Crunched for time? Workouts Tips for Even the Busiest Schedule

Struggling to fit a workout into your day? Even if you have the busiest calendar, there are still things you can do to create and maintain a fitness routine. Keep reading ~ I'm sharing my tips for how to make a fit lifestyle happen as well as the most effective and efficient workouts you can do when you are crunched for time!

Get Organized

If you want to make sure you get your workouts in, getting organized is so helpful! 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 have a post workout protein shake ready to go. Koia Protein Shakes are delicious and can easily be stored.

Focus for 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.

Even if you only have 30-40 minutes a day to workout, be consistent and make the most of your time, you will see a difference. 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!

Shift Body Composition, Increase Lean Muscle Mass & Lose Weight

If your goal is to shift your body composition, decrease 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. 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!

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.

There you go! Don't let a busy schedule hold you back! You can absolutely create a fitness routine to build the body you want with just a little organization, focus, and utilizing efficient and effective workouts!

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