Three Time Saving Workouts To Create Your Best Body. ( Even if You Have No Time)

Kathleen Walker
6 min readNov 2, 2019
Photo by Evieanna Santiago on Unsplash

Life is way too busy to fit anything else in! Are you kidding? How can you possibly squeeze in another thing? Let alone exercise. It takes so long, and then, you have to fit in a shower afterwards.

Of course, those people who are trim, taut and terrific are so lucky. They were born with good genes. They don’t have to worry about exercise because they are naturally trim.

As for those who manage to get to the gym, how do they do it? They are the epitome of the superwoman. Either that or they don’t have as much to get done as you do. You couldn’t possibly get everything done that you do now and fit in all those hours in the gym to get fit and trim down.

Can you relate? It is a busy world, and you can’t imagine slotting in another thing. Your calendar would burst!

No Time: You’re stuck with it

I’m afraid you’re right and a little bit wrong. You really can’t possibly fit another thing in! — Unless — you think about it differently.

We all have twenty-four hours in a day. So why do some people seem to have more time than, say, you? Great question. Would you be able to find the time if somebody gave you $1000 at the end of the week if you didn’t miss any of your workouts?

Try and imagine somebody is offering you the money and then think of how you would create the time in your schedule.

Try to work out before the day gets hold of you. Take twenty minutes to work out and then get into your day.

Yes indeed, that’s as long as it takes. Twenty minutes. You don’t even have to go to the gym. It’s doable at home.

You Were Born With It

The same as the majority of people in the world, you were born with an average body. You have to work to keep it trim and healthy. You see, people are rarely born with the trim gene. Those who are trim are those who work at it. They build their schedule around their workouts and prioritise staying healthy.

Best Workouts For Busy Women

At last, good news! High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a time saver and a lifesaver. This study found that it takes 60 minutes to burn 300kj doing moderate-intensity continuous training such as running or cycling. Their other group (High-intensity interval training) only took 30 minutes.

That’s half the time for the same amount of calories. It gets my vote.

The study also found that after a HIIT session, your metabolic rate goes higher than in the moderate-intensity continuous training. And metabolic rate stays elevated for longer. You burn fat for hours after your workout is finished.

So what is High-intensity interval training? It’s a cardio workout with short bursts of intense exercise followed by a rest period then back into the intense exercise and so on until the end of the workout.

Maximise Your Time

Make your HIIT workout worthy of your time with these tips.

Work at your hardest during the exercise intervals, so you burn more calories and increase your fitness level and fat burning time after your workout finishes.

Work at an intensity where you feel you can’t do any more by the end of the interval. Then rest between intervals. So you know whether you are working hard enough, it helps to use the rated perceived exertion scale. The scale rates how you feel during exercise from 1 being little effort to ten, which is an all-out maximum effort where you can’t go any further by the end. HIIT should be done at a scale of eight.

Resting is essential so you can go all out during your exercise interval. Increased Calorie-burning happens during the rest periods because it forces the body to adjust from high intensity to low intensity. During the rest interval, the body will be trying to bring itself back to the resting state, and that takes energy.

Don’t go for longer than the recommended interval. 10–45 secs depending on your fitness level. Or you won’t have enough energy to go into the next exercise.

Start with short intervals and work your way up to longer. Don’t forget to lengthen your rest periods as well.

Double Your Chances of Success

A quick note about success with sticking to your new fitness plan.

By writing down your intentions, research shows, you are doubling your chances of actually following through on your plans. For example: Write down in your diary that you will do a workout on Mon-Wed and Fri at 6 am or 5 pm or whatever time suits you. Then write down which of the following exercises you will do on any given day. For instance: I will do workout #1 on Mon and workout # 2 on Wed and workout # 3 on Fri.

Home Workout #1

Each exercise is for 10 seconds for beginners, working up to 45 seconds as you gain fitness. Then rest for 30 seconds and go on to the next section. You can gradually decrease the rest time to 15 seconds as you get fitter. If your heart rate is still sky-high at the end of the rest period, take longer to recover, or you won’t be able to do the next exercise effectively.

The following group of exercises form a twenty-minute workout for those time-poor people who need to get to the next thing quickly. If you have the time, warm up for three minutes first. If not, start at a lower intensity until you warm up a little.

If you’re not sure of how to do any of these exercises, click on videos to show you how.

Burpees

Lunges

Tricep Dips

Plank: Advanced

Plank: Modified for beginners

Repeat the circuit once. There you have a twenty-minute workout. As you get fitter, you could repeat the exercises twice to three times.

Don’t forget to stretch after each workout.

Home Workout #2

Mountain Climber

If you’re not used to the mountain climber, you can leave the jump out at first and lift your knee to the opposite elbow. Once you build fitness, you can begin to include the leap.

Curtsy Squats

Pushups: Advanced

Pushups: modified for beginners

Squat Jumps

Beginners eliminate the jump and just squat (See below). If you have knee or hip joint issues, you should leave out the leap also. You’ll still get a good workout of the legs and the cardiovascular system.

Repeat the circuit twice to three times. Depending on your level of fitness and how long you have to spend on your work out.

Don’t forget to finish with a stretch. At least the major muscle groups ( quads, back and glutes.) and those areas that trouble you.

Home Workout # 3

Reverse Fly

Squats

These squats are a suitable replacement for the jump squats if you have problems with your knees or you want to build some fitness before you include the jump.

Sit-ups

Wall Sit

Repeat each exercise two to three times and then go on and stretch.

Create Your Workout And Get HIITing

You don’t have to stick to the workouts as they appear here. You can mix and match. Include more exercises in your workout. You have the power. Create your workout and have some fun.

There is no such thing as the trim gene; it’s true. But nowadays you only need twenty minutes and, you can create a body that looks like you have the trim gene. And you don’t even need to leave the house.

Just don’t forget to stretch at some time throughout the day too.

You can fit it in, especially first thing in the morning. Then there’s way less chance of anything interfering with the sacred time that is your workout time.

You have to believe you can and write down what you plan to do and of course when you plan to do it. Oh, and of course you have to go on and do what you intended.

You are worth the effort. Go on and get a pen and paper out and write down when and where you are going to start. Block out the time in your calendar, and you’re all ready to get into action.

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Kathleen Walker

Hello, I love this writing gig because of the potential to change lives. One post at a time. So I guess I’ll get on and start the next post...