Healthy Living: Quick Fix Exercise Tips

Today's post is from contributor - Natasha Gelder. Natasha is a full time Literature student based in Leeds who is juggling the quests for higher education, money and rock hard abs. She believes exercising is a vital part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle and should not be seen as a chore.

It takes a lot of hard work and dedication for someone to get into good physical shape and the feeling of success that comes with it truly is amazing. You’ve got the body you have always wanted and now you can start enjoying life to the full, but you still need to take the time to maintain your new shape once you have finally achieved it, something which can be incredibly time consuming.

It is easy to slip back into old habits when you are always on the go; often it is easier to grab fast food when you’re busy rather than preparing your lunch in advance. You may also find yourself struggling to find the time to fit in a visit to the gym, meaning that pretty soon you will be struggling to keep your new streamlined shape and you may find that those pounds start to creep back on.

If you do have an hour or so spare for a trip to the gym, then for an effective workout that does not take up too much time do a 5 minute warm up, then do 10 minutes of interval training on any piece of cardiovascular equipment. For example, on a treadmill you would do 1 minute of speed walking and then 1 minute of sprinting 5 times, and on a rowing machine, you would do 1 minute of rowing at a leisurely pace followed by 1 minute of rowing for as fast as you can 5 times. After this, do 40 minutes of weight training, followed by another 10 minutes of interval training on any piece of cardiovascular equipment and finish with your cool down. This is an effective workout as interval training increases your fitness levels as the short bursts of high intensity exercise increase your heart rate. The weight training will keep you toned and ensure you burn a vast amount of calories during your workout.

If you find that you do not have time for the gym and can only spare 20 minutes then rather than going for a jog, do some more interval training. Twenty minutes of walking for a minute and then sprinting for a minute is a much more effective workout than running at the same pace for a set amount of time. To make this even more effective why not try adding light ankle or wrist weights to your workouts.

If you tell yourself you do not have time for the gym yet somehow manage to find the time to watch Coronation Street on a night, you need to get on the floor whilst it is on and work on your abdominals. Crunches, Planks and Russian Twists can all be done whilst you are catching up on your favourite television programmes.

If you really are busy and cannot find time to workout then make sure that you take the stairs everywhere, escalators and lifts are now banned, plus you need to start walking to the shop when you run out of milk rather than driving. You also need to learn how to multi-task On a morning and on a night when you are brushing your teeth do some squats; whilst you are waiting for the kettle to boil do some lunges. You may only be moving for a couple of minutes here and there but they all add up and they are better than nothing.

Natasha Gelder, full time Literature student based in Leeds who is juggling the quests for higher education, money and rock hard abs

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