'Sweat is just fats crying.’ But where do we begin
The conventional workouts
We all know that there is a multitude of benefits that comes with having an active lifestyle. However, it gets increasingly challenging for many of us to set aside time to exercise when we are juggling multiple commitments all at once: family, career, social life. And when we finally do get a moment to relax, it’s so much more tempting for us to choose to chill and catch up on our Netflix shows instead.
Although money can buy good healthcare, money cannot buy us good health. Hence, we need to have a vested interest in maintaining our health. Jogging and running are the world’s most popular and practiced sports activity because they are the simplest way to improve fitness and cost nothing to partake in. But you can get bored of it easily, if you run alone and you don’t enjoy it as a form of meditation. The good news is that there is now a myriad of workouts available. Let’s look at 4 such workouts, which are suitable for all fitness levels, and require as little as 10 mins. Yoga, HIIT and/or CrossFit, whichever suits you better.
Yoga
Many people think that yoga is a stretching exercise. But despite it not being a cardio exercise, yoga comes with the benefits of aerobic exercises. It helps builds muscles, strengthens bones, improves flexibility, and reduces common risks factors for heart diseases such as high blood pressure. In addition, you get all that without putting added stress on your joints unlike other types of workouts. What makes yoga even more appealing is that you can even do it at home by following a yoga video from YouTube. Of course, there are many types of yoga for all you aspiring yogis and yoginis to discover.
HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)
HIIT is an umbrella term for a variety of workouts that involve short bursts of powerful movements followed by regular short rest periods. The idea of HIIT is to push yourself to the limit within a short period of time, instead of doing moderate exercises such as steady state cardio like jogging or cycling over an extended period of time that lasts 30 mins or longer.
HIIT is much raved for its efficiency and efficacy because although the time spent for each workout is relatively short, studies have shown that its aerobic fitness improvement is significant with a 28% increase in anaerobic capacity. And if you perform the workout at maximum output, your body goes through a process called EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), which allows your body to continue burning calories for up to 16-24 hours after your workout! In addition, your body produces more epinephrine and HGH (human growth hormone) during a HIIT, and these chemicals have fat-burning capabilities. So overall, you’ll enjoy many benefits from a short workout.
Sample HIIT workout: Total 20 min workout
Tabata:
A subset of HIIT, Tabata was originally developed to train Olympic speed skaters. Instead of focusing on completing the said number of reps in the shortest time in a HIIT, a Tabata workout emphasizes on how many reps you can do within the said time limit. You can choose any exercise, be it static exercises (such as the above-mentioned), or a cardio exercise like sprinting or skipping.
Sample Tabata workout:
Total 4 min workout
Do a static/cardio exercise for 20secs
Rest for 10secs
Repeat 8 times
Of course you are free to do more than 1 session of Tabata in your workout. I usually do 3: Push-ups, Skipping, and Sit-ups, since it still only takes a quick 15 mins.
CrossFit
CrossFit is very different from other conventional exercises, as it does not specialize in a specific performance. For instance, weight lifting is mainly to improve muscular strength, sprinting is for speed training, and long-distance running is to build endurance. But CrossFit is a hybrid workout that combines different types of exercises that targets strength training, explosive plyometrics, speed training, power lifting, and building endurance. So if you prefer an exercise routine that is holistic and challenging, then you might find CrossFit to be perfect.
CrossFit WODs (workouts of the day) are varied, but there are themes that run through most of them. Here are 3 of the more popular types of WODs that can be modified into quick 20-minute workouts:
Our workout choices follow our lifestyle changes
Good physical health requires us to eat well and workout right amongst other things. Just as we ensure that our diet is practical, we need to consider the same for our exercise routine as well. For instance, if you are a new mom who is still nursing your newborn baby, going to a gym may not be your most preferred option. You might find a stay-home exercise routine to be more convenient.
On the other hand, if you enjoy being constantly challenged, mentally and physically, then practising yoga as your main form of workout may not suit you the most. You will probably find more intensive workouts such as HIIT and CrossFit, to be more enjoyable.
If you ever want general recommendations for what workouts will be right for you, feel free to contact Chloe as she has personal friends and instructors ranging from yoga teachers, crossfit coaches, and gym trainers.
Afterall, “the most important relationship, is the one you have with yourself.”
~Diane Von Furstenberg
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