Quick Holiday Workout

Yeah yeah I get it, you are soooooo busy. All day, every day, every week.. You work 3 jobs daily, have 12 kids and have absolutely no time to cook or work out.

Right?

I don't know about you but I get tired of these excuses. But I do understand. I can relate. I sympathize because I am human and I'm also busy.

Real quick story here-  Back when I was working 3 jobs (for real), being a single dad taking care of a child a few days a week and living alone (cooking/cleaning for myself) I had to find a way to get in some workouts. 

I had to "find" time.  What I really did was MAKE time.

No way to get to a gym? I would do a quick bodyweight workout on my lunch or at the end of the day or in the morning (my least favorite)

Truth be told, I hated bodyweight workouts. They felt lame. No weights, no clanging of plates and dumbbells. No benches or pulleys or cables or racks.

I would dread those workouts. But I found a way. Which meant I just did it. Even if it was just 20 minutes.

So today is a holiday and we are all busy, including myself. I had some clients this morning and I have family gatherings all day but I had a small window (that I created) of 30 minutes between clients and going home to get ready for the family holiday party.

Not enough time to drive to a gym and get warmed up and work out with weights, cardio etc..so I did a bodyweight circuit.

And honestly, I don't dread them anymore as much as I used to.  Maybe it's my age or the years of lifting under the barbell, but lately I almost (stress- almost) enjoy these high-intensity bodyweight circuits. Today's felt good.

Here's what I did- squats-15 reps, pushups 15 reps-bird dogs-12 reps-reverse crunchesx15-side crunchesx12-planksx30-reverse pushupsx15-

I went from one exercise to the next without rest. After the circuit I rested 30-45 seconds. I did 5 rounds. It took about 25 minutes. For the next 5 minutes I did some stretching/yoga/mobility flow movement. Done.

Work up a little sweat and feel better about your day and your self.

Take pride in the fact that you chose to do something. Instead of saying you have no time (but you have time to watch tv/play on the internet/social media etc.. Have some pride, it's ok. It means you worked on improving yourself today. And that's nothing to be ashamed of. Even if it's only bodyweight exercises and not anything exciting like a big heavy squat or deadlift.

Happy holidays to you and your family. And if you don't celebrate any holidays, have an awesome day!

Quick Workouts

There will come a time when you just need to get in a 15-30 minute workout. You have no more time that day.

I used to think it was better to just take the whole day off to recover. And sometimes you need to do this. But honestly I think more people need to move more so an "off day" should still include some kind of "workout".  No, walking doesn't count here. It's good to walk. Do it daily. No kidding right? But as I go along in my life and my fitness journey I feel it's imperative to do something physical- with some kind of structure for AT LEAST 15 minutes a day.

Today I had about 23 minutes. Between clients that's all I had. The rest of the day just doesn't allow for it today. This is rare for my not to have at least an hour dedicated to my physical fitness but today was one of those days.

So what did I do?  What should you do?

Here's what I did and some ideas for you. I will keep it brief because I know our attention spans are what, 5 seconds or so?

So I did a mostly upper body- focused session.

Started with a warmup of bodyweight exercises- jumping jacks, reverse lunges, squats, pushups, trx facepulls.

Then I got into some circuits. I did pushups with feet elevated, chest supported rows, db cleans, lateral raises and db presses. High reps. No rest between exercises. I did this for a good 5-6 rounds then I mixed in some reverse lunges, trx face pulls and more pushups. Another 2-3 rounds and then I was done.

Not much equipment needed. And not much time.

You can find 15 minutes. It will make a difference.

Not only in your physique but in your mind. Your will. Keeping the habit of working to improve yourself daily is important. It's not just about burning fat but that's an element of it, for sure.

If you have no equipment you can do 15 minutes of bodyweight exercises. Start with squats and pushups. Do 5 reps and increase by 1 each set going back and forth until you reach failure. Then go to planks and reverse crunches, doing as many as possible then reducing the reps and/or time each set until you are done with 4-5 rounds.

There are many ways to get it done.

You could do it outside with no equipment. Mix in some sprints with bird dogs. Go for 5 minutes back and forth with limited to no rest. Then rest 1-2 minutes and repeat 2-3 more times.

15 minutes is enough.

In my opinion it's better than taking the whole day off to "rest" just laying on the couch eating and watching tv. Sure you can do that, I'm not against relaxing and taking some time off when you need it but overall we need to do more work. Be more active.

So do it daily.

You won't regret the days you do it.