A gym member arrived at the studio the other day frazzled and struggling to find time to fit in her routine. Between juggling work, kids, and just getting things done, her fitness time was getting the squeeze.
We chatted a moment about options and possibilities and by the end of the conversation she was inspired and ready to change things up. A quick re-think of her workout landscape was all she needed to ensure she didn’t always end up last thing on the list.
The biggest challenge I think is that we get stuck (yours truly included) on the one-hour-or-nothing principle for our workouts. It seems to be the go-to, the best seller for fitness scheduling. Which is all fine and well when you have lots of time, your motivation is high (think January resolutions) and barriers are low.
But as soon as regular life creeps in and other priorities rear their heads, fitness is tossed on the back burner. Or worse, right off the range. Busy schedules can easily swallow up that one hour window you thought you had. The meetings go longer. The traffic is brutal. The ferry runs late. Now you only have 30 minutes. Or less. So why bother – right?
I’m here to tell you that it is absolutely worth the bother. A quick, focused 30-minute workout is just what your body, mind and spirit have ordered. Try fitting this in three times a week to build the habit.
Once this flow is feeling like a groove, see if you can build in two more 30-minute stints during the week. That’s a total of 150 minutes of exercise – the minimum required for your beautiful vessel to maintain health.
You can also split those 30-minute packages of fitness joy into two 15-minute exercise parties. Save the longer workout stretches for the weekend.
What does a great 30-minute regime look like? For strength training, try one of these three combos on for size:
1) Legs (squats, hamstring work, balance), followed by core (plank variations) and stretching.
2) Upper body (chest press, seated row, triceps), core (bridging variations, superman variations and stretching.
3) Core only and stretching. With each combo, shoot for two or three sets each of four different exercises, finish with five minutes of stretching and voila!
If you were feeling very keen and wanting to jump start this whole fitness adventure with daily 30-minute routines, just make sure you switch up the workouts so your body has an opportunity to recover from the day before. For instance, your leg/core day could be Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and upper body body/core routine could be Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The trick is to trust that shorter routines done regularly work, and know that less done more often is so much better than more done rarely.
