Contrary to popular belief, there’s no need to put in long hours in the gym or wherever, especially if you’ve got real-life responsibilities
Photos by Andrej Lišakov/Unsplash+
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: You really, really would like to be more active, but there’s just so much real life in the way.
It’s very easy for people to say that you can squeeze in an hour or two on any day to devote to a full workout. But reality is not that simple—the nuances of life, especially life in chaotic Philippines, mean that there’s something that can go wrong to throw your workout schedule off-track.
Maybe you’ve got kids to take to school, maybe there’s an awkwardly booked emergency meeting at work, maybe you want a social life, maybe you’re just plain tired. Motivational speakers often say that you have to sacrifice a few things to achieve some goals, and while that’s generally true, not everyone can be gifted with the obsession and single track-mindedness of a Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan. (Or the wealth and schedule of a professional athlete who’s paid to train and stay in condition most days.)
Here’s a simple solution from Men’s Health: Do as many short bursts of intense physical activity as you can
A lot of excuses are valid, and they come with the territory of being a functioning adult in society. So what does one have to do? What can one do? How can one carve out a consistent block of time for training?
Here’s a simple solution from Men’s Health—one most don’t get to think of because we’re so fixed on the traditional idea of what a workout is and how long it should go—do as many short bursts of intense physical activity as you can.
They call these “snack-sized workouts” and that’s pretty much an apt name. You can get a full workout in 5 to 10 minutes, or for however long you have. Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel says the goal is to put in at least seven minutes of movement every day, just so you can make your quota.
The goal of snack-sized workouts is to put in at least seven minutes of movement every day
One thing I’ve personally recently discovered is that you can beat yourself up with a good workout in that much time. You can do any quick minutes-long routine that involves pushing as hard as you can in a short time.
My go-to when I want to make it really quick and still push my body enough to grow is the Gotch Bible, created by legendary 20th century professional and catch-as-catch-can wrestler Karl Gotch. You may have heard of it already, perhaps not under that name: You take a deck of 52 playing cards, assign a particular exercise to each suit, and go through each card as a guide to what movement to do (according to the suit) and how many reps to do (according to the number on the card). Even one-quarter of the deck is enough for around 7 to 10 minutes (depending on how fast you pump out reps) to get you sweating and sore.
Remember that the calories you burn during the actual workout is nothing compared to the calories you burn when you keep moving in the rest of your day
The advent of smartphones has also made it that you don’t need to carry around an actual deck of cards with you. There are apps for this specific workout routine: Sweat Deck for iOS and Card Workout for Android, just to name a few of so many. You can customize each workout according to your current goals.
But if you still want the feeling of lifting some heavy iron in your workouts, you can still definitely do that. If you’re constantly short on time, you can cut a lifting session in half; 30 minutes will do.
The trick is to maximize that half-hour by pushing yourself even harder to facilitate growth. One thing I’ve been experimenting with in the gym lately is safely training to failure but only because I have hypertrophy goals. That cuts down the amount of time I spend lifting because I end up doing fewer reps with each set. You don’t have to do this too, as if the goal is to just get movement in, then a shorter workout time will be enough.
And then there’s the movement you can do outside the gym. Remember that the calories you burn during the actual workout is nothing compared to the calories you burn when you keep moving in the rest of your day, so make sure you’re moving as much as you can.
Don’t forget: The gym isn’t everything, and it really isn’t the only place you can exercise. Like a weight you’re lifting, the most effective way to get and stay fit is to figure out your real-life situation and control it, instead of letting it fully control you.