You can still exercise– you just need to sneak in the equivalent in resourceful ways. “The idea is to keep moving,” says fitness expert Ann Grandjean, EdD. Find whatever works for you and just move.
Experts recommend working out 45 minutes to an hour a day (30 minutes for beginners) for weight loss and fitness. If you’re like most women, you don’t always have a block of 30 to 60 minutes a day to devote exclusively to doing your workouts.
Every Stolen Moment Adds Up
Keep in mind, though, that short bursts of exercise are meant to supplement, not replace, your regular fitness routine.
Breaking exercise into small chunks on your overscheduled days can also keep your confidence up, says Harold Taylor, time management expert and owner of Harold Taylor Time Consultants in Toronto, who has written extensively on the subject. “Skipping exercise altogether is ‘de-motivational’– you feel guilty and depressed,” Taylor says. As long as you make some effort each day, that motivates you onward.
In yet another study, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore found that for improving health and fitness in inactive adults, many short bursts of activity are as effective as longer, structured workouts. “It would be useful for people to get out of the all-or-nothing mind-set that unless they exercise for 30 minutes, they’re wasting their time,” says Gaesser.
In a landmark study conducted at the University of Virginia, exercise physiologist Glenn Gaesser, PhD, asked women and men to complete 15 10-minute exercise routines a week. After just 21 days, the volunteers’ aerobic fitness was equal to that of people 10 to 15 years younger. Breaking exercise into small chunks on your overscheduled days can also keep your confidence up, says Harold Taylor, time management expert and owner of Harold Taylor Time Consultants in Toronto, who has written extensively on the subject. “Skipping exercise altogether is ‘de-motivational’– you feel guilty and depressed,” Taylor says.
In a landmark study conducted at the University of Virginia, exercise physiologist Glenn Gaesser, PhD, asked women and men to complete 15 10-minute exercise routines a week. After just 21 days, the volunteers’ aerobic fitness was equal to that of people 10 to 15 years younger. Their strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility were equal to those of people up to 20 years their junior.
Lest you think that short bursts of activity have a negligible effect on your fitness program, think again. One study found that women who split their exercise into 10-minute increments were more likely to exercise consistently, and lost more weight after 5 months, than women who exercised for 20 to 40 minutes at a time.
