that work in other offices in our building usually have a one hour lunch break. As I drove up I could not help but feel anxious to write this article. These people are taking exercise to a whole new level, no pun intended. They are taking away the excuse factor. For those of us that have said in the past that we do not have enough time to exercise, we no longer have an excuse.

Taking time out during our lunch break not only helps to burn some extra calories, but it also gets us energized for the rest of the day. Using the parking garage walkers as an example, we see that our lunch hour could also become our exercise hour. I remember when I was younger and would visit my brother at work. He and his co-workers would walk across the street to a basketball court and play basketball on their lunch break.

I am not saying that you should round up your office mates for some full court running, but use it as a way to spark some ideas. You could also go jogging on your break. If you work close to a pool or a beach, you could swim some laps. If you work close to a gym you could lift some weights or do some cardio work. Get creative, make it fun and stop making excuses for yourself.