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Health & Fitness

Executive Exercise: Fitness in One Hour/Week

Personal Trainer Bill DeSimone describes how much time you actually need for exercise. Hint: not as much as you might think.

     You know there are benefits to regular exercise.  But for many busy executives, another week goes by that you can’t fit a workout in, and your muscle tone gets a little softer, your waistline a little larger, your back a little stiffer.  The workout you may have done in college or when you had fewer responsibilities, you may not have time for now. And even you did, your back, shoulders, and knees might not be able to handle it. 

     You also didn’t have to worry about what you ate when you were younger. Now, though…

     The magazines, the infomercials, the reality shows all give the impression that the only way to get in shape is to completely overturn your life, and devote hours each day to your own exercise and diet.  So you’re stuck between knowing that you need to get regular exercise, and the time and maybe physical constraints of your life as it is right now.

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     Can you fit one or two, thirty minute workouts into your week?  Maybe a Tuesday morning at 7 AM?  A Thursday night at 6 PM? A Saturday morning at 9 AM?  If you knew the time your workout started, and the time it ended, could you fit 1 or 2 of them into your week, and then get back to the rest of your action items and meetings?

    Then you have enough time to get all the benefits you need from exercise.

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    To be clear: you may not be running a marathon on this schedule, or winning MMA competitions.  Competitive training is a different animal, and for that, you probably do have to devote much more time to training.  But if your career is anything but “competitive athlete”, a regular session or two each week works.  Especially if you’re on a streak of zero sessions each week. 

    Another caveat: if weight loss is a goal, you have to address your eating habits.  The calorie equation is overwhelmingly in favor of not eating them in the first place, but exercise-not excessive exercise, but regular exercise- does play a role.

     If you haven’t worked out in awhile: progression is key.  Develop the habit first before trying to set records.  Don’t worry about body composition or VO2 Max or how much you can lift…yet.  Your first few workouts will be light as you learn the exercises and chip the rust off, but you will be building the habit and gradually getting in better shape.

     If you’ve been working out, and have to manage it differently, because of time or injury: prepare to work out more precisely.  No throwing weights, no dropping weights, no sprinting til you puke.  You don’t want to spend hours after the workout recovering from the workout.  You’ll still work hard, but under more control, because fewer things are more counterproductive than getting hurt exercising.

     Whether you do one or two sessions each week depends on what you do outside the session.  If you do nothing, you probably need to commit to two.  If you are active outside formal gym work (sports, martial arts, yoga, a physical job) one session works, as long as it truly is one each week and doesn't deteriorate into two per month.

     None of this works however, if it gets stuck in Planning.  You have to open the calendar and commit the time to yourself.  The clients who train prior to the work day tend to be the most consistent, because events of the day haven’t strayed yet.  They take care of themselves first, then get back to the schedule.  Or, people with a manageable end of the work day do it on the way home from work.  The fact of an appointment makes it easier to incorporate into the meetings and other commitments of the day.

     There's no doubt as to the benefits of regular exercise. The issue is actually fitting it in, as you get caught up in other responsibilities.   Different things are right for different times in life; this might be the time for you to try the precise, half hour workout.

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