In our busy lives, workouts often fall to the bottom of the time priority scale. When classes are averaging 90 minutes, but you have 30 minutes between work and picking up the kids, what does one do? Is it worth it to make it to the gym when you only have 30 minutes?

 

Turns out that your short time frame is no longer an excuse for skipping the gym. When time is limited, intensity is your friend. Increase intensity in shorter workouts to make your gym time burn more calories by getting your heart rate up higher. At four to five times a week, a shorter but more high intensity workout will also help release the stress hormone cortisol. This hormone holds on to fat, thus making weight loss frustrating.

 

To make short workouts worth it, try high intensity interval training. For a HIIT workout, go hard at 85% of your target heart rate by pushing yourself in a short, intense anaerobic exercise like high knees, butt kicks, or even mountain climbers. Follow this with a lower-intensity recovery period like slow jogging in place. Keep this circuit up for the recommended 30 minutes and you have the perfect short but intense workout. A HIIT workout can also work with circuit-training doing short bursts of exercises that focus on resistance training. A Manhattan personal trainer can help guide you through specific workouts that fight your frustration areas.

 

Cardiovascular workouts can be fit into the weekly half-hour schedule as well, though HIIT and strength or resistance training should take precedence. The goal is to workout about 5 days a week, but never more than two hours maximum at a time. Ask for a personal trainer in Manhattan to guide you through your first rounds of high intensity interval training sessions. Find one near you by searching for Manhattan personal trainers.