I’m actually pretty pleased with how this is turning out! I love how the blue-green contrasts with our gold tree outside – now if only I can make it so the seasons never change…
“Minty gel with tartar control” wasn’t exactly the look I was going for – the color on the paint can I randomly picked up off the discard shelf for 5$ said “Bahama Blue” and who doesn’t love the Bahamas?! – but when I get the urge to repaint our front room (every couple of years) it’s like an itch I have to scratch, practicality and paint chips be darned. In the five years we’ve lived here it’s been kindergarten yellow (which with our red bookcases made it look like we were living in the house Ronald McDonald built), stone gray (stones are only pretty when they’re stone and water is running over them), antique white (blah), Colosseum (a bizarre army green) and almond toast (a brown that felt really earthy and warm until one morning last week when I woke up and realized it just looked like acid reflux). And of course, me being me, I can’t just repaint but I have to recover our (meager) furniture, redo wall hangings, sew new window treatments and reorganize all the storage. Oooh and I stole an idea from my friend Jess and bought these awesome sparkly “gem” lights that I’m going to make a permanent light fixture to make our room all Winter Wonderland instead of Winter Woe-land which is how I feel about Minnesota winters.
At least that is what it’s supposed to end up as. Right now I’m just in the middle of a huge mess. And because, again, I’m me, I’m hyperfocused on getting it done. I’m painting every spare moment that I’m not wiping up smudgy minty gel footprints off the floor because they kids wanted to “help.” (My kindergartner helped by painting… all the door knobs. Oy.) Plus, I stepped on a nail and now have a really owie puncture wound. (True story: I stepped on it so hard that when I lifted my foot up the board came with it and I had to pull it out of my foot. And no I didn’t get a tetanus shot – what’s the window on those things? It’s been two days and I don’t have lockjaw yet.)
All of which means that my workouts are, er, suffering. (Also, for all of you who have e-mailed me and wondered if I’d died under a avalanche of Legos because it’s been a week and I still haven’t answered you, well now you know why. Sorry!)
But! As I have learned, lo these few years, my life should not revolve around exercise but rather my fitness routine should fit my life. So I’ve been doing short but intense workouts to get my sweat fix but still work on my insane home improvement projects. (My husband left the house the other morning and all was as usual. By the time he got home all the furniture was in the garage and half of our oak trim was painted white. He loves it when I do this.) From MMA to ballet, for a few years now I’ve been collecting these “mini” workouts that can be done in 15 minutes or less but still give a fab burn.
And because I’m the sharing sort (and also because I still need to, you know, do my job) I made a list of my 15 favorite workouts that can be done in under 15 minutes forShape. And the best part is that most of them require little to no equipment so you can fit them in wherever!
Here’s my current fave, cribbed from Mark’s Daily Apple:
Paleo diets are all the rage these days but exercising like our distant ancestors also has great benefits. Whether you’re lifting heavy things to build your hut or build your biceps, research supports the perks of lifting as heavy as you can handle for short sets. You’ll increase your strength and your contribution to the gene pool!
Try this primal workout from Mark’s Daily Apple: Grab a weighted object (two dumbbells, sandbag, barbell, kettlebell or recalcitrant toddler) and do not put it down until you have completed 3 full cycles of the workout below. Do 1 set of 6 reps for every exercise, and then repeat the entire circuit two more times.
6 Cleans
6 Overhead presses
6 Squats
6 Bent-over rowsYou can take a break in between each cycle, but you may find that you just want to power through since you can’t put down the weight.
And if you need more quickie motivation, Glamour magazine featured me on their site talking about what I do to keep myself motivated to workout. which, if you know me, don’t take a lot of pushing… but still! Fun!
The research also supports this quickie mentality. A New York Times article reports about one of the largest exercise studies ever done and the results may (or may not) surprise you: There is a sweet spot for exercise and it’s only about 30 minutes!
“Researchers at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health and other institutions combed through the health records of 52,656 American adults who’d undergone physicals between 1971 and 2002 as part of the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study at the Cooper Institute in Dallas. The researchers found that about 27 percent of the participants reported regularly running, although in wildly varying amounts and paces.
The scientists then checked death reports. Over the course of the study, 2,984 of the participants died. But the incidence was much lower among the group that ran. Those participants had, on average, a 19 percent lower risk of dying from any cause than non-runners.
