One of the most common excuses I hear for why people don’t work out is that they just don’t have time. While I personally believe that it’s important to carve out several hours during the week to devote to my physical (AND mental) well being, I know that not everyone can do not that. So let me introduce you to HIIT training (High Intensity Interval Training), and more specially Tabata training. Tabata is a 4 minute workout involving 8 rounds of 20 seconds of high intensity followed by 10 seconds of rest. The point is to push yourself as hard as possible during the 20 seconds and completely rest during the rest periods.
This is a treadmill Tabata workout but you could do the same thing doing other exercises such squats or lunges, for example. I set the treadmill speed to 7 mph and found a Tabata music track on You Tube. I found with Tabata that it’s best if you only focus on pushing your body to its limits and not concern yourself with keeping track of the time. The music track is great because all you have to do is wait for the voice to tell you to jump on or off of the treadmill. This particular workout I decided to do three full Tabata rounds, which kicked my butt. Until now I had only ever attempted one full round of Tabata at a time. So if you’ve only got a few minutes, it is totally possible to get in an awesome workout that helps push your body to its limits.