Health experts advocate working out for about 30 minutes to 60 minutes a day to benefit from your fitness program. However, if you are the workaholic type, you probably don’t have the luxury to spend 30 minutes to a full hour a day exclusively for workouts.
Be aware of opportunities
Exercising is always possible provided you just squeeze it into your schedules in a more resourceful manner. Get off your couch and start moving around, advises fitness guru Ann Grandjean. Every bit of chore inside your house is an opportunity to get fit. The trick is to get yourself moving – clear out the attic, do some gardening, walk to the grocery store. Any activity that expends energy also burns up calories.
Every stolen moment counts
If you are thinking that short spurts of exercise wouldn’t affect your fitness level, you’re in for a surprise. One recent study showed that participants who spread out their exercise throughout the day into 10-minute blocks are disposed to exercise regularly, and shed more pounds in 5 months, compared to most women who’d rather work out straight for an hour.
What other experts say
In a groundbreaking study made in Virginia, Glenn Gaesser, an exercise physiologist, instructed the male and female participants to accomplish 15 sets of 10-minute exercises in one week. In less than a month, each participant’s fitness level matched that of persons belonging to a much younger age group. Their endurance, strength and agility are comparable to those who are 20 years younger.
Splitting exercise into smaller blocks during your busy days can build your confidence, says time management consultant Harold Taylor. Missing out on regular gym sessions shoots down your momentum and motivation. You may surmise that fitness training isn’t worth pursuing anymore because you just don’t have the time for it. However, if you can
Not a replacement
Remember, however, that short exercise blocks are intended to make use of available free time; it should not take the place of your existing fitness program. Here are some practical tips to squeeze exercise in your daily routine even if you "don’t have the time." Don’t tackle all of them in one day; simply choose the ones that work for you.
• When you pick up the morning paper, take a quick 5-minute walk up the street and back again.
• If you’re stuck at home to care for a sick child, work on the exercise bike or Stairwalker while your "patient" is asleep.
• Do some jumping Jacks for 5 or 10 minutes. 10 minutes can burn 90 calories.
• When cooking dinner, do some standing push-ups while waiting for the roast to cook. Push in and push out to tone your arms and shoulders.
• Go outside and shoot some baskets or play tag with your children after dinner.
• Before retiring or after applying your facial cream at night, do several reps of some dumbbell exercises. This is recommended by exercise instructor Sheila Cluff, owner of The Palms in Palm Springs, CA. She keeps a set of weights right in front of her bathroom sink.
• Walk around the field while your son has a baseball practice.
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