The most common reason why people don’t exercise is a lack of time. Whether dealing with work, school or personal obligations, few people have the time to spend countless hours in the gym.
In the face of demanding time-constraints, it can be easy to skip exercising altogether. However, there is no reason to drop all your fitness goals simply because your time is limited. Instead, just find a way to pack a lot of fitness into a small amount of time.
Eric Feigl, a personal trainer and the host of the Fitness Candor podcast, has you covered. Feigl recently created three different 10-minute workouts for Men’s Journal that allow for maximum burn in minimum time.
I used my connections with him to bring these workouts to my fellow Mavericks because Feigl created these exercises to be compatible with small spaces, which makes them ideal for offices, hotel rooms or college dorms.
The first workout involves push-up variations. It’s a three-exercise circuit to time that is perfect for small spaces and can torch your chest and arms, leading to a satisfying pump.
First and foremost Feigl stresses the importance of form. Keep a straight line from your shoulders to your heels as you take three seconds to lower yourself, and three more seconds to raise yourself back to the start position as all variations of push-ups are done.
To perform the workout, set a timer for 10 minutes and begin by performing 10 (or fewer, depending on ability) regular push-ups. Next, perform 10 decline push-ups with your feet above your head on a chair, bed or desk. Finish with 10 incline push-ups with your hands on a chair or desk and your feet on the floor.
Maintain the same pace and attention to form throughout and perform as many cycles as you can during the time allotted. Keep rest minimal to maximize your burn. Beginners may have trouble performing 10 push-ups of each exercise throughout the ten minutes. Only perform as many repetitions as you can while still maintaining perfect form.
The second workout designed by Feigl is burpees for time. That is precisely how it sounds. Set your timer for 10 minutes and start doing burpees. This is a brutal routine that will make you feel as if you have spent a lot longer than 10 minutes exercising.
The key thing in this workout is not to push yourself so hard that you are in danger of injury. Feigl recommends making modifications as you fatigue. If you begin with a full plyometric burpee that includes the jump at the top and the push-up at the bottom, you can make regressions.
Take out the jump and push-up as you begin to fail, or slow your pace. Instead of jumping your feet back, you can begin to walk them back instead. Just try to stay moving for the 10 minutes.
The last workout is a combination of upper and lower body exercise. This one requires a little more space, so a good-sized living room could work, or you could enjoy the spring weather and do it outside.
It is a circuit, wherein you perform five exercises. Start with 20 walking lunges, 40 mountain climbers and as many close-grip push-ups as can be performed with proper form. Next perform 60 seconds of a “superman” hold and 20 air squats. Repeat this circuit as many times as possible for 10 minutes.
Any of these workouts will leave your muscles burning even though you haven’t devoted a great amount of time to working out. Though they are efficient, Feigl suggests that these exercises will work when time is tight, but should not take the place of a regular exercise program.
“Those kind of workouts can easily lead to overdevelopment of those muscle groups,” Feigl said, stressing the importance of not doing the workouts too often.
The next time you find yourself low on time and think you can’t make it to the gym, set a timer and try out one of Feigl’s workouts. You will feel as if you did spend an hour or more sweating away in the gym, and the benefits will stick with you for hours after you finish.
