30-40 minutes to work out--Is it enough?

M

Muffin Top

Cathlete
Hi Cathe!
First off, let me say thank you for helping me to become the fittest I have ever been! I have been progressing with your workouts now for about 6 months. Of course, all this time I've had an hour a day to work out.
My work hours are now changing and I will only have 30-40 minutes a day to work out. Thanks so much for premixes! I know because of your wonderful premix options I can still work out with your DVDs. However, I am concerned that I will lose the fitness gains I have developed because I can't do a full hour. Of course, I will try to get in a full workout on weekends when I can. So, I guess I'm just asking for your thoughts on this. Will I still continue to progress with my fitness in a shorter time period? You have some killer short workouts, but I've just grown accustomed to doing the longer versions.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
(and I'm looking forward to getting the new workouts!)
 
Hi Muffin Top! Not Cathe but I'd like to hear what she says also as this is exactly what I'm going through too! I've always done the hour workouts and when I do 30-45 minutes, I almost guilty like I'm not doing near what I should be or like maybe I'm not getting the benefits like I did in the hour. BTW, My nickname at work is Mini-muffin. Have a great day!
 
Thanks for the bump, Mini-muffin!
:D
I really hope Cathe chimes in because I'm freaking out over the shorter workouts--I just did 20 minutes of SJP on my lunch break to try to get my hour in today!:-( I'm doing the 41 min. SB premix after work and at 41 minutes, I'm pushing it!
 
I totally understand! I guess 30-40 minutes would be better than nothing at all huh? I'm like you, I do get in an hour when I can but I don't feel like I done what I should. My idea of a workout is something like the Jan06 Rotation (which I desperately want to do)so when all I can do is 30-40 min I feel rather "wimpy" all over:eek:
 
Hi

I am obviously not Cathe, but I have often been in your situation. You ABSOLUTELY CAN benefit from 30-40 minutes. Give it your all and you will be absolutely fine. There have been times in my life when all my schedule would allow was 20-30 minutes (with the odd longer workout thrown in) and I did not lose fitness - in fact, I think my body welcomed the rest time! As long as you make good workout choices and keep to a high intensity, you will be fine. The only benefit you might lose out on is longer cardio endurance, but if you are able to manage to do one longer workout at the weekend, then that will solve the problem.

Trust me!!! :)

Trevor
 
What about if you are trying to lose weight? I still need to lose a good 30 pounds and have been told that I need to do 45-60 min of cardio per day in addition to weight training. I just don't have that kind of time! I TRY to workout at least an hour a night. I do straight cardio one night and then the next night I either do a straight weight workout or cardio/weight workout. I switch back and forth. I try to workout 6 days a week. I have been stuck for a very long time and have not lost any weight at all I think its mainly due to my diet - I'm not super strict with the eating. I try but I just can't do it. So I rely on my workouts hoping somewhere along the line I will start losing weight again. Its very frustrating. I cannot do 60 min of cardio per night and then add weight training on top of that every other workout. I'll never get to bed!!!! Oh, I forgot about that - then I read you need at least 7 or more hours of sleep per night if you are trying to lose weight!!!! I never get 7 hours a sleep per night because i workout at night and get up at 5:00 for work!!! What is a person to do? Boy it feels good to get that off my chest!!!! hahahaa :) :)
 
Hi Theresa! It is hard to lose isn't? I would try to eat better and I'd do "ok" for 2 weeks. It never failed, after that 2 wk point I'd go back to my old habits. Then one day I said to myself, try again but change my choices for what I was eating. I too, get up at 5am, home at 6pm. I set myself a schedule and really stuck to it and myself a chance. I changed from McDonalds breakfast at 6am, a hot chocolate at 10am and a Lean Cuisine at lunch (like that was helping, LOL), another snack at 3:00 and supper at 7:00pm to a coffee at 6am (to help me pass my Mickey D's) Kashi Autumn wheat cereal at 9am and dk leafy green salad loaded w/veggies (can't give up my ranch dressing though), an apple, 1/2c pineapple (or some kind of fruit)sometimes a little bit of cottage cheese for my 3pm snack to a small dinner at 7:00. I do the dishes, take my dog for a walk, an hour workout (which right now I've had to cut back to 30-45 min). This is when I started dropping the pounds. I used to think I could eat what I wanted as long as I was working out. But what a difference I saw when I started making better food choices. Don't get me wrong, I still eat pizza and fries, just not all the time like I used too!}(

Sorry so long, wanted to give you some encouragement! Hope you can see some results soon. Sure does sound like you have an excellent workout schedule!
 
