If you’ve read any of my blogs over in baby or read any of my posts in the forums, you know I don’t really have time to exercise. I don’t even know anyone who is busier than I am. I can’t say that I’m really as in shape as I’d like to be but I have found a way to sneak in some exercise here and there.
My trick is to do exercises in small increments. I can’t get in a full 30 minutes of working out. . .but I can always get at least 10 minutes of walking in. I don’t really know that 10 minutes of walking per day is going to cause you to lose weight, but if you didn’t walk yesterday or the day before, 10 minutes today is not such a bad goal. Likewise, I’ve used a similar strategy to get in some strength training. I do just a little bit at a time and figure it’s better than nothing.
I first decided that doing a small amount of strength training was better than nothing, when I realized that muscle burns more calories than fat. This is really a great concept and once you’ve mastered the thinking and understand how it works–I can almost promise you you’ll be more motivated to sneak in a little exercise here and there.
The Basics
Let’s say that you exercise and you’re able to replace one of those pounds of fat that’s currently hanging off your back side with one pound of muscle. You still weight the same–there’s no change there because you’ve essentially exchanged fat for muscle in the amount of one pound. That one pound of newly acquired muscle, however, is very effective. It burns a whole 50 calories per day for doing nothing. That’s right, just by sitting around with one extra pound of muscle and one less pound of fat, you burn 50 calories.
Except no one sits around all day, unless of course you’re sick. So you can assume that carrying around your extra pound of muscle is burning more calories than you ever did when you were carrying around fat in it’s place.
Back to Strength Training
While I certainly won’t be able to run a marathon very soon, nor will I win a weight lifting competition, my goal is simple: increase my muscles. In so doing, I will burn more calories without having to spend hours at the gym. Burning more calories will lead to greater weight loss, especially if I am careful about what I eat. So go ahead. . .give it a try. Try doing just 5 minutes for exercising and see if you don’t see a few results in a month.
For other excellent articles on strength training, go see Heather Long in Fitness!