Quick workouts – the question?
joyful and fun exercise
In light of the last post on saving time I wanted to explore the topic of efficient exercise. Experts say that you should exercise daily and recent research suggests that even moderate daily exercise may not be enough.So how much exercise do we really need? In my own mind I usually figure that I will need to exercise 30 - 60 minutes in order get into reasonably good shape? And let me be clear I'm not exercising much these days - and to be honest, trying to find 3-7 extra hours a week to really exercise seems daunting and keeps me from really getting started again - since I'll only run out of time to do it right anyway.
If we use our 1 year calculation that is between 6 and 16 days in a year just spent exercise, realistically more if you include time driving to a gym or the extra showers and changing one might do. So it's definitely a topic worth exploring if we want to use time efficiently
Let's pretend for the sake of discussion - and this is an invitation for discussion, that you can get significant gains from short periods of the "right" exercise. But what is the right exercise? This is what I'm looking for input from readers.
The question
If you budgeted 15 minutes a day for exercise, what would your exercise routine include each day?
(The goal should be to be well rounded and build strength, flexibility, and endurance.)
I plan to take all the input and feedback and build it into a personal workout plan to try out personally and document the results.
Please comment...
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February 25th, 2009 - 16:38
I’m thinking pushups (upper body), lunges (lower body), planks (or similar for core) interspersed with short 1-2 minute bursts of high intensity cardio. That wouldn’t be my preference for total fitness, but it works the major muscle groups in the shortest period of time.
I look forward to hearing more suggestions!
February 26th, 2009 - 01:33
Good ideas and thanks for the comment. I think pull-ups are a great all around exercise and I’d like to incorporate jumping rope as well because its intense. Hopefully we’ll get more people commenting and get more suggestions.
February 26th, 2009 - 08:51
Good question. 15 minutes seems a lot more realistic than 30 – 60 minutes to me as well. I agree with pushups and jumping rope. I would also add sitting against the wall for at least 1 of those 15 minutes. That’s a great low impact exercise.
February 26th, 2009 - 08:53
Oh, one other thing. You could do some high intensity cleaning, like scrubbing the tub or the toilet. Kill two birds with one stone that way.
March 3rd, 2009 - 00:28
I’ve been a fan of SimpleFit (http://www.simplefit.org/) which was branched off of CrossFit as a good way to get started. Although, admittedly I could be doing much better in this department, I do agree that nutrition can also play a large role in your fitness. I’d like to get back into the routine of doing SimpleFit three times a week, and doing cardio (I’ve considered jumprope) three times a week, and an ab workout on the 7th day.
March 3rd, 2009 - 10:20
Great suggestion Aaron. I will look into SimpleFit.