Written with love, by Nikki Lian

Back in the day there were only 7 channels on television, and some of them, in my opinion, weren’t even worth watching. At some point in time you had to actually get up and walk over to the TV to turn it on, you had to leave the house to go see or rent a movie, and you actually had to get up and push a heavy piece of equipment to get your carpets vacuumed. Today, we have Direct TV, Netflix, the Roomba, and many other sources of technology that can cause us to be lazy. We can order food online and have it brought to our door through take-out Postmates and shop for anything we want without leaving our house!

According to the Mayo Clinic, we need 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week, which comes out to approximately 20 minutes a day. "Many Americans fall short of the federal exercise recommendations," states Penn State News. They only spend an average of about two hours per week participating in sports and physical activities, which results in the United States being the “fattest” country in the world.

A lot of us lead very, very busy lives and sometimes we can’t fit in making it to the gym or making it to our yoga class. Sometimes it’s raining outside, or too cold, or we’re too tired. However, as one of millions that have to accommodate workouts in with a sometimes 15 hour work day, I don’t think 20 minutes is too much to ask.

So when you’re standing in front of the elevator at work, choose to take the stairs. When your dog needs to go out, put a leash on him and walk around the block. And when you drive by the gym on the way home from work, think of stopping in!! I’ve been guilty as well as using delay tactics and excuses to skip my workouts. But is it really worth it? Because anyone who has ever done any sort of vigorous exercise for 20 minutes of more should know that exercise makes you feel wonderful, especially when you are DONE. So get up, and get movin’!! You can do it!!