Time Crunch

Q: I work long hours and have a family and just can’t find the time for exercise. How can I finally get in shape without cutting back on work of family time?

A: You’re not alone. One of the biggest excuses for not exercising is not having enough time. With work, school, families and other activities I understand your time is limited time and you only get 24 hours each day. One simple solution is cutting back on the amount of television you watch. According to Nielsen Media Research, Americans watch an average of 4 hours 35 minutes of TV every day. You can start with just 30 minutes of exercise a day, which leaves 4 hours and 5 minutes to watch TV or be with your family. Because this is a home workout with minimal equipment you can even do this with your family.

You can easily complete this routine by doing it throughout the commercials breaks of a 30 minute television program. You can also record your favorite shows, skip the commercials and then use the extra time to exercise. Do this program before you watch and use TV as your reward for working out, just make sure to skip the commercials which will save you time. Alternate daily between day 1 and day 2.

Day 1

Commercial Break 1 – Superset 1
1A. Body weight lunges (make harder by pausing in the down position for 4 seconds)
1B. Pushups (make them harder doing the T-stabilization pushup, where you turn into a side plank between each rep)

Commercial Break 2 – Superset 2
2A. Hip Bridge (increase difficulty by adding a 4 second hold at top or doing single leg bridge)
2B. DB Row (increase difficulty by holding 4 seconds at top)

Commercial Break 3 – Superset 3
3A. Plank Hold (increase difficulty by raising one arm or leg off the ground or both)
3B. Russian Twist (add a medicine ball to challenge yourself)

For each superset do the first exercise for 8-10 reps followed by the second exercise for 8-10 reps. Repeat as many times as possible during the commercial breaks, up to 4 times each. If you’re doing the workout before your shows make sure you rest 60 seconds after you complete all your sets in each superset before moving to the next superset.

Day 2

Commercial break 1 – Superset 1
1A. Mountain Climbers
1B. Jumping Jacks

Commercial Break 2 – Superset 2
2A. Burpees
2A. Plank Hold

Commercial Break 3 –Superset 3
3A. Speed Squats
3B. Squat Hold

For each superset do the first exercise for 20 seconds followed by 20 seconds of the second exercise followed by 20 seconds of rest. Repeat as many times as possible up to 3 times for each superset.