Minimalist 2-Hours Per Week Workout Plan
It’s often quite easy to find an excuse for not doing something –
especially when it’s something you don’t especially enjoy. I’m sure, in
your youth, you used one of a number of standard excuses for why you
didn’t do your homework. Your dog ate it maybe? Or your younger
brother/sister spelt water all over it? Maybe you left in on the
bus?
Fast forwards a few years and while the unpleasant tasks may have
changed, the excuses still keep coming. In place of dogs eating homework,
adults can blame technology…it’s amazing how many emails go missing in
cyberspace – especially those asking you to do something you’d rather not
do. And then there is public transport; it’s an easy scapegoat and can
often be blamed for work tardiness when, in fact, a big night out and
sleeping through your alarm is really the culprit.
And when it comes to eating right and exercising, the excuses just keep
on coming. It amazes me how many people blame the alleged expensiveness of
healthy food for not eating a well balanced diet but then have plenty of
money to spend on the latest i-gadget, new car or holiday.
And then there is the whole “I don’t have time to exercise” excuse. That
one is just astonishing. Take a look on facebook and you’ll see exactly
why people don’t have time to exercise – they are too bust bleating to
their friends how busy they are. Am I the only one who sees the irony in
these “I’m so busy and must tell the world on facebook” messages!?
I do actually understand what it is like to be busy. I work 10 hour work
days, I have a family, but despite all that I have going on, I still find
time to exercise and if I can do it, I know you can too!
Over the years, I have developed and combined a number of strategies that
have helped my keep my training on track despite having a very busy
schedule. I genuinely believe that in all but the most extreme cases,
everyone can find sufficient time to exercise. Okay, so time constraints
might mean that training for an Iron Man triathlon or next year’s Mr.
Universe is out of the question but there is really no excuse for not
doing enough exercise to keep yourself healthy and fit.
Warming up
Warming up is important but many people are guilty of spending way to
long on this aspect of exercise. Unless you are going to be working at
“eyeballs out” intensity, your warm up needn’t be exhaustive. Many fitness
experts suggest you need to do a pulse raiser, mobility exercises, foam
rolling, dynamic stretches, movement prep, corrective exercises, muscle
activation exercises and so on before you start exercising. While all this
stuff is great in theory, if your warm up is so long you actually don’t
have time to work out, it’s nothing but a barrier to participation and
reinforces the “I don’t have time to exercise” excuse.
Strength training
Look at most people’s weights workouts and they look like an A-Z of
strength training exercises. I like to think if this as a “kitchen sink”
approach to program design. It’s almost as though they lack confidence in
the exercises they are performing and, subsequently, add in more and more
similar movements to ensure all bases are double-triple-quadruple covered
and you have a whole lot of wasted time.
Whenever I am short of time, I simply hack my workout down to the bare
minimum of three exercises performed twice a week for 3-5 work sets per
exercise. This means I’m in and out the gym, including warm up and cool
down in a round 35-40 minutes. If I’m REALLY short of time, I’ll even
super-set the final two exercises to save a few extra minutes.
Workout A
● Squats
● Bench Press
● rows
Workout B
● Deadlifts
● Split Squats
● Pull/chin ups (substitute lat pull downs as necessary)
You may have noticed a distinct lack of direct arm and core work – this
is not an oversight. The exercises listed above also use those muscles,
albeit indirectly.
While the abbreviated workouts listed above might not be the most
exciting or varied you’ve ever seen, I can assure you that, when time is
short, they are a lot better than the alternative – doing nothing!
Cardio
Everyone knows that cardio is all but essential for heart, lung and
circulatory health and also for fat burning but how much do you need to
do? According to the American College of Sports Medicine we need to do 20
minutes three times a week which isn’t a big investment of time and a
whole lot less than the typical aerobics class aficionado or runner does
per week. However, you can reduce this time significantly by substituting
your steady pace cardio for interval training. In studies, interval
training has been shown to deliver greater fitness and fat burning results
than steady pace cardio. Concerned that such short workouts will result in
weight (fat) gain? If so, you are probably eating too much and need to
sort your diet out rather than waste time trying to outrun it.
So, 40 minutes of strength training twice a week (including warm ups)
plus three 20 minute cardio sessions equals a little over two hours of
exercise which equates to around 1.4% of your week. I bet you spend more
time watching TV!
The next time you think you don’t have enough time for exercise, think
again and also remember the Earl of Derby’s old adage “Those who do not
find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.”
