Everybody wants to be fit, but let’s face it; making a commitment to an exercise program can be a mega time-zapper. The good news is, if you learn to exercise smarter you can still get amazing results in a very short amount of time. If you commit to a well-designed circuit-style workout that overloads all of your major muscles, works large muscle groups with compound movements and keeps your heart rate elevated the entire time then you can get fit, lean and strong exercising just 30 minutes, three days a week.
If weight loss is a concern, as long as you keep moving quickly from one exercise to the next to keep your heart rate elevated you don’t need to run a single lap or put in any extra cardio time either. That’s because hormonal changes occur with circuit-style resistance exercises that create a fat-burning environment (1). For the best weight loss results you will of course also need to watch what you eat. A “clean cuisine” style diet is your best bet for healthy, long-term weight loss.
As for picking the best exercises, I prefer a “full fitness fusion” approach that fuses a variety of exercise disciplines and focuses on full body moves rather than isolation exercises. If you want to get fit fast you will get much better quicker results doing compound exercises like push-ups as opposed to an isolation exercise like biceps curls. As with anything, the smarter you work the less time you need to spend and the better your results will be.
Author Ivy Larson is a nutrition, fitness and wellness expert. She is the founder of the Clean Cuisine product line, author of Clean Cuisine: An 8-Week Anti-Inflammatory Nutrition Program that Will Change the Way You Age, Look & Feel and the creator of Full Fitness Fusion: The 30 Minute Solution workout DVD. Find her at Cleancuisineandmore.com and on Twitter @clean_cuisine.
Also Read:
The Most Important Anti-Inflammatory Diet You Can Start Today
Reducing Inflammation for Heart Health
The Benefits of Omega-6 and Omega-3 Fatty Acids
source: 1.“Adipose Tissue Lipolysis Is Unregulated in Lean and Obese Men During Acute Resistance,” Diabetes Care 31, no. 7 (2024): 1397-99