Introduction
Are you a professional working a busy schedule? Do you only have a few minutes to spare in the morning, during your lunch break, or before bed? Do you feel like you are behind on working towards your fitness goals? You are not alone. Many busy professionals find it difficult to fit exercise into their lifestyle – but YOU CAN do it. Find out the best workouts for busy professionals in this article.
Ugh… it’s Thursday already and you have not been able to fit a single workout into your busy week. Your daily responsibilities push you more and more towards a sedentary lifestyle. You have always been so active and taken such good care of your body, however, your daily routine does not allow for that same lifestyle anymore.
First things first – I want you to take some deep breaths in. Try to clear your mind of all that information that is in the front of your mind and think back to a time that left you stress and worry-free. Think about a time where your mind was clear and you felt like you fully owned your body and your mind. What is it that you are thinking about?
Was it possibly after a great run or an intense, sweaty exercise session? You’re on the right track. Exercise has the power to temporarily remove all stressors and make you refocus on what is truly most important – your personal health and wellbeing. Did you ever notice how you make significantly more health-conscious decisions following a good exercise session?
Limited Free-Time
With the average North American only having approximately only 89 minutes of free time per day, it is not easy to make space for the nationally recommended exercise guidelines. Technology and the constant need to be available to others have made life more demanding than ever. Information overload leaves us confused about what the best thing to do is with the little bit of free time that we have. This causes higher levels of anxiety, which makes everything even harder. It seems to be close to impossible these days to live a healthy lifestyle. How can we try and fix this? How can we follow a great exercise routine, eat right, and live an overall healthier lifestyle when we do not have much time on our hands?
The Best Workouts for Busy Professionals
The best way to fit exercise into a busy day is by performing short, intense workout sessions. Research shows that you can get the same, if not more gains by exchanging greater intensity for volume. A higher intensity allows for more effective workouts and you will get away with significantly less time spent exercises. The best thing about this? You will gain more energy from pushing your muscle cells closer to their limits. You will burn more calories throughout the day as a result of EPOC, and you can significantly increase your muscle mass. Let me show you how you can get away with performing a 10-minute workout, a few times per week.
1. Bodyweight Exercises
- You may be thinking to yourself that due to a lack of time you are unable to attend the gym and that you will have to perform home workouts. I have good news! There are hundreds, if not thousands of bodyweight exercises that addressing the musculature of your entire body and provide you with the exercises you need for a great workout. All you would need is a workout mat! Optional equipment: resistance bands, headphones, timer
2. Occlusion Training
- If you want to make your workout more challenging and your body weight is not giving you enough of a resistance, I suggest that you give occlusion training a try. Occlusion training is a type of training involving straps that are tied around your arms and legs. The straps, when tightened to the right degree, can temporarily restrict blood flow to your working muscles. You will be able to fatigue significantly faster and shorten your workout time.
3. High-Intensity Interval Training
- HIIT is a rather intense form of interval training that has recently gained massive popularity. It involves dynamic exercises that are performed for several muscle groups until you reach fatigue and you are unable to maintain good form. Perform 4-6 minutes of near-maximum high-intensity interval training (75%+), involving at least 2 lower extremity exercises and one upper extremity exercise. The key is to keep the intensity high. Do whatever is most difficult and will get you to fatigue the quickest safely.
4. High-intensity Resistance training
- Now that your heart rate is up, it is time to move on to the next stage – High-Intensity Resistance Training (HIRT). HIRT involves super-slow exercises that will push your muscles to greater levels of fatigue. Keep wearing your occlusion bands to create high-intensity environments within your muscle cells. Again, perform 2 lower extremity exercises and one upper extremity exercise. Keep it intense by performing each exercise to momentary muscular failure. Ensure proper breathing, minimal rest periods in between exercises.
In order to reap the most health benefits from high-intensity workouts, you should provide your body with sufficient rest in between workout sessions. Higher intensity workouts will require longer breaks in between exercise sessions. The easiest way to judge if you are providing your body with sufficient rest is to be aware of the signs of overtraining. Start by performing your workout routine twice per week. At first, your workouts may be slightly longer to get used to the feeling, exercise sequence and rhythm of things, however over time you should be able to perform these workouts in the little time.
To learn more about exercise regimen that you can fit into your busy lifestyle, check out my free e-guide here.
Motivational tools
- Reward yourself: A great way to motivate yourself is by setting up a point system for yourself. For example, you could give yourself 500 points for performing a full workout at 90-100%, 300 points for 75-90%, 100 points for 25-75%. After you reach a certain number of points, you can reward yourself by buying new outfits, ordering in your favourite meal or anything else that makes you feel like you are treating yourself for good behaviour.
- Work out during your Biological Prime Time: In order for you to take advantage of making more health-conscious decisions for the remainder of the day, it is best to perform a morning workout. If you work from home and you have the freedom to plan your exercise session whenever you want into your day, a great way to maximize the effectiveness of your workout is by finding out your biological prime time. Your biological prime time is the time of the day where you naturally experience a surge of energy. I want you to track this over the next few days. Write down all of your waking hours and rate your energy levels. My personal prime time is between 9-11 am and then again from 7:00-9:30 pm. Between 11-7:00 I am not quite as productive as I am during those times and no matter how hard I try, my productivity and overall efficiency is lower.
- Track your workouts: By tracking your workouts, you will be more engaged in your workouts. You are less likely to miss a day to maintain your laid out exercise sequence and checking off a completed workout will leave you satisfied and ready to take on other daily challenges that may be coming your way
- Make it fun: Without making your exercise routine fun, even the best quick workouts won’t stand a chance. Add exercises that excite you and do not feel like a burden.
Benefits of High-Intensity Workouts
- Boost in Energy Levels: within 1-3 weeks of performing high-intensity training, you will notice a boost in energy levels
- Increased Happiness: This in turn can lead to more health-conscious decision-making throughout the day
- Greater Calorie Burn: Increased weight loss throughout your day due to the effects of EPOC
- Better Mental Health: High-intensity exercise has great positive health benefits on the brain
- Improved Blood Sugar Levels
- Others: Above are the most noteworthy benefits to HIT workouts. Here is a resource that will give you more complete information.
Conclusion
Busy people unite! Do not let others negatively affect your ability to live a healthy lifestyle. Be your own personal trainer and get your ten minute workout in. Find out the best time for your workout in the morning, be your own personal trainer and get your ten minute workout in. Do not let excuses get in your way and ruin your new workout plan. Say goodbye to unhealthy decision-making, low energy levels and living a more sedentary lifestyle than you’re meant to live! Are you ready to get started?