Let’s face it…everyone is busy. We all have emails to answer, texts to answer, Netflix shows to catch up on, and step counting goals to hit. We often wonder how on earth we can achieve our personal, career and fitness goals. I believe that anything can be achieved with a little habit tweaking, which is what inspired my busy girl treadmill routine. As a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, I’m not only a fan of implementing stacking habits into my daily routine, but it depends on that. Stacking habits is an easy way to multitask, like wearing a face mask while working at home or taking a walk outside while meditating. During my busiest days when I don’t want my fitness to fall by the wayside, I also have a habit of organizing my workout and to-do list. Enter: my busy girlfriend’s treadmill routine.
Busy Girl Treadmill Routine
You might think you only need to dedicate time to exercise, which is why it’s probably the first thing you’ll go to on your busiest days. But to reap the health benefits, you don’t have to sprint, run, or even run—and you don’t even have to stop working out. On my busiest days, I follow a specific treadmill routine that provides incredible health benefits while I’m still on the phone or answering emails.
Low-intensity steady-state (LISS) cardio is continuous low-intensity cardio; you move out of breath, which means it happens to be a useful type of exercise to do while you’re in a meeting, answering email on the phone, or watching the latest season Selling Sunset (because that can also be on your to-do list). The perfect recipe I’ve found that provides a high-quality workout while still allowing you to multitask is to set the treadmill to 3.0 mph at a 3.5 incline and walk for at least 30 minutes (American Heart Association recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise three to five days a week). Feel free to adjust what works best for you, but I’ve found that 3.0 mph is still safe for walking while looking at my phone or computer, and the 3.5 incline is enough for some glute work (more on that in continued) without leaving me breathless that I could not talk on the phone or go to a meeting.
Benefits
I repeat: you don’t have to do cardio or high-intensity interval training to reap the health benefits. According to Everyday health, LISS cardio can improve muscle strength, heart health, mental health, cognitive function, and sleep. One A study from 2015 compared the effects of a high-intensity interval-style exercise regimen with those of a steady-state exercise regimen and found that both had similar aerobic and anaerobic benefits. In other words, yes, walking is incredibly effective exercise. A slope of 3.5 offers several advantages: Targets for walking on an incline muscles such as quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles. You will also engage your core for balance and stability. Over time, this can lead to improved muscle tone and endurance, improving your overall physical fitness.
But since this is a treadmill routine for busy girls, you should know that moving while making calls or doing work instead of sitting at a desk can make a big difference in the quality of your work (and help you get more done in less time). Research shows this exercise can increase creativity and focus. Movement can optimize your brain to improve attention and motivation, and it can it encourages nerve cells to bond with each other, which is the cellular basis for recording new information, meaning you can remember information better and learn new things more easily with practice (remember this if you’re studying for exams!). This makes my busy girl treadmill routine not only a health hack, but a productivity hack as well. Finally, exercise can also reduce stresswhich you probably need most – especially on peak days.
So the next time you’re tempted to skip a workout when your schedule is packed and your to-do list is long, bring your phone (and full inbox) to the gym or use mat for walking under the table the habit of combining exercise with work.
