Life gets busy, work appointments run long, traffic is at a standstill or you accidentally push snooze one too many times. But you still have your workout session to get done for the day but the 60 minutes you had originally planned for your run are now only 45 or 30 minutes. What do you do? Here are the best practices to modify workouts if you’re short on time. But first, remember that something is always better than nothing.
If you have a 60-minute run on the schedule but only have time for 45, 30, or even 20 minutes. Take advantage of that time. Something is always better than nothing at all.
Don’t skip the warm-up and cool-down. It’s natural to want to skip the warm-up or the cool-down to get right into the main set of your run workout. However, the warm-up prepares your body for the work that is to come in your session. While the cool-down helps your body return to its pre-exercise state. Both are equally as important. We tend to want to go harder and faster when we are short on time. But we can’t skip the important bookends – warm-up and cool-down altogether. If needed you can shorten them, but don’t eliminate them!
Cut the main set down. If short on time and need to modify the training session, cut the main set down to what you have time for. So if your training schedule for today calls for 10 x 1-minute all-out efforts with 1-minute recovery. Simply cutting down the number of reps to the time you have available while keeping the rest interval the same will give you the best bang for your buck!
So to sum it all up how to best modify workouts when short on time. First, get your mindset right and ditch the all-or-nothing mentality. I’ll say it again, something is always better than nothing. Don’t skip the warm-up and cool-down. Shortening the warm-up and cool-down a little is okay if needed. Trim down the main set to whatever you have time for. There you have it, your best practices for modifying a workout when you are short on time.
Happy Training!
READ MORE: Ever wish you could buy more time? Yes? Keep reading.
Carly and Tyler Guggemos built Organic Coaching in 2014 with a simple philosophy that works. The idea is to take what you have and grow it to get faster, fitter and stronger. And to do it with the time you have – not the time you wish you had.
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