Fitting Workouts on an Extremely Busy Day
Work, kids, family functions, and friends can occupy most of the day. There’s only so many hours in the day. Fitting everything including work, family time, me time, and sleep in a twenty-four-hour period can be challenging. So, it comes to no surprise that adding a workout to an already busy schedule can be daunting.
Why movement matters
Exercise and moving your body is important. Aside from the more known benefits such as decreasing disease risk and improving cardiovascular health, it has also seen to improve sleep, help mental health by reducing symptoms of depression, enhance the immune response, and improve memory and cognitive function. It has a massive range of benefits, and I could talk about it all day.
Exercise Snacking
Back to the problem at hand. Sometimes in an already busy day it is hard to fit in a 40-to-60-minute workout session. The solution? Same as if we don’t have the time for a full meal, exercise snacks. Several studies in the last ten years have explored the benefits of multiple short workouts in a day in comparison to one single workout. One study by researchers at the Capital University of Physical Education and Sports in Beijing looked at one thirty-minute-long bout of exercise comparing to two fifteen-minute bouts of exercise in a day, and their benefits. They concluded that both were just as effective in providing participants with all of the benefits exercise has to offer. Other studies have come to the same conclusion, one meta-analysis done on over fifty studies concluded that all of them reached the same conclusion. There is no difference in accumulated exercise (multiple short workouts per day) effects to continuous exercise (one session). Demonstrating that they are equally effective. So, the conclusion is that breaking exercise into bite size portions, provide the same benefits to our body as long training sessions.
Implementing
So, the question now becomes how can this look on a day-to-day basis? Make it simple, you won’t have time you walk to or drive to your local gym. If you have equipment that is always helpful, but not needed. If throughout the day you can only find a few minutes here or there, this is what you can do:
1: Set a timer. Giving yourself five minutes or ten to focus and get it done is helpful to ensure you follow through with it.
2: Encompass one set of a movement. For example, if I had five minutes to move my body in between meetings, I would do ten body weight squats, ten pushups, and ten sit-ups. One lower body, one upper body, and one core exercise. Find yourself having another five or ten minutes between meetings later in the workday? Just repeat the same set of exercises.
3: Move when you can. Most of the time we don’t think things would count as exercise, but they end up helping us move our body. Have time during lunch to grab food near work? Try walking there. Is the line to the elevator at your job taking a little too long? Take the stairs. Watching TV with your family at the end of the day? Do some squats or push-ups while watching it. Those are simple practices anyone can incorporate in our day-to-day routines that make a difference.
In a society where we are increasingly busier and often increasingly sitting at desks, it’s always important to remember to move our body. We all do our best to get in the gym and get a workout in, and that is an incredible way of helping our body stay healthy. On the days we can’t get in the gym, there are so many ways of incorporating purposeful movement that can achieve that. Just because we don’t have thirty or more minutes to put into a workout, plus driving to and from the gym, it shouldn’t stop us from getting exercise. Keep it simple, and if it can be incorporated into your daily routine outside of the gym it’s even better. Habits such as these leave a lasting impact on our health.
-Coach Gabe