Whoever is able to invent a method to eliminate sleep from our schedules will be one of the richest people to ever walk this Earth. There are never enough hours in the day; between work, family, friends, chores, and everything else that requires our attention, the time that would be used to workout often gets eaten up by life. Adding on the time it takes to get dressed in our workout clothes, warm-up, pick a virtual class (or drive to the gym), the clock ticks loudly as the million other things we could be doing tug at the back of our minds.
I'm no stranger to the time crunch, and even during quarantine was finding it hard to fit my workouts in their allotted parts of my days. Thankfully, I found a shortcut that I'm using all the time now. The answer?
AMRAP.
This stands for As Many Reps As Possible. It's a pretty simple concept; you can pick one exercise or a few (I generally do four or so during these workouts), pick how many you'll do of each thing, set a time amount, and then go. During the time allotted, there are no breaks. You do your set amount of each exercise, move onto the next, and repeat. And repeat. And repeat. The added bonus? You can do this all from the comfort of your home.
I've done this with things as simple as jumping jacks, crunches, and plank jacks, to more "advanced" moves which are still pretty simple (just maybe not as well-known). I'm not a big sweater when I work out, but whenever I do an AMRAP workout, I look like I just crawled out of the river by the end. There's no right or wrong time limit/amount of reps, but I generally try to keep reps at about 10 per exercise, with the total time being around 30 minutes.
Can be less, can be more, but if you're struggling to get a good workout with limited time, I firmly believe this is probably THE best way to get your time's worth for the amount of work you have to do. I'm happy to share any exercises if people are curious, and would love to hear ideas if you have any! Movement is our best medicine in my opinion, and the more diverse our movements can be, the better. Keep moving, by any means necessary.
"A Single Seed" is my attempt to get out one idea every day that I've learned or accumulated over the years, with the hope that it may stick in someone else's memory bank as well. The idea may be related to fitness, business, life, or philosophy, but I think you'll find that many can change domains if you wish them to. With each seed planted, a new life awaits.
Image credit: https://www.wcifly.com/en/blog-hygieneandsafety-fun-vacation-workout-without-gym
You're true about movement - it is one of the most powerful medicines and we ALL need it. Even if working out is not your thing, Buddhist Monk - for example - move their bodies by cleaning and preparing their fire-pits and gardens and basically doing ordinary chores!
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Absolutely! I think as we get older, this is one of the best ways to continually stay active. The gardening/housework pays huge dividends for your physical health as we age.
My personal trainers in both Australia & Thailand have been big believers in AMRAP. LOL. Sadists!! Haha... and what a stunningly efficient way to get fit. It's a mental thing, I think. Pushing to your edge, and then a weeny bit more. It does build endurance and fitness, as well as mental stamina, incredibly effectively.
Hahaha it's definitely a love/hate relationship! So rough during, so good after. Mental stamina is a great way to put it too, half of the reason why exercising is so important in my opinion.