Squeezing in Fitness Into a Busy Schedule, Five Minutes at a Time
Consistency is the key to healthy lifestyle habits: Some great tips below to help keep you on track. Five minutes every day is better than no minutes!!
“Thirty uninterrupted minutes seems elusive for most people in our crazy day-to-day lives,” says Jim White, a personal trainer and owner of Jim White Fitness and Nutrition Studios in Virginia Beach, Va. “But everyone can find five minutes throughout the day if they really try.”
Mini workouts can be more creative than taking the stairs or parking farther away. Mr. White points to Herschel Walker, the former Dallas Cowboys running back, who was known to do more than 1,000 push-ups and sit-ups by the end of every day. He suggests making a game of a similar goal by having a partner leave notes around the house with exercise instructions. A note in a kitchen cupboard could say to do 50 sit-ups and one in the bathroom could say do 50 push-ups.
Mr. White also suggests using commercial breaks to do push-ups, sit-ups, or burpees (also known as thrust squats). With a 30-minute program, “that adds up to seven to 10 minutes of exercise.”
At the office, Mr. White says static squats, where you hover over your seat, is a great way to work the leg and gluteal muscles. “Try to hover while you check your morning email or every time you take a phone call,” he says.
Felicia Stoler, an exercise physiologist in Holmdel, N.J., tells her clients to sneak in an ab workout while they’re driving. “Every time you stop at a red light, contract your abs for a count of five and then let go and repeat,” she says.
She suggests carrying a resistance band with you to do strength exercises such as bicep curls or tricep extensions while waiting in a doctor’s office. She also says to get in the habit of taking a brisk five-minute walk every hour at the office. “That adds up to 40 or more minutes a day,” she says
