Easy Ways to Fit in 10 Minutes of Exercise

From the Editors of Prevention

Experts recommend working out 45 minutes to an hour a day (30 minutes for beginners) for weight loss and fitness. But if you're like most people, you don't always have a block of 30 to 60 minutes a day to devote exclusively to your workouts. You can still exercise – you just need to sneak in the equivalent in resourceful ways.

Lest you think that short bursts of activity have a negligible effect on your fitness program, think again. One study found that women who split their exercise into 10-minute increments were more likely to exercise consistently, and also lost more weight after 5 months, than women who exercised for 20 to 40 minutes at a time. So give these tips a go, and find out what works for you.

• 1.Start your day with a few minutes -- just 5 to 10 -- of jumping jacks. A 150-pound woman can burn 90 calories in one 10-minute session.
• 2.If you eat out on your lunch hour, walk to a restaurant on a route that takes you a little bit out of your way.
• 3.Cooking dinner? Do standing push-ups while you wait for a pot to boil. Stand about an arm's length from the kitchen counter, and push your arms against the counter. Push in and out to work your arms and shoulders.
• 4. Just before bed or while you're giving yourself a facial at night, do a few repetitions of some dumbbell exercises, suggests exercise instructor Sheila Cluff, owner and founder of The Oaks at Ojai and The Palms, in Palm Springs, CA, who keeps a set of free weights on a shelf in front of her bathroom sink.
• 5. When you’re watching TV, don’t Tivo through all the commercials. Instead, jog in place. A 150-pound woman can burn up to 45 calories in 5 minutes. During the show, do leg lifts with small weights.
• 6.If you're waiting for an elevator – and stairs aren’t an option -- work your abdominal muscles. Stand with your feet parallel and your knees relaxed. Contract the muscles around your belly button. Then elevate your upper torso, and release. Finally, contract your buttocks for a few seconds.
• 7.Once you’re in the elevator, do calf stretches.
• 8.Walk around the medical buildings if you have a long wait for a doctor's appointment. Just ask the receptionist to give you an idea of how long the wait will be – most will share the information with you.
• 9.During the long summer-travel layovers at airports, avoid the mechanized "moving carpets" that transport travelers from concourse to concourse. "If you're in between flights, walk around the concourse as much as you can," suggests Cluff.