Notably, in closely parsing the participants’ self-reported activities, the researchers found that running in moderation provided the most benefits. Those who ran 1 to 20 miles per week at an average pace of about 10 or 11 minutes per mile — in other words, jogging — reduced their risk of dying during the study more effectively than those who didn’t run, those (admittedly few) who ran more than 20 miles a week, and those who typically ran at a pace swifter than seven miles an hour.
“These data certainly support the idea that more running is not needed to produce extra health and mortality benefits,” said Dr. Carl J. Lavie, medical director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at the Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans and an author of the study. “If anything,” he continued, “it appears that less running is associated with the best protection from mortality risk. More is not better, and actually, more could be worse.”
His analysis echoes the results of another new examination of activity and mortality, in which Danish scientists used 27 years’ worth of data collected for the continuing Copenhagen City Heart Study. They reported that those Danes who spent one to two and a half hours per week jogging at a “slow or average pace” during the study period had longer life spans than their more sedentary peers and than those who ran at a faster pace.
This decidedly modest amount of exercise led to an increase of, on average, 6.2 years in the life span of male joggers and 5.6 years in women.
“We can say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity,” Dr. Peter Schnorr, a cardiologist and an author of the study, said in presenting the findings at a clinical meeting organized last month by the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation. “The good news is that you don’t actually need to do that much to reap the benefits.”
Sorry for the long quote but I felt it was important to show that it wasn’t just one small study showing these results but several large studies.
Do you have a go-to workout that you do when you only have a short time? Do the study findings surprise you? What’s the craziest color you’ve ever painted a room?!
Go to short workout? T-Tapp. I worked up a MAJOR sweat this morning doing 18 minutes. It felt GREAT and didn’t wipe me out for the rest of my busy busy day.
Craziest paint job? Painted my entire bedroom lilac. I felt like I was in a giant flower. OVERLOAD! Of course, my son painted his room “Shrek Green” (including the blades of his ceiling fan) and he loves it!
I usually do a Jillian Michael’s dvd. If I skip her talking in the beginning and the cool-down stretching, it’s barely more than 20min. If I’m REALLY pressed for time, I usually just do some jumping jacks, jumping lunges and squats.
My kitchen is actually a very similar shade of blue as your Bahama blue. And that was actually to tone down the blue I originally picked which was just a little too much like I was trying to make my kitchen a Caribbean street side fish hut.
My short workouts are either a few yoga vinyasas, some Callanetics, or “Start it Up” from my “Slim in 6” DVD, holding light weights.
I HATE running! REALLLLLLY hate it! But I love to walk. Does that count? I walk fast, and I go up and down hills. Will that help me live longer? Pleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease?!?!?!?! What about swimming laps?
Thanks for the links!
An important point, which is a bit lost in the newspaper stories, is that any amount of exercise is more healthy than being sedentary. The debate about “optimum” levels of exercise revolve around whether running 10 miles a week gives you a bigger or the same health benefit as running 50 miles a week. However, both levels of exercise are still better than running no miles a week.
I have several 10 Minute Solution DVDs that I go to when I’m really pressed on time. Otherwise, my daily 30 minutes right now is 30 Day Shred…but I’m moving on to Jillian’s Body Revolution next week.
That minty green is…oh…I had a bathroom like that in an apartment I rented and it just made me queasy. Not my favourite colour even now. I couldn’t have long baths in there…I just couldn’t 🙂
I love ZWOWs and bodyrock workouts when I have little time – 12-15 minutes and I’m done. I can build on them, but it lets me get my sweat on and still have time for life…
And… tetanus…well, from what I’ve read by the time you’d feel all of your muscles spasming and tightening up you’d start having trouble breathing too…from your chest muscles tightening up. It doesn’t look like fun. It is a rare thing, and you’re probably fine by now from this…but get a tetanus shot silly. You’ll be good 10 years!
Okay 1) I like the Bahama blue but it’s totally not my style 2) I rearrange things in my house constantly to the point where my 12 year old son doesn’t even comment anymore and 3) get the tetanus booster. It not only protects from handy things like lockjaw but it will also protect you from pertussis which is making a comeback this year. 🙂
We just painted our dining room plum a couple weeks ago. I absolutely love it, and it really brings out our grey-ish marble dining table and buffet. Most days I limit my exercise to around 30 minutes, that way I can’t make an excuse. Everyone has 30 minutes. I need to get back in the habit of mini-exercises during my lunch break. Squats are always my go-to.
