Introduction
Can you really get fit with just 10 minutes of exercise a day? Maybe! It’s a good start. But you’ll still have to do more and change your diet if you want the real benefits.
It may seem like enough.
You may have heard that you need a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise per day. While this is true, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get any benefit from just 10 minutes of exercise.
Let’s face it: Many people don’t enjoy exercising and would rather be doing something else with their time—anything but working out! But we can all agree that sitting on the couch all day and not moving is not good for our bodies or minds.
It’s much better to have some kind of routine, even if it’s only 10 minutes in the morning and 10 at night.
Even if you’re “too busy” for longer workouts, research shows that short bursts of activity throughout the day help reduce stress, improve your mood, increase energy levels and even help keep weight down (1). So no excuses!
You’ve still got to lift weights.
You’ll also still need to lift weights.
As any personal trainer will tell you, it’s not enough to just run on the treadmill for 10 minutes a day. If you want to get fit and stay that way, it takes more than that—even though most of us don’t have the time or energy to devote hours every day to exercise.
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We know what you’re thinking: Maybe if those fitness experts just understood how busy we are with work and family commitments and Netflix, they wouldn’t be so insistent on all this extra stuff! Well guess what, folks:
You can add another hour-long walk on top of your regular workout routine (or whatever else it is), but only if that’s what makes sense for your lifestyle. And if adding more exercises is so important then why aren’t these personal trainers making money off their own fitness regimens? Something fishy here…
It’s a good starting point.
10 minutes is a good starting point. If you can’t spare 10 minutes, then you probably don’t want to become fit and healthy anyway. You can work your way up to more time and intensity over time, but in the meantime it may be better for you to focus on other areas of improvements such as sleep quality or stress relief.
It’s not the only way to get fit, but if it’s all you’ve got time for right now, then it should be enough!
You can’t just do 10 minutes every day.
You can’t just do 10 minutes every day. You have to do more than 10 minutes, if you want to see results.
The truth is that you need to be doing your workouts for at least 30 minutes each time, and it’s best if they’re spaced out throughout the day. This way, your body will get used to the new activity and continue adapting positively over time.
It’s also important that these workouts are done regularly—at least three times per week—and with regularity in mind as well. If you keep skipping days or taking weeks off from exercise entirely, then all of the good work will be lost when you return!
If all this sounds daunting, don’t worry: we’ve got an easy guide right here on how much exercise is enough for weight loss!
It’s not your only option.
10 minutes of exercise a day is great. It’s not your only option.
Now, don’t get me wrong: 10 minutes of exercise is better than none at all. If you’re short on time and looking for ways to fit in more physical activity, this can be a good start.
But it isn’t the only answer when it comes to getting fit. You’ll need more than just 10 minutes if you want to lose weight or tone up—you’ll still have to change your diet and do some strength training with weights, too.
For example: Let’s say I’m going hiking tomorrow with my friend Bethany (she’s pretty cool). We’re going for an hour-long hike up a mountain trail that climbs about 1,000 feet above sea level before descending back down again—not terribly strenuous but still enough so that both of us will feel like we’ve done something afterwards!
In order for both Bethany and me not only enjoy our hike but come out of it feeling like we’ve accomplished something physically challenging even though neither one of us has ever been much into fitness before now…well…we’d probably need more than just ten minutes per day!
You’ll still have to change your diet.
While exercise is important, it’s also worth emphasizing that you need to eat less, and eat more healthy foods. Make sure you’re not eating too much junk food or sugar which can be very bad for your body. Even if you are working out regularly, these things can still get in the way of getting fit.
It’s important to remember that while you may be doing a lot of physical activity each day—like going for runs—it’s also essential that we reduce our intake of salt and alcohol (in moderation). These two things cause us to retain water weight in our bodies which makes us feel like we’ve gained more pounds than we really have!
You can get a lot of benefit if you’re willing to work at it.
In the end, the answer to whether or not you can get fit with just 10 minutes of exercise a day is yes. But it depends on your definition of “fit.” If you’re looking to use this strategy as a way to lose weight and develop muscle mass, then yes—you can become fit by doing just 10 minutes a day.
However, if you want to be truly healthy (and not just physically), then 10 minutes isn’t going to cut it. In order for your body to reap all of its benefits from an increased level of physical activity and stay away from injuries, injuries that could easily set back any progress made on your fitness journey, then you’ll need more than 20 percent of what experts recommend for physical activity per week:
30 minutes five days per week at least 150 minutes total in one week (this is 5 hours). That’s only seven percent more time than we advised above!
Of course since this much time will require making changes in other areas like your diet as well—which we’ll cover next—the best thing would probably be getting started right now on both fronts simultaneously so that they complement each other over time rather than hinder each other (or worse yet cancel each other out altogether).
Conclusion
That’s a lot of information to digest! To sum it up, you can definitely get some benefits from just 10 minutes of exercise every day.
But if you want to really see results and make progress in your fitness journey, then you need more than just 10 minutes a day. You’ll still have to lift weights and change your diet, because neither exercise nor eating right alone will give you what they promise.