Busy, busy, busy; we're all so busy. If you only have a limited amount of time to fit in exercise, make those sessions count! Your exercise intensity is more important then even your exercise duration or frequency. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, exercise intensity is the most important variable in maintaining or improving your fitness level.
So how can you ramp up your exercise sessions?
1. Interval training (Tip #38: FAST, SLOW, REPEAT)
2. Simply increase your speed
3. Do a tempo walk or run: Warm up by walking/running slowly for a few minutes. Walk or run the middle portion at a more intense speed. Cool down by walking/running slowly for a few minutes.
4. Hills! If you are outside, find a substantial hill and do hill repeats, by running up and jogging slowly down. Repeat 5-10 times. The same can be done with walking.
5. Start slow and gradually get faster. Start your walk/run at a relaxed/moderate pace, gradually get faster every 5 minutes or so.
Even if you can only afford to spare 20 minutes for exercise in a day, get the most bang for your buck by incorporating one of the above into your workout. You'll end up burning the same amount of calories you would have burned by just walking/running at a moderate pace for 30-45 minutes! Not only that, but these more intense workouts will help maintain and improve your fitness level. So come on, try it. You can spare 20 minutes, right?
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