As a trainer and health coach, my job is to help my clients achieve their goals in the midst of their busy lives. I work exclusively with women, helping them to find time to train consistently among their careers, social calendars, parenting and home responsibilities. More often than not, even with dual-income families, these women tend to be the primary-care givers and CEO's of their homes. Which means, stuff pops up, Mom to the rescue...at the expense of herself.
I am a wife, mom, business owner and former corporate career woman so I know the challenge that these time-starved women have - they want to workout consistently but simply can't find the time. It can often feel like an uphill battle to carve out space in our calendar for our workouts and even when we do, that one little hiccup like a sick child or a new project at work, even a home project gone wrong, can cause that space to fill and we're left pushing off our goals.
This is why time and time again, I recommend efficient exercise.
In fact, efficient exercise is what my 6-Weeks to a Fat-Loss Lifestyle for Busy Women program is built on. Six weeks of short, intense workouts to get the maximum results in the least amount of time. I believe so strongly in this form of training that for the past 5 years it's almost exclusively what I have used in my own fitness. I was introduced to this type of training by the team at Metabolic Effect. For years, I worked out with their DVD's and later, became inspired to design my own metabolic workouts.
My clients often tell me that they just don't get it, they signed up for an expensive trainer, they committed to an annual membership at a high-end gym, but they still couldn't remain accountable to their workouts. They did great the first few weeks, they never missed a session. But then, slowly but surely, things came up...they missed one, then two, then three sessions a week. Then, eating healthy started to wane and back in the rut they went. And so it goes with yo-yo dieting.
Has this happened to you? You see that monthly gym membership fee coming out of your account and wonder when the hell you'll be back? What if you could miss the gym, maybe never even touch a piece of equipment but still stay on track to reaching your goals?
Enter metabolic circuits.
Metabolic conditioning is the most efficient form of exercise for those interested in fat-loss - especially those with demanding lives who struggle to maintain consistency. Because metabolic circuits often utilize full-body multiple joint, multiple muscle group exercises like a squat press or a burpees, you get the biggest bang for your buck with the amount of time put in. Plus, you send your body into fat-burning mode far more effectively with the release of testosterone and human growth hormone in addition to the cortisol release that occurs from most exercise.
But, let's take this one step further.
--->Warning: I'm about to tell you that you're never really off the hook for being able to fit in a workout.
It's one thing to know the best way to workout for maximum results but another to actually fit it in your crazy life.
While the metabolic circuits that I've done for years using dumbbells (and even the Lift Weights Faster circuits I've gleaned from Jen Sinkler's fabulous program using a whole host of gym equipment) are amazing, it's the on-the-fly bodyweight workouts I can think up in a few seconds that really do it for me when I'm really low on time. And I mean, I-have-5-more-minutes-until-dinner-is-done-cooking-and the-kids-are-finally-playing-quietly kind of 'on the fly'.
Bodyweight metabolic circuits are workouts that you can do in your living room, on a field near your kid's soccer game, in a parking lot between meetings, in your kitchen...you get the point. You can do them for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes. You choose your circuit of exercises (anywhere between 2-5), choose the # of reps per exercise, and you work your butt off intensely for how ever many rounds or minutes you've committed to, resting only when you need to. Simple as that. You don't need a spreadsheet, a plan, a DVD or iron in any form to do them.
See, one of the biggest reasons we don't get to our workout in, in the face of stress, is that we simply don't have the mental bandwidth to plan one.more.damn.thing! We just have to move and move intensely, for even just a few minutes in order to kick our mind and body into gear.
Some days, the best I can manage is two, 5-minute circuits and you know what? Bonus! I could have done nothing.
I am a wife, mom, business owner and former corporate career woman so I know the challenge that these time-starved women have - they want to workout consistently but simply can't find the time. It can often feel like an uphill battle to carve out space in our calendar for our workouts and even when we do, that one little hiccup like a sick child or a new project at work, even a home project gone wrong, can cause that space to fill and we're left pushing off our goals.
This is why time and time again, I recommend efficient exercise.
In fact, efficient exercise is what my 6-Weeks to a Fat-Loss Lifestyle for Busy Women program is built on. Six weeks of short, intense workouts to get the maximum results in the least amount of time. I believe so strongly in this form of training that for the past 5 years it's almost exclusively what I have used in my own fitness. I was introduced to this type of training by the team at Metabolic Effect. For years, I worked out with their DVD's and later, became inspired to design my own metabolic workouts.
