Working out with little time to spare - what makes most sense?

Thirith · January 2015

In my current job I don't have all that much time when I get home in the evening, but I'd like to work out at least a bit every second day or so. I try to spend 45-60 minutes on the exercise bike on Fridays and Sundays and I generally do crunches and pushups almost every evening, but I'd like to fit something in e.g. on Mondays and Wednesdays.

With half an hour to spare on those evenings, what kind of workout would make sense? Unfortunately I tend to sweat profusely pretty quickly, so half an hour on the bike would mean I'd have to have another 15-20 minutes to stop sweating before I could take a shower, because otherwise I just go back to transpiring heavily immediately after the shower.

Apart from the bike, I've got small weights and a pull-up bar to work with.

P.S.: I thought there was a Fitness thread in D&D, but I haven't been able to track one down that's current.

Noquar · January 2015

Maybe a program like T25? Also it might not be a bad idea to turn the water temp down when you shower to help give your body assistance in cooling down a little quicker.

Thirith · January 2015

Never heard of T25. Is it good? The shower thing helps a bit, by the way, but not quite enough, unfortunately. For some reason I'm just Mr Niagara Falls the moment I exert myself. :-/

Noquar · January 2015

focus T25 is a workout program - comes in a DVD wallet. I've been using it for a few weeks, and so far it's been working well for me. It's done by Shaun T - the guy who does the INSANITY workout. It has a calendar that tells you which workout to do on which day and keeps it pretty high intensity for those 25 minutes. Most things *i've* seen are pretty positive on it.

hsu · January 2015

If you can do 100 pushups and 40 pullups everyday, you'll get strong, and look it, within a year.

That's pretty much my morning routine, whilst wearing a 40lb weight vest.

Lots of people swing kettle bells as part of their home workout too.

BlindZenDriver · January 2015

I think the others have some good suggestions already, but maybe you could make some of your commuter time become exercise time as well?

That of course depends on the exact transport and job situation, but fx. I have something like 6 miles to work and the transport time is pretty much the same regardless if I drive(rush hour), ride my bike or take a train combined with a 1½ mile of walking so I mix and match depending on needs and what the weather allows. Maybe you can do something similar.

When I ride my bike some days I'll make the ride home longer and also really push it, since I'm already on the bike it's more miles with little time spend. I know people that does the same only running.

Thirith · January 2015

Thanks to all of you for the tips.

I'm nowhere near able to do 100 pushups and 40 pullups every morning, but I can definitely work on that. It's a bit too focused on muscles (and upper body at that), but I definitely could do with more muscle strength in my arms and back - especially the latter, since I've had problems with a herniated disk years ago and I've been told that the best way to protect my back is to build up musculature.

I try to walk reasonable amounts every day, although it's more one day, less the next. Not too keen on biking, mainly because I can't take a shower at work and I would definitely work up a sweat on the way there.

Anyway, good tips and some stuff I can definitely use. Keep 'em coming!

hsu · January 2015

Home leg exercises, that don't require too much gear: swinging kettle bells (a whole body exercise), squats/lunges while holding weights, and jump boxes (you jump up onto boxes).

I'm a stand up desk guy, both at work and at home, on his feet all the time, so I've been skipping legs for my home workout.

Artereis · January 2015

Starting out, this routine felt pretty good.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/

Kyougu · January 2015

The name escapes me, but a couple of friends do workouts from youtube channels that run 20-40 minutes. Look into those?

I also recommend DDP Yoga. Most of the workouts are also 25-60 minutes long (most around 30 minutes) and you can focus on core, strenght, legs, etc.

Donovan Puppyfucker · January 2015

Have you got room for a power cage somewhere in your house?

Starting Strength doesn't require a huge amount of time, and you will get strong if you follow the program for a while...

Quid · January 2015

I'm a big fan of boxing drills. There are various tutorials on youtube though a lot of gyms offer a 30 day trial that would show you the basics too. I find them to be a lot more engaging than most other cardio and they work well with small weights too as you get stronger.

Thirith · January 2015

I assume boxing drills need some equipment, right? I've got the exercise bike in the bedroom, but between it and my gaming PC my wife already thinks I'm hogging the bedroom all to myself, so more equipment is not likely to happen.

Djeet · January 2015

IMO, the best bang for your buck time-wise when exercising is a combination of HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) for endurance training and a small number of big compound lifts (like the starting strength program). If you do the cycle then HIIT is like alternating going balls-to-the-wall 100% for 30-60 seconds and 30-60 seconds of a more moderate recovery rate. This will kick your ass in 15-20 minutes way more than slow cardio for 45-60 minutes. And by big compound lifts I mean just 5-6 exercises that engage multiple large muscle groups like: Bench press, overhead press, squat, deadlift, powerclean and pullups. You'd want a gym membership or your own weights, squat rack and bench though.

