4 extra exercises that you can sneak in

Sometimes you don't always have time to hit the gym or go for a run, but you do have time to make your waiting periods productive. If you're simply standing and waiting, you're able to get more motion in to give you the benefit of exercising.

• Your gluteus maximus, also affectionately known as your butt, is the largest muscle group in your body.
• Fire it up and you'll burn calories, says Michelle Cederberg, a fitness and wellness consultant from Calgary, Alberta.

Whether you're standing or sitting, an invisible butt squeeze (tighten, hold for two seconds, release) repeated 10 to 15 times, one to three times a day, will tighten your tush and burn calories.

By making an effort to stand "tall and proud," you contract dozens of muscles from your legs up to your neck, says Cederberg. This burns calories and builds muscle.

• Whether you're ironing, doing dishes or standing in a line at the bank, concentrate on keeping a solid foot stance, a slight bend in your knees, an open chest (that is, standing tall, not slouched), with shoulders depressed and head up.
• Another secret workout: imagine you're squeezing a pencil between your shoulder blades and you have to hold the muscles tight so the pencil doesn't fall. It doesn't take long before the muscles in your back start to fatigue.

• Any time you realign your posture, sit or stand a bit taller, and get away from a slumped posture, you're exercising your back and core muscles.

Whether you're folding clothes, ironing (yes, some of us still iron!) or waiting for the rinse cycle, "captive time" is ideal for adding in some lovely leg work, Cederberg says.

Perform 10 to 15 plié squats (think ballerina).

• Position your heels just beyond shoulder width with your toes rotated out to 45 degrees.
• As you drop into your squat, keep your knees in line with your toes and make sure your head, shoulders and hips align, or "stack up," as you drop down.
• Return to the starting position, and squeeze the muscles in your butt as you stand tall.

Remember the term? It dates back to the Charles Atlas days. Isometric exercises, put simply, are exercises in which muscles are tensed without movement.

• For example, pushing as hard as you can against a brick wall is an isometric exercise, because neither you nor the wall moves.
• Research has shown that isometric exercises provide lots of value, particularly for those people with a limited range of motion. And you can do them anytime, anyplace.

The basic rule is to hold the tension for five to 10 seconds, then relax for a few seconds. Repeat the cycle five to eight times. Here are some simple isometric exercises to try.

• Tense your abdominal muscles and hold.
• Put your hands together in front of you, as if praying, and press your hands together as hard as you can.
• Stand with your legs apart about 30 centimetres (one foot) from a wall. Push against the wall with your hands as if you were trying to move it.
• Stand inside a doorway and, with your arms straight down and by your sides, put the backs of your hands against each door frame. Push your hands against the doorway as hard as you can, as if you were trying to widen the door space.
• While still inside the doorway, push your palms against the frame above you, as if you were trying to lift the building.
• Sit down in a chair, feet flat on the ground. Push your legs into the ground as hard as you can.