How Long are Your Workouts

One of the mantras often preached to my clients is to “Do what you can, when you can.” What does that mean? Well, when life/family/work/anything is filling your time and you can’t seem to find the time to work out or do any form of exercise, do something in whatever time you have available to you.

There was a great message on social media the other day which went something along the lines of take a minute out of each hour of your day to do ten press ups. It doesn’t sound much and appears relatively simple to do. By taking ten separate minutes out of your day, throughout the day, to do ten press ups each time you will do over one hundred press ups in a day. Do that for a month and suddenly you will have completed three thousand press ups! That in turn will have increased your strength, your lean muscle mass, your fitness, your metabolism. Wow! So simple.

It doesn’t have to be specifically press ups. Swap that exercise out with squats or lunges or anything (probably not burpees though, unless you are particularly masochistic!). You will be doing something.

Talking with an online client of mine a few weeks ago, he told me that I’d given him permission to view exercise differently. To him, a workout had to be an hour in the gym. As a busy business owner with mobility issues and a family, getting to a gym was not feasible, so I created lots of different five minute workouts he could do at his desk. This was a revelation to him, and he improved across a range of metrics including his strength, his waistline and his mood.

Of course, taking small “exercise bites” will mean it takes longer to hit any goals that you may have, but it will still be far quicker than not doing anything. Too often we find ourselves with an all or nothing mindset: 

• I can’t get to the gym so I won’t do a workout. 

• I can’t afford an hour so I won’t do a workout.

• I don’t have access to my normal equipment so I won’t do anything.

There are many more examples, but you get the picture. Which is why that client (you know who you are!) found it so empowering to be “allowed” to complete a form of structured exercise at, and around, his desk using only his own body weight without having to get changed into gym gear.

So if you are having issues about getting to a gym to do your normal routine, think outside the box a little, and do what you can with what you have available to you. And that includes time as well as equipment. Remember, your body is a brilliant piece of equipment you take with you everywhere you go, and bodyweight training (callisthenics) can be some of the toughest exercise you can do – anyone for multiple types of pull-ups?

Sometimes trying to figure out what to do differently when you can’t complete your normal exercise routine can be difficult. Don’t panic! Help is at hand, I say waving and smiling at the computer screen in the hope you see me. I’m over here at the end of this internet line, just a click away, ready and willing to help you.

If you’d like that help, or any advice on what you could do differently to help you hit those health and fitness goals of yours, please click the gold button underneath this paragraph and book a call.