Quick and Effective Workouts: Exercises You Can Do in 10 Minutes
Decisions are mentally exhausting.
You make decisions all day long. What to eat for dinner. How you’re going to proceed with information from a sales call. Endless decisions all demanding your energy.
It’s not wonder we all fail to exercise consistently.
With exercise, we’re also faced with an endless amount of decisions.
Do I do this workout from Six-Pack Abs? Or this other one from (insert any social media fitness influencer)? The person promoting their specific workout both look insanely fit. Both workouts must be effective.
Doing one means you can’t do the other. The “fear of missing out” ensues. You could do both, but you don’t have the time.
Pick one and just move on. This is the paradox of choice. Choices aren’t always a good thing. It can be quite unproductive to the mentally exhausted person who makes decisions all day.
If you do nothing else besides these five 10-minute workouts for the next year, you’ll be in a much better place than 80% of people.
Before we proceed, the underlying assumption is that we’re going to gradually increase our workout sessions from 10 minutes to longer sessions.
I’m basing this assumption off of the fact that most people have more time to exercise than they think. The 10-minute mark is just to get you mentally committed to the activity.
And it works.
Here are three workouts that will take you 10-minutes to complete. You’ve got 10 minutes to spare.
Workout 1
- Office-Friendly Workout Routine:
Warm-Up (1 minute): March in place
Exercise Circuit (8 minutes):
- 1 minute of Desk Push-Ups
- 1 minute of Chair Squats
- 1 minute of Seated Leg Raises
- 1 minute of Standing Calf Raises
- 1 minute of Tricep Dips (using a chair)
- 1 minute of Wall Sits
- 1 minute of Seated Torso Twists
- 1 minute of Desk Planks
Cool-Down (1 minute): Light stretching
Workout 2
2. Running/Jogging: Go as slow as you need to. Movement is the goal. Keep moving (jogging) for the entire duration.
Workout 3
3. Bodyweight Circuit
Warm-Up (1 minute): Arm circles and light jogging
Exercise Circuit (8 minutes):
- 1 minute of Squats
- 1 minute of Push-Ups
- 1 minute of Lunges (30 seconds each leg)
- 1 minute of Plank
- 1 minute of Bicycle Crunches
- 1 minute of Tricep Dips (using a chair)
Repeat Squats and Push-Ups for another 2 minutes
Cool-Down (1 minute): Light stretching
You’ve got more time than you think you have.
And when you realize how much more productive a healthier person is, good luck trying to stop exercising.
Stay healthy!
