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How to Exercise if You Only Have 30 Minutes to Workout

Looking to get in a lightening fast workout session? Only have 30 minutes and need to get in and out of the gym? Find out how to approach this scenario here.

Time is a hot commodity for many people. We live in a world where we’re constantly rushing around, trying to get things done. This often leaves very little time for ourselves and even less time for a workout session.

If you can carve out 30 minutes from your day to day routine though, you can get in a complete workout and see great improvements to both your physical fitness as well as your overall appearance.

Wondering how?

Let’s show you the steps you’ll want to take.

Circuit Train

First, consider a circuit training session. As far as time-efficient workouts go, this one simply can’t be beat. Move from one exercise to the next as quickly as you possibly can, taking as little downtime to rest.

Not only will this help increase the overall intensity of the workout, allowing you to burn more calories both during the session as well as for hours after its completed, but it’ll also help you get your cardiovascular fitness training in as well.

Go Compound

Next, when selecting your exercises, go compound as often as you can. This means movements like squats, deadlifts, bent over rows, the bench press, pull-ups, walking lunges, leg press, and so on.

These exercises are going to work more muscle fibers in any given second, thus allowing you to do more work in less time. Plus, they’re also going to be great for building strength as you’ll be able to lift more weight with each rep you do.

On top of that, they also produce the greatest metabolic effect in the body, so if weight loss is your goal, these should definitely be your go-to.

Reps For Time

Finally, the last thing you may want to do if you only have thirty minutes to workout is consider a reps for time set-up. Rather than doing a certain number of reps, resting, and then repeating, choose a time period—say one minute—and do as many reps as you can in that single minute.

If you have to rest at any point throughout that minute, do so, but pick back up as soon as possible once again. Then once that minute is over, move on to the next exercise and repeat.

This is a very fast and easy way to get a workout in and works excellent with the circuit training protocol noted above.

As you can see, you definitely do not need to skip going to the gym if you only have 30 minutes. You can get in a very effective workout session and start making progress towards your goals. If you’re consistent and can do 30 minutes 3-4 times per week, there is no reason you can’t be on your way to great results.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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