Struggling to Stay Fit?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve invested hours, days or even months to getting fit, only to get completely derailed because one late night leads to sleeping-in instead of taking that yoga class. And that one day gets coupled with some unforeseen circumstance which ends up adding to that already endless to-do list. So I end up prioritizing checking boxes over exercising. And since I can’t seem to find that magical 30 minutes to complete a worthwhile workout, I forego movement and stay sedentary. Then just like that, I’m completely off-track. One day of not exercising turns into weeks, and then I’m back to square one again. Sound familiar?
Movement is Medicine
Between working, parenting, volunteering and living life, time is hardly ever on my side. And I don’t see that changing anytime soon. It feels like we all have so much going on because most of us are multi-faceted beings pulled in so many different directions. But I know that movement is my medicine (and yours too, actually). I’ve learned the hard way that I am not a my best self if I don’t exercise. I feel more stressed, don’t sleep as well and worse, start feeling bad about myself, and become short with loved ones who don’t deserve the short-end of the stick.
Knowing that I’ll continually feel strapped for time, I realized that I needed to start thinking differently about exercise, and began experimenting with working out smarter and sometimes harder if I couldn’t workout longer so that I could stay fit – especially after all that investment. I incorporated two simple strategies into my routine that you might find helpful too:
Strategy 1) Commit.
I commit to exercising, even if I don’t feel like it no matter how little time I have. You should commit to exercising at a frequency and cadence that works for you. At this stage of my life, I can commit to 15 minutes everyday. Promising yourself to do what it takes for self care is half the battle; the other half is making time and fitting it into your busy schedules. Enter my next two strategies:
Strategy 2) Consume Exercise snacks.
You don’t need a lot of time to stay fit. I consume little snippets of exercise that get the blood flowing to my brain and body. These little workout snacks can elevate your heart rate no matter how much (or little) time you have. 30 minutes everyday can feel like too much when your days are filled to the brim, but anyone can commit to 5 minutes. Heck, even 2-minute exercise bursts can be beneficial as written in the Washington Post here.
Strategy 3) Make it part of your Routine.
I write about this in my post about getting fit here, but 2023 was my year of creating routines for myself, mostly to reduce decisions I needed to make. We’re required to make so many decisions everyday that it helps to eliminate one where you can. Find a time and place to exercise everyday. For me, that’s first thing in the morning after brushing my teeth and turning on my espresso machine in my living room. For you, that might be right after work before dinner at the gym or during your lunch breaks at the rock climbing wall. Whatever it is, make a ritual of it, honor your time, and make it happen. For those whose schedules are a bit more irregular, regularize your workouts when you can. For example, you may have a different day versus night time ritual.
Best 15 Minute (and Under) Workouts
See below for my go-to workouts depending on how much time I have. Note, most of these are equipment free and a couple include an indoor bike because this is what I own. I plan to invest in a set of medium and heavy weights to begin incorporating weight training in my regime. Stay tuned for a post on a similar or updated post with weights.
Best 5 Minute workouts
Sometimes, I literally only have 5 minutes. You can get a lot done in 5 minutes. This is the perfect amount of time for:
- A 5 minute plank. This is challenging. I’m going to slowly work my way up to a 10 minute plank. Good form is incredibly important. You want your elbows directly under your shoulders, maintain a straight line from your head to your heals (no sagging hips). Keep your abs tight and remember to breath.
- 2 sets of 10-15 burpees, 2 sets of 25-35 air squats resting every 45 seconds for 15 seconds, concluding with a 1 minute plank
- 5 sets of 10 push ups and 20 crunches
- 5-10 sun salutations
- 5 sets of as many air squats as possible with a 15 second rest every minute
Best 10 Minute workouts
In 10 minutes, you have enough time for:
- A 4 minute HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout + 6 minutes of sun salutations.
- Two rounds of (1) mountain climbers for 1 minute, (2) high knees for 1 minute, (3) jump squats for 1 minute (4) burpees for 1 minute (5) alternating jumping lunges for 1 minute.
- 10 minute indoor bike workout. Do a progressive climb for 10 minutes: (1) Warm up at 60% max effort for 1 minute, progress to 70% for minutes 2 and 3; 75% for minutes 4 and 5; 80% for minutes 5 and 6, 85% for minute 7& 8; 100% for minute 9 and coll down to 30-50% for minute 10.
- 10 minute abs and booty workout . . .in bed! Fitness instructor Dayanna Wang created this workout to do – in bed
- Two of the 5-minute workouts listed above
Best 15 Minute workouts
- Three rounds of: (1) Jumping jacks: 1 minute, (2) air squats: 1 minute, (3) push-ups: 1 minute), (4) right leg lunges: 30 seconds, (5) left leg lunges: 30 seconds (6) rest.
- Three rounds of (1) Burpees: 45 seconds, rest: 15 seconds (2) mountain climbers: 45 seconds, rest: 15 seconds (3) high knees: 45 seconds, rest 15 seconds (4) crunches: 45 seconds; rest: 15 seconds (5) Down-dog: 30 seconds (6) child’s pose: 30 seconds.
- 15 minute indoor bike workout. Do a 15 minute Tabata ride. (1) Warm up at 60% resistance for 2 minutes, (2) sprint at 60% resistance for 30 seconds and rest for 15 seconds. Repeat this 4 times. (3) sprint at 60% resistance for 1 minute and rest for 30 seconds. Repeat 4 times. (4) sprint at 60% resistance for 30 seconds and rest for 15 seconds. Repeat this 4 times. (5) cool down at 30-50% max resistance for 60 seconds.
- 15 minutes of yoga. I’m a Peloton subscriber, so I usually head there, but there are so many free online yoga classes out there. Here are a couple that look good:
- A combination of three of the 5 minute workouts listed above, or one 10-minute workout and one 5-minute workout listed above.
Peloton and Instructor-Led Workouts
In addition to the links I provided, there are plenty of options if you just want to follow an instructor. I swear by Peloton – read my post on it here. I also just discovered the Nike Training Club Series on Netflix here. Almost everyone I know has Netflix, and even Netflix has workout content now. There are workouts ranging from 5-30 minutes which means you can complete a workout before vegging for the evening. How great is that? So long as you’ve implemented strategy 1 or committed, snacking on exercise to stay fit, strategy 2, is incredibly easy. Then, all you need to do is build it into a routine. Staying fit is really that easy.
This post was focused on helping you eliminate barriers to staying fit. If you’d like fool-proof strategies to getting fit, see my post here. You’ve got this. 2024 will is our year of becoming.
Comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts and what strategies have or haven’t worked for you.
