The 20 Minute Workout

Time Efficient Fitness
The Concept

If you are pushed for time a 20 minute workout can be a great way of boosting metabolic rate, burning more fat and becoming more toned!

Our modern day lifestyles seem to be getting busier, more demanding, more stressful and often, finding time to make room for any kind of fitness program tends to be the last thing on anyone’s mind!

Let’s face it, when the heat is on, more often than not, it's our fitness and wellbeing practices that get ditched first!

How many times do you get in late from work, after a hard day, and all you want to do is sit down, have a meal and relax with a glass of wine?

You may think to yourself, "I'll just have dinner, and go to the gym a bit later"

Then what happens?

Well my guess is that by the time you have relaxed for an hour or so, any notion of going to the gym, out for a run or to the local aerobics class drifts right out of the window!

We have all done it at some point.

But what happens if this is more the norm than the exception?

Well, if you watch the news or read the papers you will know.

Increasing incidents of obesity, cancer, heart disease, back pain, diabetes, stress and other related conditions are all brought about due to the life styles we lead.

So what are you going to do about it?

Allow yourself to follow in so many others footsteps and tread the road to illness?

How about saying no, and looking for ways of striking that balance that leads to a healthier lifestyle, with reduced risk of illness and disease?

Fear not, its not all doom and gloom though!

The idea of having to spend hours down at the gym lifting weights, loosing the will to live on a cardiovascular machine, or moving in time to everyone else in an exercise class is becoming out dated.

Sure they have their place, but if time is of a premium, it's better to get in some kind of workout than not, as any demanding physical activity can have extremely worthwhile benefits - which is where my 20 minute workout comes in.

I know what your thinking........

"Come on Matt, a 20 minute workout? Surely this isn’t long enough?"

Recent guidelines published by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) suggest that cardiovascular fitness, fat loss and muscle gain can all be achieved through engaging in moderate physical activity 3 - 5 times weekly, for 20 to 60 minutes per session.

They also stipulated that the exercise intensity must be sufficient to elicit a heart rate of at least 55% of your maximum (which is easily calculated) and that some provision is made for muscular strength and flexibility training.

So to summarize, you should primarily be looking after cardiovascular fitness, flexibility and muscular strength training.

Now this is where it gets interesting.

There are ways and means of ticking all of these fitness boxes, within a time efficient 20 minute workout!

One of the best bits is you dont have to leave your home, or go to the gym!!

So, not only have you saved time which would normally be spent travelling to the gym, but also saved money on those expensive gym and class fee's!

Find Out More About High Intensity Training Here

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