It is possible to do in half an hour what some people do in an hour or more of exercise if you know how to prepare and maximize your time. I am not recommending that you make thirty minute workouts the norm, as it may take many people that long to warm up their bodies. If you try to move too quickly, you can injure yourself and that defeats the purpose of training altogether. Remember, always pay attention to what your body is telling you and take only what you know it has to give. With that in mind, if you are short on time, use these cues to help maximize your workout.
- Combine exercises methodically. Squats work well with overhead presses, bending works well with pulling and lunging works well with twisting. Use the “Thruster” or squat to press, the bend to row and also a lunge to twist as single exercises that target multiple movements. Using all three in your workout will work six primal movements, gait is the seventh and final, so go back and pace around your office when you are done.
- Try to warm up on the way to wherever you are going to workout, or at least try not to be completely sedentary in the thirty minutes beforehand. If you work in an office, make an important phone call and pace around your office like you are closing a really big deal.
- Minimize travel time. You shouldn’t need much equipment for an effective workout so if you are driving for thirty minutes to go to the gym every day, invest in weights you can use at home. If home isn’t an option, scout out a local park where you can bring your weights and save yourself the drive time.
- Use the deadlift and push up combination for simplicity. This combination will train every muscle in your body and burn massive amounts of calories all at once. Deadlifts require a lot of grip and posterior chain muscles, where as push ups allow your grip to rest and use more anterior muscles. Both will use your core and combining the two will make your heart rate soar. Turn deadlifts into swings or push ups into jerks or push presses for some power phase alternatives.
- Turn everyday life movements into a workout. A few days ago I couldn’t help but point out to my wife when I saw a man doing the exact motion of a kettlebell swing. He was throwing his child up in the air and catching him using his hips to move and decelerate the weight of the child, his arms just gripping and going with the move. It was uncanny how he naturally did a very well orchestrated hip hinge and how the move resembled exactly what kettlebell training does. So, if you find yourself really short on time because you have a little one demanding your attention, don’t feel guilty if you turn your toddler into a workout tool because they will love it too!
Workouts:
10×10&10
This is one of my all time classic workouts, which is ten rounds of ten deadlifts and ten push ups or kettlebell swing and/or jerk. Let the weight of the deadlift increase gradually as you warm up and activate your nervous system. You can also make the push ups more/less challenging by using an incline regression or decline progression. This can be done in twenty to thirty minutes, depending on the difficulty of the weights and variations you use.
Six Movements, Three Exercises
Three moves in six exercises. A barbell or two kettle/dumbbells squat to overhead press, use the deepest squat you can without rounding your back. Low pulley or resistance band bend and row. A bend will add power to an upper body pulling motion when you come to standing and your glutes and hamstrings are big powerful muscles that will power the forward lean of your upper body to standing upright. Use that power to assist a pulling motion arm against the resistance of a low pulley or resistance band, perform one hand at a time and switch evenly.
Lunge with rotation can use the same equipment, think of swinging a bat, stepping into a deep lunge and twisting at the torso. This can be done in the power phase, as in swinging a bat, or a slower strength phase using a mid level pulley or resistance band. Perform ten thrusters, ten bend and row per hand and ten lunge and twist per side for a total of five rounds, thats a lot of volume in a short period of time!
Over the years it has become obvious to me that time is often an obstacle people face when trying to reach their health and fitness goals. Now you have some workouts you can do in under 30 minutes and one less excuse to get out there and move!
