working out in short bursts?

  • Does anyone split their workouts throughout the day? I think I might start doing that. Do 10 minutes here and there through out the day to add up to an hour. Would that be just as effective as doing it all at once?
  • I can't speak for 10 minutes at a time, but I can say the following:

    1) Something is better than nothing. 10 minutes is better than no minutes. 10 minutes three times daily is way better than 0 minutes however many times daily.

    2) I get the best results when I exercise multiple times a day. For example, in the morning maybe I do weights, in the evening, walking or yoga. For me, that's the formula for success. So maybe for you three 10 minute bursts will be a magic bullet too! Try it and see!

    Edited/ I see you said an hour. Ok - so 10 minutes 6 times a day... Try it and see!! It can't hurt.
  • Well I agree that it is better than nothing.

    But, recently I did read an article from Jillian Michaels (Sorry, I couldn't find it), she was saying that it is better to not split cardio up because if you do it continuously you continue to burn calories throughout the day. But, if you split cardio up, you don't continue to burn as many. Or something along those lines.
  • I agree
    I agree with the 10 mins here and there is better than none at all. BUT I do know that you should be keeping your heart rate up for a min of 30 mins to burn the maximum amount of calories. That would be the best way to go about losing weight but honestly you should do whatever works best for you !
  • For the past few weeks i've been trying two short workouts a day as opposed to the one longer workout I usually do. I've found that I have more energy and less dread of the two shorter workouts, and I feel that I am working harder and accomplishing more. For example, yesterday I did two 40min cardio workouts + 10 min of abs, normally I feel I'm doing good to do one workout, but, as I said, I feel I can do more if I split them up.

    You might try looking up "sparking" which is more what you discribe, several short workouts per day. Give the shorter workouts a try, if you don't like it you can always go back to the regular method.