Micro Workouts - what are they?

Micro Workouts

What are micro workouts? Not everyone has an hour or even 30 minutes to spend at the gym AND if you take into account the physical act of getting to and from the gym, often these times can double. What if you could get the benefits of working out for an hour in 5 minutes (or less!) – this is the basis of micro workouts. Doing 5 minute “bursts” of exercise during the day at a time, and a place, to suit you!

Micro workouts require that you train with MAXIMUM intensity for a short burst. A good example of a micro workout is Tabata – but it isn’t the only one. Tabata is backed by a ton of University backed science and shows that training for 4 minutes can be more effective than training for 60!! The basis of Tabata is that you pick an exercise, or series of exercises and go “all out” using great form for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds then do a further 7 “sets”. As an example, if you are at work, on your lunch break, find a small space, then run on the spot, or do burpees as fast as you can for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds then run on the spot/burpees for another 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds and so one. Do 8 total sets! This lasts 4 minutes. To work you MUST do this as hard/fast as you can, without sacrificing form.

This is super effective and not only do you burn calories while doing the exercise you also continue to burn calories AFTER you have finished!

This is only 4 minutes! You could do 4 minutes in the morning before you go to work.4 minutes in your morning break, 4 minutes at lunch, 4 minutes in your afternoon break or 4 minutes when you get home at night. If you did them all this would be 20 minutes of High Intensity Exercise done without going to the gym.

By spreading out the exercise you actually BURN MORE CALORIES than just doing 1 x 20 minute session, due to the AFTERBURN effect. The great thing is though that you don’t have to do this every day! For maximum benefits all you need to do is to do 2 or 3 (depending on your lifestyle) 16- 20 minute (4 or 5 x 4 minute bursts), each week and then do just 1 or 2 x 4 minute burst on the other days. This keeps your calories burning high and helps your body to shape/tone up fast.

Tabata is just one form of micro workout – there are many others and it might be that one of the others is best suited to you. It might be that you/your lifestyle is better suited to Isometrics (see a blog post coming soon) or your micro workout might be timed eccentrics (again on a blog post coming soon) or one of several other micro workout exercise protocols. Because everyone is different everyone, to get maximal benefits, requires a different type of micro workout.

Why not get a Micro Workout Program designed specifically for you?

Customised Micro Workout Program