No Time? No Worries, Part 1

This is probably an insanely busy time of the year for you. The holidays just ended and work is more demanding than a spoiled-rotten three year old in a toy store. As if that wasn’t enough, you’re also taking care of the family and keeping the house in order. In sum, if you had any less time you’d already be dead. How are you going to get or stay in shape? Read on to see some tried and true tips on making the most of your very limited time.

Full-body Workouts. You may have done an arm day, back day, chest day, and leg day (though this one gets skipped a lot,) and it may have worked well for you back then. The problem is that now you’re too busy to spend an hour per body part. You’ve got work, being a good spouse and/or parent, and all the other maintenance around the house. There simply isn’t enough time to hit the gym six times a week and hit a body part per day. This is where full-body workouts are going to help you. Instead of going six times a week in order to hit everything, you only have to go two or three.

However, this means that doing twelve variations of a biceps curl is now a no-go. What do you do, then? To stop your workouts from turning into marathons, you’ll have to choose your exercises wisely. The answer is to use big lifts that hit lots of muscles at the same time. If you’re thinking squats, bench press, deadlifts, rowing, and pull-ups, then you’re on the right track. If you’re thinking leg extensions, wrist curls, and medial flactoid raises, read the previous sentence and try again. Three to five sets of 8 to 12 reps should get the job done. Try to keep the rest periods between one and two minutes. If you’re really pressed for time, then you might want to try…

Pairing Exercises. This isn’t anything fancy. All it means is that you do the first exercise, then immediately do the second one without resting. After the second, you get to have your rest. If you do this, you’ll save a whole lot of time in the gym. However, you can’t just pair any old thing with any old thing. It’s important that the exercises you pair should use either opposite muscle groups (think bench press with rowing) or non-competing muscle groups (think bench press and squatting.) The reasoning behind this is that while you’re working one, the other gets a chance to rest. The second muscle group won’t be tired from the first exercise so you can go nice and hard. Don’t worry, you’ll still be proper thrashed.

Bulk Meal Prep. Oh, the food angle. We had to get here eventually. If you’re trying to get anywhere near your goal and your schedule is crazy, you’ll still need to address the food thing. A great way to stay on your diet and save time is to make a lot of food and eat it over several meals. This is great for a couple of reasons. One is that the time it takes to make one meal’s worth of food and four meals worth of food is roughly the same. The only thing difference is the quantity of ingredients. However, you’re getting extra meals without spending extra time to make them. The second is that there’s next to zero thought involved. When it’s time to eat, you just grab your food and heat it up. If you’re really into saving time and energy, make things like burritos wrapped in aluminium foil. This means you don’t even have to worry about doing dishes. You just throw the foil out and you’re done. How’s that for low-effort?

Short, but intense, workouts. If you’re low on time, but you still want to get a workout that gives results, you’re going to have to push harder. This means that the days of scrolling through the internet or instafacetok between sets are dead and gone. You do a lift, rest for 30 seconds to a minute, then lift again. You’ll be breathing heavy. You’ll be sweating so much that children can swim in the puddle you’ve created. And your heartbeat will resemble the bass drum of a thrash metal band. This is good. This means you’re using your time wisely. Circuit training fits just right here.

An example would be to take five exercises and do 10 reps of them without resting. Once you’ve completed all the exercises, rest a minute, then repeat two more times. What exercises should you choose? Try a variation of a: squat, push (think dumbbell press,) hip hinge (a deadlift variation goes nicely here,) a pull (some kind of row,) and jump (squat jumps will do just fine.) You might also want to bring a bucket in case you have to empty your stomach. Wouldn’t want to damage the flooring.

Routine. By blocking off time to workout or cook in your schedule in advance, you’ve already made the commitment and if somebody asks if you can do something at that time, the decision is already made. You might worry that this could cause problems, but you’d be surprised. Most of the people I’ve worked with who have adopted this strategy noticed that after a few weeks, their coworkers get used to it. They know that Joe’s busy from 7-8am and that they can reach him after that. As a great mathematician once said, “Life finds a way.”

Eventually, you’ll get used to the routine and there won’t be any more thinking or prevaricating. You’ll know that it’s 7am and it’s time for fitness. Even if it’s only for half an hour, you’ll still do the damn thing and get the benefits. When we’re low on time, the aim is “good enough,” not perfection. Once things calm down a bit, you can worry about getting the full hour or whatever time you normally spend working out.

When your schedule gets busy, sometimes there have to be compromises. That doesn’t mean your whole fitness endeavor has to fall apart, though. Some of the above strategies can help keep you from falling off. Even if you’re not pressed for time, trying some of these tricks might help you get more from your training or spice things up a little. If you’ve been doing bro splits for a while, the switch to full-body training could be a welcome change. Give them a shot and watch your blood pressure drop. And if you’re already doing these things but are still low on time, check out next week’s article where I tell you a few things you probably don’t want to hear.