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Publix GreenWise Market Magazine - Fall 2009
Gimmie 10!
 Even with mere minutes to spare, there are lots of ways to chip away at a week’s worth of healthy exercise.
Sometimes it’s tough to carve a half-hour chunk out of your busy day. But 10 minutes? Usually no problem. For many people, it turns out, that could be the key to getting and staying fit.
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recommends that healthy adults age 18–64 get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise a week, which works out to 30 minutes a day on each of five days. But that directive may not be as daunting as it seems at first glance. In its 2008 guidelines the DHHS pointed out that adults can meet the goal in 10-minute increments throughout the week.
“We had the top physical activity scientists in the nation come together in a federal advisory group, and they studied the evidence very closely,” says Rear Adm. Penny Slade-Sawyer, acting executive director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (PCPFS). The evidence showed that moderate-intensity physical activity in 10-minute bursts counts toward an individual’s weekly total for significant health benefits.
With that good news in mind, we asked five fitness experts for their favorite ways to get in those mini workouts (see “Meet Our Exercise Gurus”). Of course, not all of their suggestions will be ideal for everyone. “The most important thing is to find something you like to do,” says the CDC’s Janet Fulton. (For a list of nearly 100 activities that qualify as moderate-intensity exercise, visit the PCPFS website at fitness.gov and click on President’s Challenge (follow the links). |
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| 1. |
Get off the sidelines. If you have kids who participate in sports like soccer, lacrosse or even hockey, wear exercise clothes to their games so you can take laps around the field or rink. You won’t miss a moment of the action, and you’ll probably have the best “seat” in the house. |
| 2. |
Jump in place. Kevin Gianni likes rebounders, those mini trampolines you can set up in just a few square feet of space. To vary your workout, you can mix rebounding with intervals of aerobic dance that you do on the floor—all to your favorite music or the evening news. |
| 3. |
Take the stairs. Forget the machines at the gym. This workout may be available right where you work. It’s easy to change things up by varying the pace or taking two steps at a time. |
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Hold a posture. “You wouldn’t think that holding a particular yoga posture for a length of time would count as a moderate-level activity, but it definitely can get your heart rate up and your breathing level increased,” says Penny Slade-Sawyer. The Salutation to the Sun, for example, involves 12 separate moves. |
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Move to the movies. Pick your favorite theater. From the front door, set off at a brisk pace and time 10 minutes. Note where you end up and park there the next time you decide to take in the latest flick. |
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Walk to school. If your community offers the Walking School Bus program, volunteer to become the chaperone who walks kids to or from school. You can step up the pace on the legs of the trip where the little ones aren’t in tow. Visit walkingschoolbus.org to learn more. |
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Get your game on. Since the introduction of Nintendo’s Wii Fit, video games are no longer just for couch potatoes. Using a wireless balance board, Wii Fit lets you go through the motions of everything from tennis to boxing. It tracks the time you spend exercising and also allows you to keep a record of the exercise you get away from the TV, categorized by intensity, which makes it easy to log your 150 minutes a week. |
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Note it. Keep a pocket notebook filled with several options for 10-minute exercise routines. “Usually if we have 10 minutes, we just go into default—flip on the TV or straighten up the kitchen,” says Kevin Gianni. If, instead, you look in the notebook—which Gianni calls your “toolbox”— you’ll find reminders of favorite exercises you can do on the spot. |
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Band together. Though usually associated with strength training, exercise bands also can give you a true aerobic workout, says Gregory Florez. He suggests doing eight to 10 band exercises in circuit fashion—15 reps of each with 30 seconds of rest in between. Then repeat the circuit to fill out your 10 minutes. |
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Walk the dog. “One of my sayings is to walk the dog whether you have one or not,” says Penny Slade-Sawyer. Many people have pets, which provides a natural reason to walk, but she suggests that incorporating short walks is a natural time-saver for anyone. |
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Kick it up a notch. One of the tiniest and most portable pieces of exercise gear around, the foot bag is small enough to fit in your pocket. When you move your legs playing hacky sack, you’re using some of the largest muscles in your body. You also may get the functional fitness benefits of improved balance and coordination. |
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Push the envelope. Ted Skup calls push-ups “horizontal jogging” and the most portable and time-efficient exercise on the planet. To work up to doing 10 minutes of standard push-ups, start by pushing against a doorway from a standing position. Move to leaning at 45 degrees against a countertop and then to doing floor push-ups on your knees. |
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| 13. |
Pop in a DVD. From Pilates to kickboxing, no matter how you like to move, you’ll find an exercise DVD that can help. Some even set up routines in 10-minute intervals. |
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Drive your bike. Penny Slade-Sawyer says most trips in America are less than 2 miles, so take your bicycle in place of the car on some of those short-trip errands to pick up a few items at the grocery store or return a DVD. |
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Skip a rope. Although it’s a great aerobic workout, you may find jumping rope too intense for 10 minutes. Alternate it with marching in place on the patio or deck while you wait for dinner to grill. |
| 16. |
Move to the music. Download several three- or four-song playlists to your iPod as soundtracks for freestyle dancing. Here’s one guaranteed to get you moving: “Pure” (The Lightning Seeds), “Tribulations” (LCD Soundsystem) and “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” (Ronnie Spector and the E Street Band). |
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Move that meeting. At the office look for ways to conduct or participate in walking meetings. They’re best for small groups of fewer than six. A bonus? “You’re more productive when you’re standing up,” says Janet Fulton. |
All Things in Moderation
Government guidelines make clear that only exercise of at least moderate intensity counts toward your weekly goal. But how do you know if you’re sweating enough? Penny Slade-Sawyer suggests using the talk test: “While you’re doing moderate activity, talking is not a problem but you might have trouble singing.” To see the talk test in action, visit cdc.gov and watch the short video; click on Healthy Living>Physical Activity and Exercise>Adults.
Meet Our Exercise Gurus
- Penny Slade-Sawyer, P.T., M.S.W., is acting executive director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and Rear Admiral in the United States Public Health Service.
- Gregory Florez is a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise and CEO of fitadvisor.com Health Coaching Services.
- Janet Fulton, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist in the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Kevin Gianni is a certified personal trainer with the National Council on Strength and Fitness and coauthor of The Busy Person’s Fitness Solution (A Better Life Press, 2007).
- Ted Skup is the author of Death, Taxes & Push-Ups (Abox Publishing, 2008). He currently does 1,000 push-ups a day and estimates he’s logged more than 11 million over the past 30 years.
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