When people start to get fit and healthy, they often build up this idea in their head that they need to be going to the gym every day, spending and hour at a time in the gym and busting a gut on a treadmill or under some heavy piece of metal, and although that would be one approach you could take, the reality of it is. That in order for you to start to get healthier and fitter. The only thing you really need to do is start.
This often has a motivation reducing effect, but here are some simple truths.
It doesn’t need to be an hour, it can be 30 minutes.
It doesn’t need to be gut wrenchingly sweaty, it could just be a bit of a walk after lunch.
It doesn’t need to leave you completely drained, if anything it’s better for you to leave the gym feeling empowered (at least some of the time)
When time is short, it becomes your single greatest commodity and you’ll protect it at all costs, and you don’t have 3 hours to workout plus the 30 minutes to get to the gym so that’s actually 6 hours.
I know what you are thinking, who has 6 random hours to these days, with Jobs, Kids, second jobs, after school groups, meals to cook, houses to keep tidy and sometimes 3 jobs or clients to see.
So if you are a busy person, whether that being a business professional, stay at home parent or just a someone juggling lots of plates and you find yourself coming up short on the health and fitness front, make things easier in your mind and for your time, and try something other than the standard, 1 hour, 3-4 times a week routine, that is going to leave you short on time, short on energy and feeling like a failure then you realise you cant commit to that amount of time a week with everything you’ve got on, so you quit.
An Alternative strategy, 30 minutes is good!
Imagine the situation you have a stack of jobs to do in a short window, say 30 mins and you work like a mad man to get it completed.
Now imagine the opposite, its one of those days where you have lots of time and only a few low importance jobs to do.
What typically happens on the day where your time is short is you accomplish a lot, on the days where time is plentiful you will usually get nothing done.
And this is what i see in the gym, I’ve been working in the health and fitness industry for over 20 years and i can always tell when people have got a lot on, they come , work like crazy and are done in 30 minutes. And usually see pretty good results. Others come in talk and walk for 60 minutes and accomplish not a lot, the results speak for themselves selves.
Sometimes, less is more.
If you had just 30 minutes to get a workout in and you knew you were going to be , work and get out in the 30 minutes you’d give it your best, as you know you only have 30 minutes.
Here are some ideas for how 30 minutes can be of benefit
30 min hiit session to boost fitness quickly and metabolism
30 min single muscle session to drive muscle growth
30 min walk to aid digestion and reduce stress (after lunch works really well)
30 min total body weight session when you need to feel toned everywhere (short rests are the key)
30 min boxing session when you are stressed and need something to hit!
These can all seem daunting when you are going it alone, but you don’t need to go it alone there are a lot of good trainers out there, if you are reading this and it resonates with you, get in touch and get that first 30 minutes done today.
