Healthy Lifestyle Alternatives

Archive for February, 2012

by Brandon Serna

Let’s face it. Exercising takes a lot of time and in the daily grind of work, school, and taking care of kids, time’s a luxury and some people just can’t afford to do tedious and long-winded exercises. Fortunately enough, there are a bevy of quick, efficient exercises that parents, students, and busy workers can do that won’t take longer than half an hour. You owe it to yourself to take care of your body. With these workouts, being short on time is no longer an excuse to not exercise.

Cardio Cardio exercises aren’t just for people who strive to run a marathon. If you push yourself you can squeeze in a fulfilling cardio workout in just 20 minutes. With fast cardio workouts, the goal is to get your heart rate up ashigh as possible and to sustain that rate for as long as you can. Some cardio exercises you can try in your spare time include running at your preferred pace, brisk walking, cycling, jumping jacks, jumping rope, and kickboxing. As you can see, you don’t need to pigeonhole yourself into a certain type of exercise – pick whichever on you like best or mix and match to keep it interesting.

Strength Training
A proper exercise regimen will combine cardio with strength training. Strength training builds muscle mass. Strength training in 10 to 20 minutes a day can be easy but you have to be vigilant in including all your muscle groups so that you do not risk injury or let some muscles in one group atrophy over time. You don’t have to lift heavy weights and train to the point of pain in your quick strength training stints. You also don’t need fancy equipment to do strength training exercises like squats, lunges, pushups, barbell curls, and ab crunches. For starters, pick eight to 10 exercises and do each one continuously for a minute or when you feel you can’t do any more, whichever comes first.

Why Not Both?

 When you have only a short period of time to exercise, water can be your best friend. You can easily combine some cardio with strength training by swimming. When swimming laps you are forced to use your entire body. For a less extreme workout that can still incorporate both exercises is aquatic therapy. The water not only helps to relax your muscles and soothe your joints, but also provides a great source of resistance much like weights.

-This article was provided by Brandon Serna on behalf of HydroWorx

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