Time To Exercise

Finding time in your busy day to exercise can be difficult. Weve asked the experts for their tips on workouts and routines you can do even in the smallest amount of time.

- Charmaine Yabsley

Even with the best of intentions, sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day to fit in a full workout, jog or yoga class. A study by Australian National University found that one in five people aged between 25 and 54 don’t have time to exercise. Lead researcher Dr Lyndall Strazdins, from ANU’s Research School of Population Health, said being time-poor is a real phenomenon and “not just a problem of people’s minds”.

The good news is that short workouts are better than nothing. Rather than miss a workout altogether — and feel guilty about it — use what time you do have, even if it’s while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil, at the traffic lights or at work. It seems that scientists agree these shorter workouts can be just as beneficial as longer workouts for your overall health.

A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that doing short bursts of exercise is just as effective as longer workouts. “There’s no doubt that something is better than nothing,” agrees Michael Cunico, national fitness manager for Fitness First Australia. Cunico says there are always pockets of time available to you to move throughout the day; you just need to find the opportunities. “It’s important to have strategies to ensure you get moving, outside of structured exercise such as a class or weights session.”

To counteract his own long hours, Cunico walks to the farthest coffee shop from his office. “It stretches my legs and clears my head, and means that I’ve moved my body, even if it’s not for a huge amount of time,” he says. What’s important, stresses Cunico, is to have a strategy for the times when you’re not doing structured exercise so you’re still getting some movement into your day.