No time? It’s easy to make excuses for why you can’t fit in your workout amidst the hustle and bustle of a busy life. Fortunately, the days of spending hours at the gym to get the health benefits and body you want are long gone. Interval training has sparked a fitness revolution with the ability to spend less time working out, and actually achieve better results. Likewise, you can work all your major muscles group in as little as 5 short minutes with the right workout plan. There is nothing wrong with spending an hour or two at the gym – IF you have the time!
Depending on how much time you have to workout, there is a plan for you. The more options you give yourself, the less room there is for excuses and the more room there remains for results. Choose one of the following no-time, no-excuse workout plans that best fits into your daily life.
No Time Workout Plan 1: This plan would be for the working mom (or Dad) who’s time management skills are in full force. You know the importance of time and how little of it you have. In 5 minutes you can work every muscle in your body.
Start with a jog in place. Get the blood pumping and the adrenaline flowing to wake you up. Try a 30-second jog, and then follow it up with a 30-second barrage of jumping jacks. Next get down on the floor into a high plank position with your arms fully extended, back flat, and feet on floor with toes together. Perform a 30-second set of mountain climbers, alternating knees up toward your chest in a running motion.
Hop up and do some body squats. Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart. Some light dumbbells will help you tone your arms. You can use them as you perform body squats and add a shoulder press to the end of the squat. Add some biceps curls and triceps kickbacks to target the muscles of the arm. Try some bent-over rows to strengthen the shoulders: bend at the waist with a flat-back and raise the elbows up as you squeeze your shoulder blades together.
No Time Workout Plan 2: This plan would be for the gym-goer who can spend about 20-30 minutes in the gym before it’s back to work or the family duties.
Interval training and circuit workouts are great in a time crunch. Intervals are as simple as working out in segments with short rest periods in between. This is the direct opposite of, for instance, getting on a treadmill and walking or running at the same pace for 30 minutes to an hour. When you workout in those short segments, you go hard. So you may train hard for 3 minutes and rest for 1. If you repeat that 3 times, you’ve spent 9-10 hard minutes working out. Your heart rate will get up and you will burn a ton of calories. Most bikes and ellipticals have pre-programmed routines. Try one of these intervals and see if you aren’t breathing harder after 10 minutes than you normally are after 30 minutes of steady-state exercise.
Circuit training is a great way to get a lot of work done without spending a lot of time doing it. Instead of using a weight machine and resting between sets, move to a different machine – perhaps one that works an upper body area while your lower body rests. If you can go back and forth and never rest, you will get your workout done much quicker, keep your heart rate up, and burn more calories.
