‘No time’ for exercise? No problem!

A minute of exercise is better than none at all. That’s the philosophy of Greg Whyte, author of Fit in 5 (Human Kinetics, February 2009), who confronts reluctant exercisers’ most common excuse. “The message is this: Something is better than nothing; do what exercise you can and attempt to increase it,” he explains.

Whyte not only uses the five-minute, small-steps approach to make the workout concept less intimidating, but actually finds it more effective than jumping into a larger program abruptly in helping inactive people adopt the exercise habit. “Gradually increasing the amount of time you spend exercising is far more successful than an instant and dramatic increase in your exercise program,” he says. “Adopting a New Year’s resolution mentality to exercise, going from inactivity to athlete overnight, has the same success rate as dieting: It works for a month!”

Whyte dedicates more than half of Fit in 5 to five-minute workouts and provides easy, medium, and hard variations of each. The activities use body weight and weight bands, so they can be done at home, in a gym, or virtually anywhere. The following easy sample exercises target a range of muscles.

Toe touch increases core strength and stability

Oyster targets the butt, tummy, and thighs.

Whyte advises taking gradual steps to reach the recommended five 30-minute sessions per week of moderate-intensity physical activity. “Do what exercise you can and attempt to increase it over weeks and months to reach the recommendation,” he says. He suggests six 5-minute bouts throughout the day or four 5-minute bouts plus one 10-minute bout to accumulate 30 minutes in a day. Fit in 5 combines 150 exercises for strength and flexibility with guidelines for cardio training to create all-around exercise regimens.

And to help create your own personal gym check out the newly released, Women’s Home Workout Bible. In this book, fitness expert Brad Schoenfeld makes sense of home-based workouts. The full-color book features 12 four-week programs for conditioning, sculpting, and core stability, plus three levels of fat-burning cardio workouts. It also has consumer tips for products and space guidelines for making the most of any home gym. With savvy purchases and exercise choices you can create an effective home gym with just $100!

To purchase, visit www.HumanKinetics.com or call 800-465-7301.

Excerpt from Fit in 5 by Greg Whyte

Excerpted by permission of Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL. Available to order from Human Kinetics Canada at www.HumanKinetics.com or by calling 1-800-465-7301.