Over the years, you might have heard of countless workout styles that are meant to help you reach your fitness goals in different ways.
Some want to lose weight, increase strength, improve flexibility, or build muscle. Whatever your goals are, most exercise programs can help you reach them, as long as you stick to the routine.
Not having enough time is one of the most common reasons that people give for not exercising. Even if it is true, finding a considerable amount of time to squeeze in a workout routine among all the other work and life commitments can be tricky.
If you don’t have a lot of time to work out, we have a simple solution to that:
A 10-minute HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) workout!
It is guaranteed to get your heart rate up and burn up some serious calories in a short span of time. All you need for this workout is your sneakers, a stopwatch, some music (if you like), and a little bit of space.
Here are some HIIT exercises:
Jog/Sprint
Pushups
Squats
High Knees
High Crunches
Mountain Climbers
Flutter Kicks
Jumping Jacks
Burpees
A type of HIIT workout you can try: Tabata Training
If you’re looking for a new program to add to your routine, you should give Tabata a try. Tabata training is a HIIT workout routine, featuring exercises that last four minutes each.
You may wonder, 4 minutes? Huh! That’s easy, but it is likely to be one of the longest four minutes you have ever endured.
The structure of the program follows:
- HIIT workout: 20 seconds
- Rest: 10 seconds
- Complete 8 rounds
A sample Tabata workout:
- Push-ups: 4 minutes
- Squats: 4 minutes
- Burpees: 4 minutes
- Mountain Climbers: 4 minutes
Start with push-ups: Perform push-ups for 20 seconds at a high-intensity, rest for 10 seconds, and then go back to doing push-ups for 20 seconds again. Once you complete eight sets of it, rest for one minute. That completes one cycle of 4 minutes plus an additional minute of rest (according to your body needs). Then move on to the next exercise.
If you want to add/remove some exercises to this you can.
Example: Kettlebell exercises work great too.
Conclusion
If you’re unable to do any of the HIIT exercises don’t worry, just substitute it with the one you can. Whenever you are not exercising, try to engage yourself in more activities around the house that naturally help you keep moving, like cleaning the house, walking the dog, gardening, chasing your kids, etc.
Try to stand for at least 10 minutes each hour to prevent excessive sitting (A smartwatch is great to keep a track of your sports activity). You can also take some meditation breaks. But above everything else, the most important thing is to give yourself time and to have peace of mind during these tough times. Your routine will fall back into place when everything settles and returns to normal.
Stay active, stay fit, and stay healthy!