When life gets in the way it’s easy to put exercise on the back burner. It starts when you take a day off because you’re too busy and one day becomes two days and on and on. Each day that you skip makes it harder to get back into the swing of things psychologically. Note: This doesn’t pertain to rest days where you’re not exercising to let your body recover – you need those days no matter how dedicated you are. From a mental standpoint, taking a string of days off because you’re busy makes it harder for your brain (and body) to get back into “exercise mode.”
As an article in Psychology Today points out, exercise is a life skill and a goal you set for yourself. Once you decide on a goal, achieving it takes effort and commitment, but that’s true of any worthwhile ambition. Don’t forget that regular physical activity ultimately works in your favor when you’re time-crunched. Research shows exercise helps you sleep better and can even enhance your memory and cognitive function.
As a study published in Psychology of Aging showed, a single bout of exercise improves attention, alertness, and cognitive function. Sounds like a way to get more done in less time, doesn’t it? Plus, exercise, in moderation, gives you more energy to tackle that to-do list. Still, exercise is not without its challenges. Some days it’s harder to fit in a workout than others.
How to Work out on a Day When You Think You Can’t
If you only have 10 minutes to work out on days when time is at a premium – no problem. Make up for it with intensity. High-intensity interval training gets the job done fast. Lace up your exercise shoes, work out hard for 30-second intervals, rest for 15 seconds and go back and forth for 10 or more minutes. For the ultimate in high-intensity and a workout style that’s proven to increase aerobic AND anaerobic fitness, do sets of Tabatas – 20 seconds near-max intensity followed by 10 seconds rest 8 times. Recover for one minute and repeat one or two more times depending on the time you have. Tabata workouts worked for the Japanese Olympic Speed Skating Team and they can work for you. When this style of a workout was put to the test, it improved the aerobic capacity of study participants by 14% percent and anaerobic capacity by 28%. Pretty impressive for such a short workout.
Research shows short bursts of activity, as little as one minute, add up to big health benefits. One study showed people who did short bursts of exercise, less than 10 minutes at a time, experienced improvements in blood pressure, blood lipids, blood sugar, a reduction in waist size, and lower markers for inflammation. Short periods of vigorous exercise even lower your risk for sudden death by making your heart more capable of handling stress.
The beauty of interval training is you can choose the exercises you do during the active intervals as long as you’re doing them with intensity. Mix together cardio moves like mountain climbers, high knees, and burpees with jump squats, platform jumps, and plyo lunges for a cardio, power, and agility workout in one.
When you resistance train on time challenged days, focus on compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, and bent-over rows that work more than one muscle group at a time and limit the amount of rest time between each set. You’ll shorten your workout, burn more calories, get more of a metabolic effect, and work more muscles in the time you have.
Who says you need to do your workout all at once? Split up your workouts in two or more sessions. Do a 10-minute session in the morning and a second 10 minute-session later in the day. Some research shows two shorter sessions are better from a weight loss standpoint than one longer session. You’re revving your metabolism up twice in one day.
Start early. Do a session when you first wake up in the morning, so you know you’ve done something even if your time is limited later on. Morning workouts eliminate those frustrating scheduling conflicts that make it harder to fit in a workout. Rather than dragging to work half asleep, an early morning sweat session will get you fired up and ready to tackle the day.
Work More Non-Structured Exercise Movement into Your Day
On days where you only have 10 minutes to exercise, focus on moving more throughout your busy day. If you’re stuck in the office, take a walk and stretch breaks every 30 minutes. Hit the staircase for a five-minute workout to clear your head. The extra steps you take throughout the day add up to more calories burned. Plus, with so many studies showing a link between sitting and a greater risk for mortality, it’s something everyone should do. If you have your own office, take a pair of resistance bands to work and work your upper body during lunch break.
Be Flexible
You’re more likely to stick with the exercise habit if you adopt a mindset of flexibility. Life is always changing, bringing with it new challenges. You may have to adjust your training schedule numerous times. The key is to not let other time commitments be a roadblock to your success. Be flexible enough to adapt your training and roll with the punches.
The Bottom Line
Make fitness a priority and even if you’re pressed for time, make use of the exercise time you have, even if it’s only 10 minutes. Staying consistent with your training and realize you’re in it not just for the short-term benefits but for the long term effect it’ll have on your health and happiness.
References:
Psychology Today. “Why Exercise is a Life Skill”
Live Science. “Short Bouts of Exercise Benefit Health, Too” January, 2013.
The Independent. “Short bursts of vigorous exercise helps prevent early death, says study” April 6, 2015.
Psychol Aging. 2013 Jun; 28(2): 587-594. doi: 10.1037/a0032634.
National Sleep Foundation. “Study: Physical Activity Impacts Overall Quality of Sleep”
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