5 Minutes Of Exercise Per Day Is All You Need
Few would believe that five minutes of exercise is enough to satisfy your body’s daily needs. Many people struggle with squeezing exercise into their routine, be it due to time or motivation. I’m here to tell you that your struggle is over – and that five minutes are enough. Let me walk you through it step by step!
Step 1. Warming Up
All you’ll need to start is your phone as a stopwatch, some room, and maybe a mat depending on the floor you’re working on.
Start off by jogging on the spot. You might feel weird doing it, but this can be eased by getting into the zone. Listen to music that pumps you up. The same goes for the rest of the exercises. As warm-ups are designed to do, this will ease your body into the physical activity that is to come, loosening those joints and getting your blood to circulate through your body.
Do this for one minute. As it’s a warm-up, it doesn’t contribute to your five minutes of exercise. Let’s get to that.
Step 2. Star Jumps
Now the five minutes of exercise starts in earnest. Do some star jumps (alternatively named jumping jacks) for one minute. Make the most of that minute by fitting in as many jumps as you can. This is a full-body, aerobic exercise that is sure to get your heart pumping. This means you’ll be burning calories and increasing blood flow, which will, in turn, improve your arms and leg’s capillary function.
Do them with some gusto. Pretend you’re in a Toyota commercial. There’s something about this rhythmic exercise that lends itself to having fun!
Step 3. Sprinting
Next, you run as fast as you can on the spot. A simple but effective cardio exercise. This will build muscle, and therefore strength, along with increasing endurance. The key is to push yourself with regard to speed. Sprinting is about running really fast in a short distance, and in this case, a short time frame. Out of the five minutes of exercise, this minute will leave you out of breath if you’re doing it properly.
As stated before, a steady pace running or jogging improves aerobic fitness. Sprinting is more anaerobic. It forces you to change your breathwork, effort, and stride. Your body will become more efficient at supplying your muscles with oxygen.
Step 4. Squats
We round out the circuit with some squats. It’s important to note that this exercise should not cause any harm to your back. You’re not hunching over, you’re lowering your hips, and descending as if to sit down. And when you’re bending, make sure you’re doing it properly. You want to feel it in your thighs, and you want to ensure your bootie sticks out. You’ll feel the weight shift to your heels. Your head should always remain level.
Naturally, this is a lower-body exercise. However, you can add resistance by using a barbell. Apart from strengthening your legs, glutes, and other muscles, squats keep your bones and joints healthy in general. Core strength, calves, and back muscles do play a part in the exercise.Â
Step 5. Bring it Home
To round out our five minutes of exercise, we simply revisit two friends of ours, the star jump and the squat. If before was the rinsing part, now we’re repeating. Do one minute of star jumps and one minute of squats and you’re done!
That wasn’t hard, was it? If you just stick to this every day, you’ll be giving your body an adequate amount of exercise. You can adapt the length if you so choose by repeating the cycle a couple more times.
