With break week falling during a holiday week it is sometimes more difficult to find time to workout and if you are traveling you may not have your usual equipment with you. So, I wanted to remind you that you don’t need much time or equipment to get some great benefits. In fact there has been a lot of attention in the media recently about what the shortest amount of time is that will give you the most bang for your buck – check out this link to the NY times that sites a study that indicates that 4 minutes is the magic number!
This is 4 minutes of high intensity cardio training, like TABATA or running stairs and while it doesn’t address the many of aspect of a complete fitness program
like strength training, flexibility, agility, balance, or recreation it is a good reminder that if you are short on time, space or equipment you can still get a good workout in 4 minutes! It gets your metabolism going too.
So, this break week try a couple of mini workouts.
After a brief warm up and some easy joint movements try either a single 4 minute effort or several 4 minute efforts with a rest between. Your effort should be 80-90% max – you should not be able to speak in full sentences while doing it. Below are a few ideas.
STAIRS – staying in a hotel? run or walk fast up the stairs for 4 minutes
or do this on one of the many Seattle stair cases.
HILLS – find a hill near where you are staying an ‘ charge ‘ up it for 4 minutes.
TABATA – set an interval timer for 20 secs on 10 secs rest, repeat 8 times
(you can get a free app on your phone called GYMBOSS interval timer)
do any cardio activity using this timing – examples- jump rope, jumping jacks, burpies, jump squats, mt climbers, step ups or a gym cardio machine.
For some examples of more complete workouts check out this link to a previous blog post.
Happy Holiday break week! Whatever workouts you do try to breathe deeply, keep a smile on your face and strive for good form.
ENJOY!
-Contributed by Trainer Stephanie
