Making the Most of Quickie Training

Organize these quickies in whatever way works best for you. The following suggestions give you several ideas on how to fit quickie workouts into your lifestyle.

• Emergency total body conditioning: Normally, you do a 25-minute weight training workout 3 days a week. Imagine a time when your schedule is overloaded and you can’t possibly follow your normal workout routine. Instead of doing nothing, use one of the total body workouts to keep your muscles stimulated.
• Add on to your cardio workout: Let’s say you weight train two days a week and hit the gym for cardio on three days a week. When you can’t make it for your dedicated weight training sessions, add on a 15- or 10-minute quickie workout on the weight machines, after you finish your cardio-training.
• Divide your workout throughout the day: Sometimes it’s simply impossible to find more than a few spare minutes. Instead of giving up on strength training entirely, fit in a quickie workout in the morning and in the afternoon. You might even want to add on another session at night. Three 10- or 15-minute workouts easily add up to 30 or 45 minutes of training.
• Do a daily quickie: Maybe all you ever have time for during the week is a quickie workout. Until your life settles down and you find more time, schedule a daily quickie workout. Each day target either the upper or lower body and the core. Take Friday off. On Saturday, fit in one thorough total body workout and rest on Sunday.