The 30 Minute Workout - Fact Or Fiction

As a working mom, the biggest excuse for not exercising is time. I have no time to complete an hour workout. After work, I begin my second shift at home with my kids and by the time bedtime rolls around, I can't get to bed fast enough.

What if being too busy to work out was no longer an excuse? What if you could get an effective workout in 30 minutes a day? Think about it: 30 minutes. That's just half an episode of Gray's Anatomy. A 30-minute workout is possible and a very practical solution to any working mother. And an effective 30-minute workout is no pipe dream, says personal trainer Jonathan Ross."Everyone thinks that if they don't have an hour, than it's not worth it," says Ross, owner of Aion Fitness in Bowie, Md. "If you need an hour, think about how you feel at 59 minutes and 59 seconds. Then wait a second. Does something magical happen at 60 minutes?"The answer, of course, is "no"."Our bodies are responsive to exercise on a continuum, not on a time-based threshold," says Ross, the American Council on Exercise's 2006 Personal Trainer of the Year. "An effective workout can be had in any amount of time, given how you manipulate the variables of the workout."Fitness expert Petra Kolber agrees. The leaders in fitness seem to indicate that doing something is better than doing nothing. Thirty minutes is a realistic time frame for us to take out of our day to take care of ourselves.

What Makes Up a 30-Minute Workout? To maximize the benefits, your 30-minute workout should consist of both resistance training and cardiovascular training. Ross likes to make a workout two-thirds resistance training and one-third cardiovascular training. In a 30-minute workout, that's 20 minutes of resistance and 10 minutes of cardio. Yes, just 10 minutes. But 10 strong minutes, he says."People don't need more time, they just need more intensity," he says. "The body responds more to intensity than it does to the duration of a workout."

The 30-minute workout is definitely FACT. For working mothers everywhere, this is very good news. Gone are the days of hauling your stuff to the gym to be in time for the one hour exercise class. What if you could still get a great workout, with great results in half the time and in the comfort of your own home (or backyard)? It would save time, a working mothers most valuable possession. Now that you know it is possible, it is time to start budgeting this workout into your every day. Put it on your calendar for work so it becomes a priority. Get up early, do a workout during lunch, or save it for the evening. No matter what time of day you do it, make exercise a priority!