Busy But Burnin’

While I’ve been lengthening my workouts to an hour lately (I just have some different goals right now), I stand firm that most of us just do not need super long workouts. When time is the biggest barrier to getting movement in, I remain convinced that most women can shorten their workouts and get better results. You know what also improves? Consistency! Set out to run 10 miles 3x a week and girl, you have to set aside some serious time. All of a sudden, three to four, w0-30 minute workouts a week doesn’t seem so hard does it?

Here’s a few reasons why shorter workout are the better route for most of us:

1. Knowing we need to carve out less time lowers the barrier to entry. We can just started because we know that we don’t have to commit our entire day and we’ll be back to that “to-do” list in no time.

2. You can get more intense with your effort when you know that you’ll spend less time doing it! It’s the difference between pacing a long cardio workout when you know you need to conserve energy and really going for broke with a hybrid exercise that takes all you’ve got.

3. You know that initial burn that makes you want to take a break? A lot of us are used to that warning sign and heeding to that immediately. But we know that putting our muscles under stress makes us better. Our muscles tear and rebuild and get stronger. But, how good are we at pushing through the discomfort? How good are we at pushing the envelop just a little bit more, getting a little gritty? Probably not that good at first. I love that short, intense exercise challenges us to sit in the discomfort a bit more, find that place where we’re not injuring ourselves but we’re really eeking out those couple more reps. The mental fortitude that comes from short workouts is worth every intense second for me.

In my gym, my group classes are a metabolic style and this means that for most of the sessions, I give no rest. I want you to push so hard you can’t anymore, then rest so you are able to push hard again. You go from a 10 to 1 over and over and over again throughout the 30 minutes. I don’t want a 5, I don’t want a 7. I want all in, then all off. This is called Rest-Based Training and it’s simply wonderful because every single person in the gym gets to self-regulate for themselves. Not only is this a better way to avoid injury but it’s the best way to minimize hunger (yes, short intense exercise can stave off hunger vs. hours of cardio which makes us hungrier!).

Want to know what that looks like in action? I’ve got you. Here are 2 of my favorite workouts from my Busy But Burnin’ hormonal fat-loss program for women.

Workout 1

Workout 2