Effectiveness of spreading out a workout throughout the day

[loneswaneast]

Hi Cathe or anyone from her staff:

I sometimes find I can only finish a workout at intervals during the day. Sometimes I have interruptions, or just simply don't have a full 50-60 minutes to complete one of your workouts all at once.

Can you get the same benefit by completing it throughout the day, a little at a time? Or, do you not get the benefits that you would if you did it all in one stretch.

Thanks!

 

[Svetlana]

Hi Loneswan!
I decided to share with you my opinion until Cathe or her team have time to respond
I've been splitting my workouts throughout the day since I began working out 3.5 years ago. This has worked perfectly for me . I have no patience to devote 50-60 minutes to strength training or to give up cardio for toning / muscle building.
I usually do cardio in the morning and add abs and stretch if time permits.
Then I strength train whenever I find time during my day and according to how much time I have.
I often do only parts of Cathe's DVD when weight training . I.e. Gym Style Legs - standing one day & floor on the next. Pyramid upper body - chest , back & shoulders one day and bis & Tris another, if I decide to. Especially for working the upper body, I seem to never have the willpower to spend long time so this way has been easy to fit more muscle work without boredom or dread factor.
Cathe's premixes & bonuses are very useful too. I use them as finishers to completely fatigue my muscles if the morning workout didn't do that. Or to just add a bit of toning if short on time that day. I do the barre stuff in Lower Body Blast and Xtrain Legs more often than the main workouts.
I read somewhere in internet ( sorry, forgot where) that working out 3 times x 20 mins per day has 'almost' the same effect as doing one 1 hour workout.
So don't give up! Surely splitting a workout is better than doing half routine without completing it

 

[nckfitheart2009]

Hi,

Spreading out a workout throughout the day is not going to affect the effectiveness.

What is important is stay focus for each segment. Once you have started the segment,
the aim of the "game" is to give it 100%

Some of the folks here workout 30,45 up to 60 minutes per session. Each person is different.
This, I believe depend on the way each person aim to manage the time for fitness and other commitments.
There are mums, single parents, busy working people, stay at home mum etc....on this forum
A professional athlete spend more time of course through out the day.

As to myself, I started years ago with 20 minutes. Then I built up to an hour. I can spend the time
at this point of my life. Should anything else come up, I will adjust. I from time to time workout adding
another segment during the day. Again for a maximum of 60 minutes from time to time. That is my limit!
I need to give time to my body to recover plus I have other commitments and social need

Hope this make sense

 

[loneswaneast]

Hi Loneswan!
I decided to share with you my opinion until Cathe or her team have time to respond
I've been splitting my workouts throughout the day since I began working out 3.5 years ago. This has worked perfectly for me . I have no patience to devote 50-60 minutes to strength training or to give up cardio for toning / muscle building.
I usually do cardio in the morning and add abs and stretch if time permits.
Then I strength train whenever I find time during my day and according to how much time I have.
I often do only parts of Cathe's DVD when weight training . I.e. Gym Style Legs - standing one day & floor on the next. Pyramid upper body - chest , back & shoulders one day and bis & Tris another, if I decide to. Especially for working the upper body, I seem to never have the willpower to spend long time so this way has been easy to fit more muscle work without boredom or dread factor.
Cathe's premixes & bonuses are very useful too. I use them as finishers to completely fatigue my muscles if the morning workout didn't do that. Or to just add a bit of toning if short on time that day. I do the barre stuff in Lower Body Blast and Xtrain Legs more often than the main workouts.
I read somewhere in internet ( sorry, forgot where) that working out 3 times x 20 mins per day has 'almost' the same effect as doing one 1 hour workout.
So don't give up! Surely splitting a workout is better than doing half routine without completing it

Thanks so much for this, it answers my question. I didn't mean I only wanted to hear from Cathe or her staff, I just thought this forum "Ask Cathe" was for that. I was hoping others would share their experiences as well.

Thanks so much for doing so! There are just some days I can't seem to focus for a full 60 minutes, so I like to grab 15 minutes or so at a time.
Sounds like you have worked out a system that works great for you.

 

[loneswaneast]

Hi,

Spreading out a workout throughout the day is not going to affect the effectiveness.

What is important is stay focus for each segment. Once you have started the segment,
the aim of the "game" is to give it 100%

Some of the folks here workout 30,45 up to 60 minutes per session. Each person is different.
This, I believe depend on the way each person aim to manage the time for fitness and other commitments.
There are mums, single parents, busy working people, stay at home mum etc....on this forum
A professional athlete spend more time of course through out the day.

As to myself, I started years ago with 20 minutes. Then I built up to an hour. I can spend the time
at this point of my life. Should anything else come up, I will adjust. I from time to time workout adding
another segment during the day. Again for a maximum of 60 minutes from time to time. That is my limit!
I need to give time to my body to recover plus I have other commitments and social need

Hope this make sense

It makes perfect sense, thank you, I appreciate all the responses and advice you give in your replies to my postings, Nckfitheart2009. Like I mentioned above, there just are some days I don't want to completely go without a workout but can only seem to get in 15 minutes at a time. At least that will give me something, even if it isn't as effective.
Thanks again

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi loneswaneast,
In the end, something is always better than nothing, but some workouts lend themselves to being divided while others do not. If you have 15 minutes or less for cardio I would suggest HiiT routines. If you have 20-30 minutes I would suggest 15 minutes of HiiT plus one body part each day.