Struggling to fit a workout into your day? We know how it feels to be crunched for time and with the holidays approaching, it is only going to get busier. Concerned about balancing a hectic holiday schedule and your fitness goals? We’ve gotcha babes! Even with a jam-packed calendar, you can still build your dream body the BbE way. We’re revealing our tips on how to make your fit lifestyle happen as well as the most effective and efficient workouts you can do when you are crunched for time!
HOW TO MAKE YOUR FIT LIFESTYLE HAPPEN…
Get Organized… In order to make sure you get your workouts in, you are going to have to get organized. Decide how many hours per week you can dedicate to fitness. Then, take a look at your schedule and plug in your workouts just like you would an appointment or meeting. Write down exactly what you plan to do for your workout as well as how long the workout will be (ie. HIIT Class/30 minutes, Strength Training Back, Biceps & Legs/40 minutes). Add them up and make sure you are hitting your goal for the week. Treat these scheduled workouts just like you would anything else on your calendar. If you are going to be exercising during or right after work, be sure and pack your gym bag the night before and keep pre and post workout snacks at the office. Rise Protein bars and Chike Protein powder are a couple of BbE favorites and can easily be stored at work or in your desk.
Focus & Efficiency… Write out your goals and decide what you are trying to accomplish with your workouts. Next, figure out what type of workouts are going to be the most effective for getting the results you want. Once you get into the gym and are ready to go, get dialed in and focus. NO cell phones, no chatting, no distractions. Get in there, know what you are going to do and Get. It. Done. Utilize every precious moment you have with the most effective movements and exercise programs designed with your goals in mind. Not sure what will work best for you? Keep reading…we will outline and explain the benefits of the top “time crunch” workouts next.
If you only have 30-40 minutes a day to workout, you are going to have to truly make the most of your time and exercise program in order to make your fit lifestyle happen! Let’s take a look at some time efficient workouts and see what is going to be the most effective in getting you to your goal! SO…what’s your goal?
Improve Cardiovascular Fitness, Endurance & Increase Pace
If your goal is to improve your cardiovascular fitness, endurance and/or increase your pace and you are short on time, your workout “go-to” is going to be cardio intervals. Cardio Interval training is simply alternating bursts of intense activity with intervals of lighter activity (i.e., alternating between one minute of slow jogging and one minute of running vs. staying at a “steady state”). Studies have shown that you can burn the same amount of calories in a shorter interval workout as you would in a longer, lower-intensity workout. Need a specific plan? Check out some of our favorites!
SHAPE Magazine : Interval Training: Short Workouts That Really Pay Off
Fitness Magazine: Get Your Best Body Ever Cardio Countdown
You’ve also probably heard about HIIT (high-intensity interval training) and the benefits it has on improving endurance and burning calories in a shorter amount of time. Similar to interval training, HIIT mixes short bursts of high-intensity movement with low- to medium-intensity recovery periods. HIIT is being touted as the most effective form of cardio for changing body composition. Instead of merely burning calories, it specifically targets your body’s fat cells. It is an efficient way to burn fat and lose weight without losing muscle. Perfect for you time crunched BbE babes! If you are new to HIIT, Fitness Blender has a lot of awesome HIIT workouts for you, just head to their website and search for HIIT. One of our favorites is HIIT Like A Girl …fabulous body weight HIIT workout, complete with a warm-up and cool down.
Decrease Body Fat, Increase Lean Muscle Mass and Lose Weight
If your goal is to decrease your body fat, increase lean muscle mass and burn calories more efficiently for weight loss, it may surprise you, but your best bet is to head to the gym and grab some weights!
Circuit strength training is the most effective method for getting lean and losing weight. Strength training has an advantage over cardio in that your workouts allow you to maintain your lean muscle mass as you lose fat, giving you a toned and tight physique. Replacing fat with lean muscle will not only increase your overall metabolism, but research has found that following a total-body weight workout, the participants’ metabolisms were raised for 39 hours after the workout was completed. You will also burn more calories during a lifting workout as compared to cardio. Doing a strength training circuit consisting of eight moves (which takes about eight minutes) can burn between 150 and 225 calories. In comparison, the average female burns about 100 calories per mile running at a 10-mile-per-hour pace. Strength training can potentially give you twice the amount of calorie burn during your workout in addition to the extra calories burned post workout from the raised metabolic rate. Strength training is truly the workout for you, if you are looking to get the most out of every minute!
Wondering what kind of exercises to include? Exercises that recruit the largest number of muscles (squats, lunges, kettlebell swings, squat thrusts, inverted rows, push ups and multi-joint movements) are going to burn the most calories. If you aren’t sure how to design your own strength training circuit, here are a couple of workouts we think are fabulous!
Pop Sugar Strength Training Workout
Fitness Blender 40 Minute Fat Blasting Total Body Strength Training and Toning Workout
By doing these exercises in a continuous circuit with little to no rest between exercises and keeping your reps between 12 and 24 per exercise, you will get a super challenging workout, build some beautiful muscle, burn calories at an accelerated rate and get to your fitness and weight loss goals quicker and more efficiently than you thought possible!
There you go babes! Don’t let a busy schedule hold you back! You can absolutely build your dream body and make your fit lifestyle happen with just a little organization, focus, efficiency and some amazingly effective workouts! Make it happen! xo
