When you are busy taking care of children, working, going to school, or anything else our busy world demands, trying to burn fat doesn’t always fit neatly into your schedule.
Many people opt to do shorter workouts throughout the day, such as doing three or four ten minute sessions instead of one long one. Does this work?
But wait. If your body needs about twenty minutes of activity before it kicks into fat burning mode, will short workouts even do anything? If you need to burn fat and don’t have a lot of time, what do you do?
The American Heart Association has found that several short exercise sessions benefit your body just as well as one long session, provided that they equal the same amount of time.
So, if you are doing four ten minute sessions, you’re body is getting the benefit equal to one forty minute session. The AHA also found that vigorous exercise is much more effective than moderately paced movement.
So the key to making your short workouts count is to make sure they are rigorous and challenging to your body. Here are some ways you can do this:
1. Run for ten minutes.
For ten minutes, run faster than you normally do. Walkers, walk more briskly. Make sure to get your heart going.
2. Hop on the treadmill or elliptical.
If you are at the gym or have equipment at home, jump on and exercise extremely rigorously for ten minutes.
3. Run up a hill or a set of stairs.
Sprint up a hill or staircase. Walk down more slowly. At the bottom, sprint up again. Repeat for ten minutes.
4. Jumping Jacks: you’ll feel like you’re in gym class again!
5. Try jumping rope.
What makes a good ten minute workout is intensity. Work hard, go all out, and you’ll burn fat. Strength training is also great for your mini-workouts.
Your body needs a variety of activities in order to burn fat. Warm up for a few minutes with light cardio, and try the following moves:
* Squats. These are one of the best moves to get your body in shape.
* Lunges
* Deadlifts
* Tricep dips
* Squats. Squats are one of the most effective moves to tone your lower body.
For great results and a great workout, do several repetitions of each. You can also combine the moves, called compound moves. These work more than one muscle group and include chest presses combined with lunges or overhead presses done with squats.
Even short workouts need warm up and cool down periods, but they can be as simple as walking. Walk briskly for a few minutes to warm up, and walk at a slower pace to cool down. Stretching is also important so you don’t strain your muscles.
If you can only fit in short workouts into your schedule, you are doing great things for your body. Above all, you will burn fat and lose weight.
Short workouts are also very motivating. You know you can do ten minutes, so you stick with your workout regimen.
You may have a hard time getting yourself to do a forty minute workout, but you can always do ten, right?
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