What if I told you that if you don’t have time to take a 45 minute exercise class, you could still reap the benefits of that class by simply moving at full power for three 60-second intervals, each followed by moving at slow power for three minutes. Full-powered exercises include cycling, swimming, sprinting, fast jumping jacks, high-knee thrusts. Slower exercises are walking and stretching. Knowing this, would you still make an excuse? Of course not. Everyone has 12 minutes a day to move. This exercise program is based on the work of Martin Gibala, a professor of kinesiology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.
Always check with a doctor before you start any new fitness challenge, especially this one. And you may or may not need the entire three-minute slow-down following pushes. Start with the three minutes at first. If you find that your heartrate is back to its resting rate before the three minutes is up, you can shave the time in between sets.
Most people in metropolitan cities call boutique fitness classes their second homes. Fitness families are the new community drivers today. But what if you aren’t part of that community? How can you inject motivation into your life every morning if you don’t have the time for classes before summer hits? You can! The exercises described above and watching what you eat will ensure that you feel physically good. When you start to feel healthier and look better, you’ll be motivated to keep going.
I highly recommend cleaning up your diet now, so that by the time the Fourth of July rolls around, you are feeling tight and light in that new summer wardrobe, and are ready to walk down to that shoreline with confidence and grace. Losing body fat doesn’t have to be daunting, in fact exercise can be fun and eating well can still be delicious.
By cutting out little things like added sugar, bread with dinner, fried foods, candy, ice cream — things like that — you’ll notice a significant change in your waistline.
My 32 years in the health and wellness field informs my belief that anyone at any age can get into the best shape of their life if they want to. You have to have the desire and will to feel better than you’ve ever felt. I write about this in my book Two Turns From Zero, available from Amazon.
Decide now, before you finish this article, why you need to be in better shape. Once you decide, I want you to download four songs that you can exercise to three times a week. Today can be the day you start to exercise and clean up how you eat. And don’t use the word “diet”; you’re not on a diet, you’re on a mission!
If you have time for a class and want to be part of our fitness family, we’d love to welcome you to SoulCycle. Our newly renovated Barn in Bridgehampton is gorgeous.
Stacey Griffith
