How Much Exercise do You Really Need?
Filed Under: 15 Minute Workouts · Fat Loss
Filed Under: 15 Minute Workouts · Fat Loss
If you have limited time for exercise you can still get good results if you use the right methods!
The right methods include total body training that elevates your heart rate and challenges your muscles at the same time. To get results in minimal time you have to work hard and keep your rest periods short. This will elevate your levels of growth hormone and help you burn more fat.
If you don’t have 90 minutes or more to go to the gym you no longer have an excuse. Using tools like suspension trainers (TRX), sandbags, dumbbells or bodyweight exercises require you to use multiple muscles with each movement.
For example, exercises like pushups involve not just your upper body but your abs and low back, also. Do your exercises standing or kneeling to get more bang for your buck. The more muscles used with an exercise the greater the calorie burn.
If short on time don’t try to isolate different muscles – get your heart rate and metabolism up by doing more work in less time. You can gradually increase the number of reps and/or decrease the amount of rest as your body adapts to the stimulus.
This can also ignite the “afterburn” effect. For example, one study had lifters do 3 exercises for 30 minutes where they completed them in a circuit – going from one to the other and then repeating these three exercises.
Their metabolism was still elevated 30 some hours later! Now these were experienced lifters but they worked every muscle in their body in this 30 minute circuit. So the take home lesson is to use as much of your muscle fibers as possible if you are doing a short workout. Then do some lighter intensity activity in between to help recover or just take it easy until your next workout if you have limited time.
An example of this would be the flex band squat/row alternated with some pushups. Keep your rest periods short and get your HR elevated for as little as 15 minutes. Push/pull exercises for the upper body and squat/lunge patterns for the lower body are a great way to do it.
Check out my previous post on a busy restaurant owner who lost 20 pounds of fat while exercising 2 hours a week.
Get moving!
Brian Morgan