If you want to avoid the gym and equipment you could lookup bodyweight exercise routines (google "prison exercise routines or programs"). You could supplement with some dumbbells or freeweights and a pullup bar.

Boxers spend a lot of time conditioning: jumping rope, running, shadow boxing. If you're just doing this to exercise that's good enough. You don't need a heavy bag, a speed bag, or a sparring partner unless you want to you know ... box.

Fireflash · January 2015

Following the HIIT idea, you can do a Tabata with pretty much any movement you want to improve.

A Tabata lasts 4 minutes. 8 rounds of: 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds rest.

The idea is to do as many reps as you can (with proper form) during each 20 second segment, giving you only a very little time to rest between each round.

You can even string a few of em in a row without stopping. Like setting your timer for 8 minutes and doing 8 rounds of pushups then 8 rounds of sit ups.

Or if at first you find that after 4 rounds you can barely do a single pushup you can instead alternate between 2 movements. 1 round push up, 1 round sit up, 1 round push up, etc.

No need to use this method all the time but they're a fun challenge and easy to keep track of your scores to try and beat them!

oldsak · January 2015

Thirith wrote: »

Unfortunately I tend to sweat profusely pretty quickly, so half an hour on the bike would mean I'd have to have another 15-20 minutes to stop sweating before I could take a shower, because otherwise I just go back to transpiring heavily immediately after the shower.

Do you take a hot or a cold shower? Taking a cold shower after I exercise does a pretty good job of cooling me down and stopping my sweat, though maybe I just don't sweat as much as you.

I came in here specifically to suggest an exercise bike, but it seems like you've already got that covered. Have you considered exercising in the morning before work? I feel like I spend less time overall if I roll out of bed and onto the exercise bike and then shower as part of my regular morning routine.

Thirith · January 2015

That Tabata thing sounds intriguing! Definitely something I'll be checking out, as well as HIIT. Generally I do badly with high-intensity stuff - I'm a bit overweight and have never been particularly fit, and with my current job I simply have less time to work out. Oh, for my last job, when I was employed although there wasn't really anything for me to do, and I could pretty much come and leave whenever I wanted to...

Add to this that I'll be hitting 40 this year.

There are many good suggestions here (e.g. exercising in the morning), though some of them aren't possible with the way we've got things set up at the moment. My bike's in our bedroom, and I doubt my wife would enjoy waking up to the sound of me huffing and puffing and the air in the bedroom getting more and more stale... We're in a rented flat, so we don't have all that much space. I could consider putting the bike outside once it gets warmer and biking on the balcony, listening to stuff on my iPhone rather than watching something on the computer.

Quid · January 2015

Thirith wrote: »

I assume boxing drills need some equipment, right? I've got the exercise bike in the bedroom, but between it and my gaming PC my wife already thinks I'm hogging the bedroom all to myself, so more equipment is not likely to happen.

Newp! Shadow boxing is just lots of punching and moving around.

Thirith · January 2015

That sounds good - except I can already hear my wife laughing her ass off if she comes in and sees me punching the air. She has a keen awareness of my ridiculousness. :P

JohnnyCache · January 2015

If you're smashed for time, look for something you can do while working out. Treadmill/bike time is good email reading or other light desk work time. Also, sweating is good cardio, but even a light lunch walk where you don't break a sweat helps.

kaliyama · January 2015

Ultimately, if you want to lose weight and get in better shape you are going to have make exercise more of a priority than you currently do. I tend to have 60-70 hour work weeks. I have cut out video games and dating while I am getting back in shape and will deemphasize exercise when I'm at an equilibrium weight.

One thing you might consider is scheduling gym/exercise time with your wife, which lets you combine a date with fitness. I try to date distance runners for that reason.

hsu · January 2015

kaliyama wrote: »

... and will deemphasize exercise when I'm at an equilibrium weight.

Generally speaking, thinking like this is what causes people to yo yo, regaining their lost weight.
People who actually lose weight, and keep it off, they continue to exercise at a similar level, forever.
Let's say you get into a 30 min a day exercise routine, lose 20 lbs over a year, and then plateau at a stable weight.
Giving up any of this exercise will almost always cause you regain some of the lost weight.
You can trade one form of exercise for another, or change when you exercise, but once you've gotten your body used to 3.5 hours of exercise in a week, and if you don't put in those 3.5 hours every week, you'll gain weight.

Carpy · January 2015

hsu wrote: »

If you can do 100 pushups and 40 pullups everyday, you'll get strong, and look it, within a year.

