Can You Get A Good Workout in 30 Minutes?
The answer is yes, but you have to exercise smart. Your training time has to be carefully orchestrated so you use every minute effectively. Training should consist of a mix of both cardio and resistance training. Here’s how.
Warm up your large lower body muscle groups by jogging a mile to the gym. Once there, spend 5 minutes stretching out the rest of your body that you will be working, namely your back, chest, arms and shoulders.
Spend a minute each on each type of exercise for the next 10 minutes by doing a round of these exercises:
Bench and military presses
Squats
Lunges
Bent over rows
Bicep and leg curls
Overhead dumbbell extensions
Leg Extensions
Allow yourself a 10 to 15-second rest between each set. Once finished with the first round, do it all over again.
As far as the number of repetitions, gauge it on whether you want to build muscle strength and size, exercise for general fitness, or burn fat and build muscle endurance.
Do 4 to 6, 12 to 15 or 20 to 25 reps, respectively depending on your desired goal.
Now let’s work your core; take the next 5 minutes and do each exercise below for 1 minute with a 15-second rest between each exercise:
Crunches
Leg raises
Oblique crunches
And static planks
Once finished, rest for a few seconds before starting your slow jog back to your starting point. The jog back is your cool-down.
In a quick 30 minutes, you have worked most of the major muscle groups in both your upper and lower body, along with your abdominal core.
To lose weight and get in shape, do this routine 3 times per week.
On 3 of the other days of the week, concentrate on strictly cardio training. Rest on the 7th day as your muscles need time to repair themselves and grow.
Once you have been on this training schedule for a while, you’ll start to see some progress toward your goal – whether that is losing weight, growing stronger or just getting more fit.
Remember, part of any good training program is eating healthy and watching portion control.
As the old saying goes “You can out-exercise bad eating.” Because nutrition accounts for 80% of your goal and exercise the other 20%, clean eating has to be an integral part of your overall fitness plan.
Don’t sacrifice one for the other.