If you’re the kind of person who has about a thousand things to do already, adding a workout in about 4 times a week isn’t going to be at the top of the priority list. But you want to focus on your health and you think going for a walk or trying a cycling exercise could be good for you! So how do you manage to fit it all in and do your best to stay fit? Here are some tips that could help you manage the time and use it constructively, no matter how little of it you might have.
Put on Some Music
Music gets us into the groove, no matter what we’re doing. So if you want to make your short term workouts more effective, just put on your favorite tunes! The rhythm will naturally speed you up.
Count Your Steps
If you think about it, you’re probably doing a lot more exercise than you think. If you’re on your feet a lot, having something on hand to count your steps for you will help you notice this exercise. Get your phone out after a long day and check the health app, or keep an eye on the pedometer in your watch; if you’ve racked up the steps and they’re over 10,000 by the end of the day, you’re doing very well!
Up the Intensity with Restriction Bands
If you want to raise the intensity level of any workout you do, including just walking up a hill or through the park, you can put on some blood flow restriction cuffs to make your body work harder. This way, even if you’ve only got about 15 to 20 minutes before you need to be home again, your body will respond as if you’ve been doing interval training for a good half hour.
You can also buy some standard resistance bands and use them to help you stretch a bit further when there’s force pushing against you. This’ll ensure your muscles are working as hard as possible in the small amount of time you’ve got to spare here; even if you can only workout once a week, a resistance band makes it feel like you’ve done it twice!
Get Tense While Sitting
Sitting down a lot during the day thanks to work? Why not actively choose to tense and relax in cycles as you do? If you tighten your core you’ll naturally work the ab muscles even as you’re tapping away on a computer. Not only does this use up more calories per day, helping to create that deficit you’re looking for, but it’ll define the muscles over the weeks as well.
After a little while doing little exercises like these, you might just notice your belly feeling tighter to the touch and maybe even a little bit flatter to the eye.
Drink Lots More Water
The more hydrated you are, the easier it’ll be to stay on track and focus on what you want to do. As such, drinking more water won’t make your 10 minute workout that much more effective on its own, but you’ll certainly be able to keep your energy level up the entire time.
This means you can push harder no matter what you’re doing, meaning your heart rate is likely to be higher and you’re going to push more sweat out. This makes any kind of exercise you do much more effective, just as long as you have time to do a couple cool down stretches again afterwards!
Work on One Area Only
Some exercises you can do are good for targeting specific areas. So, if you’ve only got about 10 to 15 minutes before you need to change out your workout gear and get something else done, use these circuits to focus on just one area.
Think about the areas of your body you’d like to tone up and go from there. Maybe you’d like to strengthen your arms or legs, or you’d like to flatten out your abs and core? Use this time to do a mini targeted workout for the next few weeks and see how you progress.
If you want to have an effective workout when you’ve only got about 10 minutes to really do it, throw in tips like these whenever you have a go. Target one area, make sure you drink enough water, and use items like resistance bands to increase your heart rate and make your 10 minutes far more intense.
Read more:
