How To “Fit In” Exercise Each Week

Like every other city in the nation, people in Alexandria, VA, often find it difficult to fit in their exercise program each week, Life’s busy, and it’s hard to fit everything in a week, so you have to prioritize. Considering all the benefits you reap from exercise and how it relieves stress and boosts energy, it should be your top priority.

Make the time shorter by increasing the intensity.

Worldwide studies have shown that you need between 150 and 300 minutes of moderate exercise or between 75 and 150 minutes of intense exercise weekly. Cut your exercise time by turning up the intensity with HIIT—high intensity interval training. It’s a way of doing any exercise. Do a minute or two at peak intensity and then reduce it to moderate recovery intensity for the same or longer time. Alternate continuously between the two intensities. You get the same benefits in half the time as steady-state moderate exercise.

Break your workout into shorter sessions throughout the day.

You don’t have to do your exercise all at once. You can break it up into smaller sessions throughout the day. If you opt for intense workouts seven days a week, just do ten minutes every morning and ten minutes at the end of the day. That’s 20 minutes a day or 140 minutes of intense exercise. If you decide to go less intense, start your day with fifteen minutes of exercise, walk fifteen minutes at lunch, and exercise another fifteen minutes at the end of the day. You can work out longer some days and skip others. Just don’t try to pack all your exercise into one or two days.

Create a five-minute workout you can do on breaks or do a nitric oxide dump.

Even though going to the gym and a full workout is best, it’s not always an option. Be prepared with a workout you can do at your desk or in the breakroom. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It can be chair leg lifts, wall slides, or chair rises. A nitric oxide dump is a four-minute exercise you can do anywhere. It combines squats, snow angels, tin soldiers, and a military press, doing three intervals of ten repetitions of each exercise.

• Put fitness on your schedule. If your day is always unpredictable, work out in the morning before any crisis starts. If you have a rigid schedule that doesn’t change, pick a time each day to work out and make it a standing appointment.
• Get Rover or Kitty in shape and prevent pet obesity. Run with Rover and do active play with the cats, like dangling a string with a toy at the end and letting them chase you.
• Combine sedentary entertainment with an active workout. If you’re watching TV or streaming at home, do exercises while you do it. Planks, crunches, lunges, and squats let you watch while you exercise.
• Play with the kids or take them on a walk. Not all exercises have to be calisthenics. Shooting hoops, playing tag, or jumping rope with the kids are vigorous exercises that will help you get fit faster.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness