If you want to become more productive in your daily life ask yourself “Am I making the most of my time right now?” Your goal is to get more done in less time. If you can shave 15 minutes off your daily commute by taking an alternate route or listening to an educational CD while traveling to work, you are getting more out of your time. Furthermore if you’re looking for ways to become more productive while working out, again ask yourself “Am I making the most of my time right now?” and then way the costs of time versus intensity.
Think about this, the lower the intensity of your exercise, the longer it will take you to burn calories. But the opposite is also true and can work to your advantage. If you exercise at higher intensities you will burn more calories in a shorter period of time. Look at the following example based on a 180 pound person:
Exercise Caloric Burn
Walking 4 mph for 60 minutes 323 calories
Walking upstairs for 30 minutes 325 calories
Running 5 mph for 30 minutes 325 calories
*Interval training 20 minutes 326 calories
As you can see when the intensity is increased by adding stairs or higher speeds you work harder and burn more calories in less time. Of course if you are new to exercise you may not be able to exercise for very long at higher than normal intensities. The good news is that you can start at any fitness level. If you currently walk for 30 minutes start by adding work intervals such as small hills or slow jogs for 30 to 60 seconds every 3 minutes. Gradually increase the intensity of your work intervals and decrease your rest interval time from 3 minutes to 2 minutes to 1 minute.
*Interval training alternating 1 minute at 9 mph and 1 minute at 5.2 mph. One added bonus with higher intensities, such as interval training is it keeps your metabolism revved up for hours after training, so not only do you burn more calories in less time during your workout, after your workout is over you still burn additional calories, which leads to greater fat loss.
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