I’ve been feeling pretty gross lately with the drastic drop in workouts, increased time indoors hunched over a computer or textbook, and all the JUNK I’ve been eating during my late night study jams. But as I said before, I’ve been trying to tell myself it’s ok to do less if this is a particular short period in my life where things are nuts.
HOWEVER, yesterday something shifted. I was teaching a group of my peers a physical education lesson which included covering Alberta Educations 4 General Outcomes of PE which are; Activity, Benefits of Health, Cooperation, and Do it Daily…for Life.
As I spoke about the importance of teaching life long healthy habits to students my inner voice yelled “You gotta walk the walk!” In the next class I was assigned another big project and I told myself between homework and visiting grandma I didn’t have the time for a work out. But the minute I walked in the door that inner voice told me I could just go for 20 minutes. This would give me just enough time to make and eat dinner before I was expected at grandmas. I laced up my Mizuno’s and took off.
The point of this long soliloquy is that there are 101 reasons not to squeeze in a workout and I’ve got them all! But if I’m going to teach healthy living (and blog about healthy living), I need to be living healthy myself.
So dear readers- I would LOVE your tips and ideas for 15-20 minute workouts I could squeeze in to my schedule.
That said, let’s look at my week of workouts (it won’t take long).
Saturday- 5 softball games
We had our fall ball tournament on Saturday and played back to back games from 8:30 am- 4:00 pm. While softball is active, I don’t consider it a workout because I’m never moving consistently for more than 30 seconds-ish.
Sunday- Wednesday- Nothing
Thursday- 20 minute run
Man did this run feel good! I could almost feel my leg muscles singing happily and I wound up running this fast! I knew I only had 20 minutes and I wanted to get in as much distance as I could so I’m proud to say it was my fastest 2 miler ever. Woot! Woot!
How do you squeeze in workouts? (And don’t say get up earlier because by body refuses! HA ha!)
Any 15-20 minute workout ideas you want to share?
I either do chores as a workout, go for 15 min walks during work or bust out a few squats while I’m waiting for my coffee at home!
I like throwing in squats wherever I can! Thanks for the ideas!
I’m a big fan of some of the beachbody programs for having quick and effective workouts that are 30 minutes or less. 21 Day Fix and 22 Minute Hard Corps (which I just chatted about earlier this week) are my favourites.
There’s also tons out there in terms of HIIT workouts that are short but definitely not sweet.
Thanks for the ideas Becky!
Okay here are two of my favorite workouts when I’m short on time and often use my lunch breaks to squeeze in some movement:
1. The 1000 Rep workout: http://www.peanutbutterrunner.com/1000-rep-home-workout/
2.
10 burpees
10 squat jumps
10 jumping lunges (each leg)
10 x jumps
Optional: 10 push ups or crunches or reverse lunges to bring your heart rate down
I’ll do three rounds of the above, rest for about a minute and cycle through 3-4 times. (It takes about 20-25 minutes to do 4 rounds)
Try it!!!
That’s a great one Jo! I can fit in as many rounds as time permits! Thanks!!
Great reminder. I realized that all I can do is what I can. My mom fell last week, and I was spending a lot of time making sure she took her meds and ate well after working all day.
When I told myself that I’m too tired to workout, I remembered this. I was able to fit in at least 5 minutes on some days of being active.
Exactly! Squeeze it in wherever possible. We aren’t pro athletes. 😛
Oh….and look into The Sworkit app. You can custom time your workouts from 5 minutes to 60.
Thanks for the suggestion Charlotte! I’ll check it out!