That's pretty much my morning routine, whilst wearing a 40lb weight vest.

Lots of people swing kettle bells as part of their home workout too.

When I was in the Marines this was the basic routine we did. 50 pullups, 100 pushups, 100 dips split between box and parallel dips. Just cycled through each exercise until we hit the target number of reps. It was an easy, consistent way to get peoples strength up. Given your space limitations it would probably work well for you.

kaliyama · January 2015

hsu wrote: »

kaliyama wrote: »

... and will deemphasize exercise when I'm at an equilibrium weight.

Generally speaking, thinking like this is what causes people to yo yo, regaining their lost weight.
People who actually lose weight, and keep it off, they continue to exercise at a similar level, forever.
Let's say you get into a 30 min a day exercise routine, lose 20 lbs over a year, and then plateau at a stable weight.
Giving up any of this exercise will almost always cause you regain some of the lost weight.
You can trade one form of exercise for another, or change when you exercise, but once you've gotten your body used to 3.5 hours of exercise in a week, and if you don't put in those 3.5 hours every week, you'll gain weight.

you are 100% correct. I'll end up a little bigger as a result, but that's the trade-off I need to make career wise.

Thirith · January 2015

kaliyama wrote: »

Ultimately, if you want to lose weight and get in better shape you are going to have make exercise more of a priority than you currently do.

I think what I'll have to make more of a priority is eating less crap, and generally eating less (i.e. not eating out of habit as often but when I'm hungry). I'm not badly overweight, I'm not extremely unfit; it's mainly a question of getting a better balance.

Anyway, this weekend I'll finally have time to look at all the suggestions in this thread in earnest. And I've been pretty good this week about fitting in ~100 crunches and 3x33 pushups in the evening. Yay me!

Constrictor · January 2015

You can try the 7 minute workout routine daily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6etLKswjq8

Do this daily for a month and see where it takes you.

Thirith · January 2015

Thanks for the suggestion, Constrictor.

I'm now doing a bit of a combination of different suggestions. Quick additional question: what is likely to have more of an effect with exercises like planking that are about holding a position: 3-5 shorter reps, or one longer one?

Radiation · January 2015

If you are able to take slight spot breaks through out your day as well that may help? Like we had a thing going at my old shop to get to 100 reps of whatever you were weaker at between situps and pushups. It was military, so this stuff was more ingrained, but honestly if you can knock 10 out every hour throughout the day and then increase reps over time it should help with both strength and burning calories.

Thirith · January 2015

Oh, I'm doing 2-3x40 pushups and 100 crunches daily at the moment, so I'm not too worried about those kinds of exercises right now, thanks.

hsu · January 2015

I'm personally not a fan of crunches or situps. After all, do I really want bigger abs, a body part I'm trying to reduce in size? Plus, you naturally work out your abs by doing squats/dead lifts/burpees anyways. Heck even pullups use your abs, to keep your lower body still through the motion.

Madican · January 2015

I would say stop doing crunches, they put a lot of strain on your lower back, as in more likely to get herniated discs especially with that amount, and barely do anything for your core muscles.

Fireflash · January 2015

Yeah I don't think there's much of a point to crunches. Should do full sit ups and plank holds if you want to strengthen your core.

Thirith · January 2015

Thanks. I'd originally started doing crunches because I'd heard bad things about situps, namely that they're bad for your back, and that crunches were the more sensible option. I take it my information is outdated, then.

TheCanMan · January 2015

Both situps and crunches aren't great for your back while also not providing much benefit. If you really need to target your core (which isn't necessarily the case if you're doing other compound movements), get an ab wheel. Or even better would be to get a doorframe pullup bar (I've read really good reviews of this one and it's only $30)so you can start doing pullups and hanging leg raises.

Thirith · February 2015

I've got a pull-up bar, so I'll give those leg raises a try. I have to admit that I suck at regular pull-ups - I just about manage two. Will have to get back to doing several reps of those, though, and see if I can up the number.

WiseManTobes · February 2015

What kind of work do you do? I work 12 hr+ shifts 6-7 days a week, ( surrounded by terrible and tasty food to boot) so I just sorta began to over-emphasize all my work, into a weird cross yoga/tai chi/mini weight reps thru out the entire entire shift type deal, and it's been helping at least keep things at bay since no gym time.

Probably not as effective with a desk job, but also doesn't have to be a labor intensive job either.

Thirith · February 2015

Yeah, a desk job it is, though your idea is a good one.

Anyway, I've got lots of good tips from this thread - though since I came down with a killer flu, I've been slacking off since last week. Right now the thought of even a single squat brings tears to my eyes...

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