Having gained and lost weight in both high school and college, I was perfectly aware of good eating habits, but exercise was a foreign concept. When the fitness craze swept the nation, I was first in line and even became a certified Nautilus trainer. Soon I was teaching aerobics. The appearance of tiny muscles drove me to keep going. In the peak of my fitness frenzy, I owned and ran a Brookline aerobics studio.
Fast forward to 2013 in Mt. Lebanon. My kids are mostly grown, and my CMU job is a top priority. I grab exercise in bits and pieces when time permits, but I have no desire to get up extra early and I feel too guilty to steal away from work during the day. I know I am useless after dinner. Thank goodness for the latest exercise research.
The January 7, 2013 issue of The Wall Street Journal cited new research demonstrating that cardiovascular and weight control benefits can be achieved in activity bouts of 10 minutes or less. So if you can fit in three 10-minute bursts five days a week, you can achieve the recommended 150 minutes of exercise per week.
So picture this: you’re waiting for coffee to brew and the morning news is on. You stand up and do knee lifts and lunges for five minutes followed by five minutes of crunches. Now the kids are at school so you spend 10 minutes vigorously vacuuming. Later that day you take the dog for a walk, but you purposely walk up a few of our beautiful Mt. Lebanon hills. Voila! Thirty minutes achieved.