Thank you so much for the encouragement!! I know there are things I need to cut back on or cut out. Like I drink coffee in the morning and I use full fat cream because I hate the low fat low sugar stuff. yuck. I don't eat out at all and don't eat fried stuff or frozen meals or anything like that. I usually eat special k with skim for breakfast and 2 egg whites; for a snack around 10 I eat an apple w/ peanut butter (which I probably shouldn't do), lunch is usually a salad w/ chicken, low fat balsalmic dressing, low fat cheese and a handful of roasted soybeans and iced tea; then around 2 for my second snack I have a low fat vanilla yogurt. mainly its when I get home from work the trouble starts. i graze. a couple of pretzels here, a cookie there, you know how it is. I have gotten better in the evenings not eating after dinner (maybe a few pretzels and some skim milk) because I know I'm working out later. I try to go to bed right after I workout because otherwise I will eat. Its so hard!!!! I workout a ton and in the beginning when I was trying to lose weight I did great but now its really really hard. Thanks for your advice. I actually started writing things down again this week. i used to be really good about that and it does help.
 
I just want to chime in here and add my confirmation that you can indeed get great results in 30 or 40 minutes. I find that supersetting is an efficient way to to exercise when you have limited time and you want a great workout. It's what I've been doing and I've been very pleased with the results. For cardio I just try to up the intensity.
 
Sounds great! At least now I'm not feeling so guilty. I think I adapted to feeling like I needed that hour - it's almost like an addiction.
 
I agree. I feel super guilty if I don't workout for at least an hour. I find that I am wearing myself out too much. I'm so tired afterwards and the next night when I try to workout it takes all of my energy just to get started because I am so beat from the night before!!! I love working out especially with my Cathe tapes but sometimes I'm just so pooped from my previous workout!!! I think I am going to try to really clean up my eating and shorten my workouts and see if my energy level goes up. Thanks to all for your encouraging words!
 
I think it is enough time although I've become much more lax on my workouts as I've graduated from college and started working.

Eating well accounts for most of your results so focus on that. Even if you worked out for 2 hours and then ate fast food at every meal, you certainly wouldn't lose weight!

A 30 minute run is a tough workout so try that. Then do weights the next day. Just make every minute of the workout count.
 
Thanks l23. My guilt is starting to go away. I eat pretty clean so I don't have two things to feel guilty about.:)
 
Hi,
I'm not Cathe, but can offer good news. I wake up early every morning, and I have about 45 minutes to workout before I have to take my shower/eat before my son wakes up. I like to play with him (he's a toddler) before going to work. I used to exercise about one hour 5-6 times a week before getting pregnant. During pregnancy and the year that followed, I was lazy and hardly exercised at all.
At the end of this past summer, I decided to get back into it, but the only way I could do that was to wake up that early. Once the day goes on, there's no way I will exercise later in the day. Well, I work out about 5 days a week for 45 minutes, and I am in better shape than before my pregnancy. I feel awesome (loads of enery), and I have lost weight, toned up, and am getting compliments left and right (they are motivating). Just watch what you eat, and with 45 minutes of exercise (especially with Cathe), you will do fine!
Good Luck!
-Jen
 
>What about if you are trying to lose weight? I still need to
>lose a good 30 pounds and have been told that I need to do
>45-60 min of cardio per day in addition to weight training. I
>just don't have that kind of time! I TRY to workout at least
>an hour a night. I do straight cardio one night and then the
>next night I either do a straight weight workout or
>cardio/weight workout. I switch back and forth. I try to
>workout 6 days a week. I have been stuck for a very long time
>and have not lost any weight at all I think its mainly due to
>my diet - I'm not super strict with the eating. I try but I
>just can't do it. So I rely on my workouts hoping somewhere
>along the line I will start losing weight again. Its very
>frustrating. I cannot do 60 min of cardio per night and then
>add weight training on top of that every other workout. I'll
>never get to bed!!!! Oh, I forgot about that - then I read
>you need at least 7 or more hours of sleep per night if you
>are trying to lose weight!!!! I never get 7 hours a sleep per
>night because i workout at night and get up at 5:00 for
>work !!! What is a person to do? Boy it feels good to get
>that off my chest!!!! hahahaa :) :)


Theresa-

I feel like we are identical twins.;-) I too have a very diffcult time losing weight and would say it is mainly due to diet. I am not a picky eater and prefer takeout to cooking. I try to exercise 5-6 days a week but some days life gets in the way. x( I just bought myself a heart monitor to track my calorie burn. I did 35 mins of the viper and my monitor said I burned 370 calories. I also only get about 6hours of sleep of night. I get up at 4:30am and go to bed about 10pm. What's a girl to do??:)

