Fitting Exercise In Around A Busy Lifestyle

Are you thinking of finally adding exercise to your daily routine only to end up quitting because of your extremely busy lifestyle? You're not the only one. In fact, a lot of people plan to lose weight, but end up giving up because of how busy they usually are. The main trouble with getting in shape is that it takes time, a lot of time, and basically no one has any time in their day to day lives. Spare time is like spare money: we’ve all heard of it, but no one’s ever seen it. As people's lifestyles get busier, finding time to use gyms becomes less and less of a possibility. You may want to give up. There's no time to work out so I guess I'll never do it. Don't. There are ways to get in shape even if you don't have time. So how can you lose weight, get in shape or gain muscle, when you don’t have the time to do it?

The simple answer is to add it to your daily routine in small amounts on a daily basis. Notice, that I’m not saying this is how to get the best possible results: but if you want something simple that works, here it is.

For instance, let’s say you struggle to find 20 minutes a day to exercise. Most of us can empathize, even if we’re not in that situation ourselves. But, can you find five minutes before you take a shower? Five minutes before you brush your teeth at night? Five minutes out of your lunch break? Five minutes after dinner? That’s 20 minutes, and it’s slipped into your normal day.

The key lies in choosing exercises that are effective across a range of training periods and intensities. I’m going to recommend using ones I like that require minimal equipment, but obviously you should feel free to substitute your own. The exercises we’re going to use are pushups, pullups, Turkish roll-ups, squats and one-leg deadlifts, and jumps. As general advice, if you don’t have a pullup bar, I strongly urge you to get one and put it somewhere where you’ll walk past it often, like the bathroom door (just make sure it’s above head height!).

Rather than being a program that calls for sets and reps, cycles and peaks, I’m trying to create a program here that someone who doesn’t exercise can use to start exercising. But the ideas in it can work for people who are already fit and strong during periods when they’re rushed off their feet. It isn’t as good as serious training to a good standard in a good facility and I’m not saying it is. But it is 100% better than nothing and you’d be surprised the difference those four short, five-minute sessions can make through the day.

Let’s divide those five minutes up. If your pullup bar is at home, you have to do pullups there. And Turkish roll-ups require you to lie down on the floor, so you should do those at home too. So here’s the program.

The Program

First Session: before showering in the morning

1 minute pullups

1 minute pushups

1 minute Turkish rollups

1 minute squats

1 minute jumps

Second Session: lunch break

1 minute squats

1 minute single-leg deadlift

1 minute jumps

1 minute pushups

1 minute squats

Third Session: after dinner

1 minute pullups

1 minute pushups

1 minute single-leg deadlift

1 minute squats

1 minute Turkish rollups

Fourth Session: later in the evening

1 minute pullups

1 minute pushups

1 minute Turkish rollups

1 minute single-leg deadlift

1 minute squats

The 1-Minute Method

The 1-minute rule is pretty simple: you do as many of an exercise as you can without stopping or getting sloppy in a minute, then rest the remainder of the time. So if you can do 10 pushups in 30 seconds and no more, you can get 30 seconds’ rest. If you can do 15 in 45 seconds you get 15 seconds’ rest. Again, this isn’t as good as having timed allocated sets with predetermined tempos and rest periods. But it does allow you to organize your training simply: all you need is something with a second hand or a stopwatch on your phone or watch. And the minute rule has another beneficial side effect too: the faster you work, the more rest you get.  If you do all the pushups you can do in 1 minute, you get no rest. Do them all in 30 seconds, you get a half a minute’s rest. Working faster is better for your muscles and cardiovascular system, so it’s to be preferred wherever we can do it.

Now I’d like to go over the exercises.

The 1-Minute Method & How To Do The Exercises

Pushup 

I started with this one because it’s the one everyone thinks they already know how to do. Sometimes they’re right, but I’ve seen some truly terrible pushup form, so let’s try to tidy it up a little bit. 

Your body should be straight, without sagging or piking at the hips, without bent knees and without a hunched back. Make a big chest and look slightly forward, to a spot on the floor a few feet ahead of you. Try to make this looking-forward movement come from the top of your chest rather than your neck. That will help you to keep a tight back. Keep your feet no wider than shoulder width apart. Imagine pushing yourself up on your elbows.  Don’t let them flare out or collapse inward, keep them in a straight line with your hands. Your elbows and upper arms should brush the outside of your chest when you do pushups. Don’t try to touch your nose to the floor: it encourages bad neck posture. Touch your chest to the floor instead, and make sure that your hips nearly touch the floor when your chest does, ensuring that your pushups aren’t ‘top half only.’

Pullups

Pullups are safer than pushups in that the weight of your body will usually stop too much funkiness from happening to your form. You can do them with your palms facing you if you want but it’s significantly easier and less beneficial because it loads the biceps rather than the latissimus dorsii and trapezius muscles that power your upper back. To get these, use a palms-away grip, and if you want to get them more use a wider grip. Don’t nod over the bar.  To avoid doing this and to get a better result from your training, try to touch the bar to your chest rather than getting your chin over it to make a rep.

Squats

Deeper is better. Full depth squats engage the hamstrings and glutes in a way that shallow ones don’t. If anyone wants to point out that only very limited strength can be built with bodyweight squats, go ahead, but remember: you read it here first. They are a lot better than nothing and a great way to build some leg and lower body strength and mobility, though. Try to feel your weight throughout your foot, but don’t let your heels come off the ground. It’s OK if your knees track forward over your toes a little but it’s not OK if they collapse inward or flare outward, or if you hear disquieting noises or get pain or discomfort in your joints. If that happens, the solution is simple: squat almost as low as your problem depth, and gradually get lower, paying attention to form as you go.

Turkish rollups

Lie on your back with your hands together in front of your chest, fingers facing the ceiling and palms touching. Straighten your legs. Now, curl up until you’re sitting erect with your hands overhead. Let your hands lead the way and unroll yourself off the floor as if you were doing it one spinal joint at a time.  These are easier on the lower back than situps or crunches, the traditional go-to abdominal exercises, and can be done in a yoga-like way with deep breathing if that’s what you prefer.

1-leg deadlifts

Stand on one foot and bend forward from the hips, keeping your back straight. It’s especially important that you keep your lower back straight. Slowly extend one leg behind you as you lean forward until your raised leg, hips and shoulders form a straight line level with the ground and at right angles to your supporting leg. This is a hip strength and mobility exercise that will benefit your lower back, and it’s considerably harder than it sounds! Remember to do both sides.

Jumps 

It doesn’t really matter what kinds of jumps you do as long as you use ones that require your legs, not just your calves. Calf bounces are out, but tuck jumps, high jumps, whatever you find best is great. As long as you’re getting explosive movement safely it’s fine!

All these exercises involve some resistance but they’re all so simple that you can do them at home or at work in many cases. I have a friend who used to do his exercises in the office when everyone else went to lunch! Others can use a local park. And let’s say you can do 10 pushups in a minute – a modest amount, you might think. But you’re doing them four times a day, five days a week – 200 pushups a week, a large enough number to expect some results.