3 Quick and Effective At-Home Workouts for Busy Schedules

If you're like many people, you live a busy life and find it hard to cram a workout into your day. For me, I work a full-time job, am enrolled full-time in a mater's program, and am raising a four-year-old. I learned that if I want to be healthy, I have to make an effort to be healthy because it doesn't just happen. Being that I also want to set a healthy example for my son, A, I have to find ways to set that example. I don't always have time to go somewhere to get a workout in, so having at-home workouts is the best option to guarantee I will get my workout in. Below are at-home workouts that I fit in to my busy schedule.

Light Jogging

I like to turn on some music and jog laps around my front room for about three minutes to warm up. A thinks this is fun and likes to join me. It's a good warm-up to doing other quick workouts or even to do just on its own. After working on my homework for a bit, I take breaks to do my light job and it doubles as spending time with A. He drops whatever he is doing and laughs the whole time he's running because he's having so much fun.

Side to Side Jumps

Side to side jumps are a great way to get my heartrate up. After I'm done doing my warmup jog, I drink some water and do side to side jumps for about thirty seconds. It's really not that much time so it seems more manageable and can easily fit into my schedule. It can even be done without a jog if necessary. Really though, I find that I am more productive and efficient in getting my homework done when I take quick breaks to do something like a quick workout compared to when I force myself to sit and get it all done in one go.

Dumbbell Rows

After I do my side to side jumps, I do my dumbbell rows, although they can also be done all on their own. For me, I use a ten pound dumbbell and do each arm for about thirty seconds. If you do all of these together, it really only takes about five minutes in total. So, if you are busy, you can put it all together to create a quick five-minute workout or if you are really short on time, you can pick just one of them and have a thirty-second to three-minute workout. Dumbbell rows are a great way to build some muscle if you are looking to incorporate a quick muscle-building exercise.