Jenn
 
Theresa-

I feel like we are identical twins.;-) I too have a very diffcult time losing weight and would say it is mainly due to diet. I am not a picky eater and prefer takeout to cooking. I try to exercise 5-6 days a week but some days life gets in the way. x( I just bought myself a heart monitor to track my calorie burn. I did 35 mins of the viper and my monitor said I burned 370 calories. I also only get about 6hours of sleep of night. I get up at 4:30am and go to bed about 10pm. What's a girl to do??:)

Jenn

Hey Jenn!
Yes we do sound like twins!!! hahahah Well, me and a few girls at work decided to try to eat clean for a week. Today is day one. I weighed myself this morning and found that I've gained 7.8 pounds since 10/17/05. This is the first time I've weighed myself since then and now I really realize I need to weigh myself once a week no matter what. Its very depressing. I have been in denial for a while!!! So, this week I am cutting out sugar, carbs (bread, pasta, etc) and dairy (except skim milk). Which leaves meat, fruit and veggies. I did not realize how much sugar I had in my diet until I started really looking at what I was eating!!! Very bad. I also have a habit of "cleaning the pantry" on thursday since we grocery shop in friday. So no more!!!!!! I'm going to do this and keep it off. Another depressing thing is I just turned 40 last week. I still need to lose around 30 pounds and I'm 40. Whoooppeeee.
 
>Theresa-
>
>I feel like we are identical twins.;-) I too have a very
>diffcult time losing weight and would say it is mainly due to
>diet. I am not a picky eater and prefer takeout to cooking. I
>try to exercise 5-6 days a week but some days life gets in the
>way. x( I just bought myself a heart monitor to track my
>calorie burn. I did 35 mins of the viper and my monitor said I
>burned 370 calories. I also only get about 6hours of sleep of
>night. I get up at 4:30am and go to bed about 10pm. What's a
>girl to do??:)
>
>Jenn
>
>Hey Jenn!
>Yes we do sound like twins!!! hahahah Well, me and a few
>girls at work decided to try to eat clean for a week. Today
>is day one. I weighed myself this morning and found that I've
>gained 7.8 pounds since 10/17/05. This is the first time I've
>weighed myself since then and now I really realize I need to
>weigh myself once a week no matter what. Its very depressing.
> I have been in denial for a while!!! So, this week I am
>cutting out sugar, carbs (bread, pasta, etc) and dairy (except
>skim milk). Which leaves meat, fruit and veggies. I did not
>realize how much sugar I had in my diet until I started really
>looking at what I was eating!!! Very bad. I also have a
>habit of "cleaning the pantry" on thursday since we grocery
>shop in friday. So no more!!!!!! I'm going to do this and
>keep it off. Another depressing thing is I just turned 40
>last week. I still need to lose around 30 pounds and I'm 40.
>Whoooppeeee.

40 is not depressing. I will be 36 in a couple of months. I also need to lose the 30+ but it is hard. I'm sure I also have a lot of excess sugar in my diet. Keep trying good luck to you and the girls at work.

Jenn

P.S. Happy late birthday.:+
 
>Hi,
>I'm not Cathe, but can offer good news. I wake up early every
>morning, and I have about 45 minutes to workout before I have
>to take my shower/eat before my son wakes up. I like to play
>with him (he's a toddler) before going to work. I used to
>exercise about one hour 5-6 times a week before getting
>pregnant. During pregnancy and the year that followed, I was
>lazy and hardly exercised at all.
>At the end of this past summer, I decided to get back into it,
>but the only way I could do that was to wake up that early.
>Once the day goes on, there's no way I will exercise later in
>the day. Well, I work out about 5 days a week for 45 minutes,
>and I am in better shape than before my pregnancy. I feel
>awesome (loads of enery), and I have lost weight, toned up,
>and am getting compliments left and right (they are
>motivating). Just watch what you eat, and with 45 minutes of
>exercise (especially with Cathe), you will do fine!
>Good Luck!
>-Jen

Jen- What does your workout routine look like? How do you break up your workouts ie: weights and cardio? How do you split up longer Cathe workouts?

Jenn
 
I am now able to work out as long as I wish most days, but I remember when I could barely squeeze in a half hour workout.

You can definitely get benefits from shorter workouts. I know I did and when I was able to work out as I wanted, I was as strong as if I'd always done half hour workouts.

And anything is better than nothing!

By the way, I hope I am not repeating myself, but Cross Train Express is one of my all time favorites because it is designed for people who don't have time for a one hour or more workout.

And then there are all those premixes.....
 
I lost 20 pounds when I was doing shorter workouts. I just watched my diet and worked out.

Try not to feel guilty about not being able to workout for 60 min.

Good luck -- I've been there and I know how you feel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top