My clients often tell me that they just don't get it, they signed up for an expensive trainer, they committed to an annual membership at a high-end gym, but they still couldn't remain accountable to their workouts. They did great the first few weeks, they never missed a session. But then, slowly but surely, things came up...they missed one, then two, then three sessions a week. Then, eating healthy started to wane and back in the rut they went. And so it goes with yo-yo dieting.
Has this happened to you? You see that monthly gym membership fee coming out of your account and wonder when the hell you'll be back? What if you could miss the gym, maybe never even touch a piece of equipment but still stay on track to reaching your goals?
Enter metabolic circuits.
Metabolic conditioning is the most efficient form of exercise for those interested in fat-loss - especially those with demanding lives who struggle to maintain consistency. Because metabolic circuits often utilize full-body multiple joint, multiple muscle group exercises like a squat press or a burpees, you get the biggest bang for your buck with the amount of time put in. Plus, you send your body into fat-burning mode far more effectively with the release of testosterone and human growth hormone in addition to the cortisol release that occurs from most exercise.
But, let's take this one step further.
--->Warning: I'm about to tell you that you're never really off the hook for being able to fit in a workout.
It's one thing to know the best way to workout for maximum results but another to actually fit it in your crazy life.
While the metabolic circuits that I've done for years using dumbbells (and even the Lift Weights Faster circuits I've gleaned from Jen Sinkler's fabulous program using a whole host of gym equipment) are amazing, it's the on-the-fly bodyweight workouts I can think up in a few seconds that really do it for me when I'm really low on time. And I mean, I-have-5-more-minutes-until-dinner-is-done-cooking-and the-kids-are-finally-playing-quietly kind of 'on the fly'.
Bodyweight metabolic circuits are workouts that you can do in your living room, on a field near your kid's soccer game, in a parking lot between meetings, in your kitchen...you get the point. You can do them for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes. You choose your circuit of exercises (anywhere between 2-5), choose the # of reps per exercise, and you work your butt off intensely for how ever many rounds or minutes you've committed to, resting only when you need to. Simple as that. You don't need a spreadsheet, a plan, a DVD or iron in any form to do them.
See, one of the biggest reasons we don't get to our workout in, in the face of stress, is that we simply don't have the mental bandwidth to plan one.more.damn.thing! We just have to move and move intensely, for even just a few minutes in order to kick our mind and body into gear.
Some days, the best I can manage is two, 5-minute circuits and you know what? Bonus! I could have done nothing.
Building your circuit.
Don't overthink it but consider mixing up movements so as not to over-stress one joint or muscle group. For example, chose squat jumps (primarily leg focused), followed by push-ups (chest, shoulder focus), then move onto a core exercise like plank or v-sits, followed by some hip thrusts to work the glutes. Do the same amount of reps per exercise, one exercise after the other, for as many rounds as you can in the given timeframe, resting only when you need to.
These are so versatile, in fact, that you can do them in a hotel room or even in your bathroom (see my recent FB post here where I talk about escaping from my kids to my bathroom for a quick fat-burning circuit!).
Get inspired! Find ways to move intensely in your busy schedule. If you're a mom and on the playground circuit like I am, make sure to look out for my playground workouts coming soon!
-Jess
PS - I regularly send out metabolic workouts to my inner circle. Enter your name here to get workouts right to your inbox! You'll get a bonus 7-Day Meal + Fitness Power-Up right away just for joining.
Don't overthink it but consider mixing up movements so as not to over-stress one joint or muscle group. For example, chose squat jumps (primarily leg focused), followed by push-ups (chest, shoulder focus), then move onto a core exercise like plank or v-sits, followed by some hip thrusts to work the glutes. Do the same amount of reps per exercise, one exercise after the other, for as many rounds as you can in the given timeframe, resting only when you need to.
These are so versatile, in fact, that you can do them in a hotel room or even in your bathroom (see my recent FB post here where I talk about escaping from my kids to my bathroom for a quick fat-burning circuit!).
Get inspired! Find ways to move intensely in your busy schedule. If you're a mom and on the playground circuit like I am, make sure to look out for my playground workouts coming soon!
-Jess
PS - I regularly send out metabolic workouts to my inner circle. Enter your name here to get workouts right to your inbox! You'll get a bonus 7-Day Meal + Fitness Power-Up right away just for joining.
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