Exercise For The Time Deprived

December 14, 2010

“I am too busy to workout over the holidays. I just have too much going on”. Does that sound like anything you might be saying to yourself right now? Well you are in luck, there happens to be a way to exercise and still be able to get your last minute shopping and party planning done.

Interval training is when you alternate between rest or lower intensity and high intensity activity for a controlled period of time. The lower intensity activity allows for the heart rate to drop back down into more of a normal zone while the high intensity is done at just below the maximal exertion. This type of workout only needs to be done 3 days a week for about 20 minutes and at an 80-91% of your maximal heart rate according to the ACSM guidelines. An example of an easy interval workout is to use our Concept Rower. You will go all out for 40 seconds and then decrease your intensity for 20 seconds. You will repeat this process for 20 minutes. Then your workout is done for the day!

Another way to get in some form of physical activity throughout the day is to break up your bouts of exercise into 10-minute segments. If you can find time to do some type of activity before breakfast, lunch, and dinner for ten minutes at a time, then at the end of the day you have accumulated 30 minutes of activity.

It is important to understand that only doing interval training or high intensity training is not the only type of training that a person needs. One should also try to include moderate activity at least two more days a week. Then you would be physically active for at least five days a week, which is going to be most beneficial to you in the long run.