Any Workout Is a Good Workout

Demanding perfection often destroys good. It certainly keeps a lot of folks from succeeding with an exercise program.

Somehow, most people have gotten the idea that a workout needs to be to be at least 20 – 30 minutes long, preferably 45 – 90 minutes, to do any good. If they can’t get at least that much time in, they don’t bother at all.

That’s a big mistake. Instead of a perfect workout, the result is no workout at all.

Actually, short intense workouts are more effective that longer, slower ones in reaching most fitness goals. That's an important subject for another article. Leaving that point aside, 10 or even 5 minutes of any exercise is better than none at all.

Here are some ways you can include exercise in your day. You might do a few calisthenics first thing in the morning. That’s the old “daily dozen” - classics are classics because they work. If calisthenics are too jarring first thing (they are for me), yoga-style stretching is a good alternative. In fact, it’s a recommended practice of Ayurveda.

When you drive somewhere, you can park farther away from your destination than you have to and enjoy the walk. Or take the stairs instead of an elevator. 

That last idea worked well for me. For years I worked at a hospital with 4 floors and almost never took the elevator. The operating rooms were on the first floor and the surgical ward and the ICU were on the fourth floor. I was doing a stair climber routine every day without ever making a trip to the gym. 

It also served as a fitness monitor. If I was slacking off on my overall routine, I’d find myself huffing more after I did 4 flights 2 steps at a time.

Another time I can always fit in a little exercise is when I come home from work. It’s when I tend to do my full workouts, but even if I’m pressed for time, I can quickly do a little warm up and some form of exercise.

I always change out of my work clothes, so it’s easy to put on some shorts and go the few steps to my home gym. Even without the gym, I could do some sets of calisthenics – say, squats, push ups and sit ups – right in my bedroom.

There’s a lot more to be said about length of workouts and their effectiveness, but that’s not the point here. The point here is that any exercise is better than no exercise. Just because you can’t do (or just don’t feel like doing) your full routine, don’t let that keep you from doing something.