I do the Jillian Michaels workouts when I am short on time. Or, I just dance around the room to loud music.
I tried painting my kitchen “Pepsi “blue, my husband came home from work and said “uh uh ” , shortly there after I made friends with an interior decorator …..he was so happy 🙂
Painting sooo counts as a workout. Between all the up and down ladder and squats to paint down low, I get more DOMS from paining than going to the gym!
But dang, another reminder that I must paint living room and hall this month.
“painting” not paining! Freudian slip?
I was wondering what a nice zebra print would do for the living room. Maybe with leopard skin color fabric on the love seat.
(*sigh*) maybe I should tone things down and go with the hot pink plaid curtains and avocado shag carpet.
(*shudder*)
Worst colour? Not a room but I once painted my car baby poo brown. My mind had seen it coming out differently.
My default workout is what I call the Royal workout. I hit what I consider the 3 kings and 2 princes of compound (yes you could also call them queens and princesses if that gets your testosterone boosted.)
Bench press plus dead lifts plus squats plus pull ups plus military press. If I have say 20 minutes I can usually smash 1 set of each in the heavy zone and still have time for a few hanging leg raises.
Either that or I love just walking in and smashing out 10 minutes of clean and jerks plus kettle ell swings then another 10 minutes of punching the hell out of a bag.
H.I.I.T. Is great for cardio improvement. Run sprint run sprint to time. 20 – 30 minutes of that 3 x a week can give you similar cardio benefit to jogging for an hour at a time 5 times a week.
Bookmarked. Thanks Charlotte! These will be perfect to squeeze in during nap time. I’ve been doing 30 day shred on occasion and love getting in walks when I can but always looking for more options. Would live to see pics when the room is all done!
Go to short time workout:
-Turkish Get Ups. Five on each side. Full body strength training, balance training and core training.
-grab some kind of weight. Warrior 3 to cossack squat with overhear squat. Again 5 each side.
-agility ladder work.
-pushups and air squats.
Love Turkish getups. I have a kettlebell sport trainer that gives us 15-min workouts (long sets of swings, cleans, jerks, and snatches) that leave everyone sucking air. The workouts become intensely anaerobic very quickly.
Living in a cold climate (the Canadian prairies), I find the winters long and drab and I crave colour, so my house is kind of bright. I have what’s called a “semi-bungalow”–the upstairs has only 2 bedrooms with sloped ceilings. My bedroom is a deep emerald green with off-white trim. For some reason the colour is very soothing (jungle cave?) and conducive to restful sleep. The office is spring-leaf green and the living-dining room is soon to be deep gold with a couple of aubergine feature walls. The jury is still out on what colour to paint the kitchen (it needs more than paint to make it look good).
No, the results didn’t surprise me at all. I have a hard time imagining folks living in “blue zones” (in zones where people reach a very advanced age, often over 100) being a group of ultra-marathoners. 🙂 They probably just walk and garden.
My favorite short exercise is Leslie Sansone’s 1-mile walk (don’t laugh!!)
Oooh now this is something I get down with EVERY WEEK! I began posting little 20 minute workouts on blog a few months ago. Every weds a new video! Which means – new one up today!!!
http://www.workoutwithdi.com/workout-with-di-workout-9-amrap/
Todays is 4 exercises, 10 reps of each, for either 10 rounds or do AMRAP in time allowed (10/20 mins whatever you have). I try to add as little equipment as possible so everyone can join in 😉 I’m the queen on 15 minute workouts as that’s usually all I have time for between training clients and fitness classes. Gotta get my own workout in somewhere!
The one thing I will say to everyone posting workouts – be sure to BALANCE your workouts! 100 push ups with no back work every week is going to throw our your posture due to the muscle imbalance you created, so work your chest (push ups) but be sure to add some back work in too! 😉
I LOVE that paint color!!!!! I also like the research you shared on jogging. I’m a total jogger even though when I go on a jog I call it a “run” out of habit although I don’t think I’ve ever actually ran longer than 20 seconds. I don’t even know if that sentence made sense.
There are short home workouts which can be easily performed right in the comfort of home, even with limited space. They are quick and bring fast results, making it perfect for those who are on a tight schedule. I prefer Jillian Michaels home workouts.
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