Why you shouldn’t go to the gym for an hour a week
Most people want to be fit: fit, healthy, live longer, fuller lives. So we sign up for gyms, force ourselves to go there once a week, do our time, and forget about it for the rest of the week: sweat it out, feel better afterwards, and generally pat ourselves on the back for taking care of ourselves. . This may not be the best way to stay healthy and exercise…
You only feel the benefits for a limited time
The extra energy, the buzz, the happiness you feel after a workout is fantastic. Why should you limit yourself to feeling that only once a week? Instead of exercising for 60 minutes a week in one go, exercise for 10 minutes 6 times a week; that means you’ll get that wonderful post-exercise buzz 6 days a week instead of just one. Not to mention, 10 minutes is so much easier to slip into a busy schedule.
A good workout like tabata will increase your metabolic rate for hours after your workout, meaning you’ll burn calories at a higher rate even after you’ve finished exercising. If you exercise 6 days a week instead of 1, you’ll burn your calories at a faster rate for longer, which means you’ll lose weight faster.
A workout in just 10 minutes
After years of being told we need to warm up for x number of minutes and not start exercising until we’ve been on a machine for x amount of time, it can be hard to get into a mindset that it allows us to exercise for only 10 minutes, and still be healthy and feel more benefits than doing it for an hour.
If tabata isn’t your thing, here’s a quick workout to get you started:
Warm up and stretch before exercising. Be sure to stretch before and after exercise to prevent injury and keep your muscles flexible.
60 corkscrews.
Lie on your back with your legs raised above your body (at 90 degrees) and knees slightly bent. Keep your hands at your sides, palms down. Use your abs to lift your hips off the ground as you rotate your hips to the right. Hold that position and then back to the starting position. Alternate sides when you repeat the exercise. Repeat 60 times in 5 sets of 12.
30 lat raises
Lie on your forehead with your hands on each side of your head, elbows out, and fingers on your temples. Lift your chest off the ground as much as you can using your back muscles; make sure it’s a fluid, controlled motion. Repeat 30 times in 3 sets of 10.
30 x Bicycle Abs
Lie on your back with your knees slightly bent and your hands on either side of your head with your fingers on your temples. Lift your shoulders off the ground, turning to the side. Lift one leg off the ground so that your elbow touches the opposite knee. Repeat in a cycling movement without letting your feet or shoulders touch the ground until the end of the repetition. Repeat 30 times in 3 sets of 10.
60 tricep dips
Sit in a chair (make sure it doesn’t roll or slide away from you!) with your hands on the edge and fingers pointing forward. Slide out of the chair, keeping your hands on it and keeping your legs straight for support on your arms and feet. Dive down as far as you can and then come back up to the same position; make sure it is a fluid and controlled movement. Repeat 60 times in 5 sets of 12.
30 x jumping lunges
Stand with one foot about 2-3 feet in front of the other, both facing forward. Keeping your body straight and looking straight ahead, bend your front knee until your thigh is parallel to the ground and the knee of your back leg is bent and as close to the ground as possible (do not rest it on the ground). Jump from that position and switch legs so that the other is in front; repeat the lunge with the other leg.
Remember that the bigger muscle groups you work out during your short workout, the more calories you’ll burn. Don’t be afraid to push yourself hard in these short workouts, since you don’t need to pace yourself for an hour.