Losing weight is a challenge that can take years or months to perfect. With a busy schedule, I recently picked up a yoga DVD. It is a 30-minute work out that fits with my active schedule. It’s no secret that exercise and diet are the only two weapons for weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle one will need. Finding the right exercise can be a form of trial and error. Once you find it, become an expert in it.
Working out every day isn’t necessary. Neither is working out for an hour each day; 30-minutes a day, five times a day is as sufficient as an hour a day for three times a week. How many have an hour a day, though?
Make the most of your 30-minute work out by including:
• Resistance training and cardiovascular training, make 1/3 cardio (10 minutes) and 2/3 (20 minutes) resistance training
• Increase intensity of workout; this will burn more calories per minute.
• Target the whole body! Not just lower body or upper body or simply abs. By targeting the whole body in 30-minutes more is accomplished in the “post-exercise period”.
Examples of 30-minute workouts targeting the whole-body:
• Yoga
• Pilates
• Zumba
• Core exercises: planks and side-planks and push-ups
• Combining upper-body and lower-body exercises
o Targeting quadriceps and hamstrings: squats plus holding a body bar or free weights and moving the hips backwards/outwards
o Target upper body with free weights: shoulder press- bend elbows and weights at shoulders, slowly reach toward ceiling, keeping elbows under hands and shoulders away from ears.
Losing weight in 30-minutes is attainable. Exercising hard in 30-minutes compared to a low-impact, hour-long workout is just the same. For example, a study shows that those who exercised hard enough to sweat for 30-minutes lost an average of 8 pounds over three months; compared to those who loss 6 pounds working out 60-minutes a day.
Shorter workouts leave extra energy for other physical activities done during the day. Research also suggests that a 30-minute exercise provides more weight loss benefits than a long exercise routine.
This type of work out is meant for those with little time or those trying to maintain a weight loss. However, for those with time, take it to find the right diet and exercise routine for them. Taking two weeks to focus on you is the best suggestion! If you do your research right, there are health resorts that give you the time to focus on you!