The US government guidelines on healthy eating (MyPyramid) advise 30 minutes per day of exercise. Does that mean you don't cut it if you do less than thirty minutes?
An exercise prescription that neglects advice on intensity is remiss.
I have done workouts that took just 11 minutes long and left me gasping for air and feeling "worked out" for many days afterwards. That's because intensity was at max., and the exercises included a combination of weight bearing and other methods with as little resting as possible.
I know people who spend over 1 and a half hours at the gym. Most of that time is actually spent resting between sets. Presumably that gives them the best possible chance of "getting big". However it isn't the only way to exercise - and neither is precisely 30 minutes of cardio training (such as walking).
Mix it up! Work Hard... then see what happens. Your routine doesn't have to be an endless series of yawn-inducing cardio sessions.
What was that 11 minute workout?
- 21 Hang Squat Cleans @40kg (90 lbs)
- 21 Assisted Hand Stand Push ups (I can't hand stand so I hook my feet over the squat rack).
- 21 Deadlifts (body weight)
- 21 Dips
Now on the deadlifts there was no way I could do those in one hit - so I split them up - panting like a dog in between each mini-set.
If you are going to try these kind of workouts please be very careful. This workout was proceeded by a comprehensive warmup (which makes it more than 11 minutes I guess!).
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6 Comments:
My workouts are rarely 30 minutes. Most of them are about an hour, often longer. My longest was 36 hours, which involves a bike ride from Moffett Field to Santa Cruz, then to Sunnyvale. Other prolonged sessions are bike rides to San Francisco, Gilroy, Half Moon Bay, San Leandro, and walks to Redwood City, San Jose, Mountain View/Los Altos, Saratoga, and was once about 1/2 mile short of Campbell.
By
Thomas at 3:20 PM
this is the worst advice ever
first you need to warm up and prepare for a workout, min 10-15 mins
than you do the exercises or whatever it is that you got ready to do
and than you cool down and stretch
anything else will lead to injury, little effect and no efficiency, and again injury will force people to stop
its irrisponsible to tell people you can do less than 30 mins, meaningyou do only the "intense" part of the exercise and always only this
this kind of exercising will raise the levels of lactic acid drastically without warmup or allowing it to be transported out of muscule without cooldown
meaning you will be in sudent acidosys every time you do these crazy quick exercises
its ok to do it if you have a life/death situation but if you have a choice than warmup and cooldown is a must
there are no shortcuts
these systems have been developed over centuries of experience and study
By
nikola at 5:40 AM
What I neglected to state was that yes - I do indeed do a comprehensive warmup routine.
So if you add that to the mix then that pushes up the total workout time.
By
Jim at 3:51 PM
Thank you for writing about this. I say this to my clients all the time. It's nice to direct them to this blog so they hear it from someone else too!
Bill Yeager Personal Trainer Southington CT Connecticut www.horizonpt.com
By
Passion at 6:20 PM
Wow. Worst advice ever? So if you don't have enough time you shouldn't work out at all?
When I'm pressed for time, I might do a couple sets of light movements, just to keep my muscles active and retain "muscle memory" of the movements.
While it might not be as effective as a full-blown 30-45 minute workout, it is still keeping active and keeps exercise a routine event.
Jim Lane
Marin County, CA
By
ironbellathletics at 10:44 PM
Very true. People often neglect a work out because they dont feel they have the time. A good friend of mine beleives that it is a waste of time to run unless you go for over 45mins. Its crazy! I recommend to people to just start moving and build up over time.
By
weight loss program at 6:21 PM
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