By Selene Yeager, Women's Health When your schedule is overloaded like a sherpa on Everest, there are days, weeks, even months when you make it to the gym as often as the paparazzi spot TomKat's offspring. But luckily, that doesn't mean you're destined to morph into Kirstie Alley before she met Jenny Craig. In fact, U.S. military studies show you can stop the skid toward mush by doing just one- to two-thirds the exercise you usually do. "Women make the mistake of thinking, 'If I can't do my full routine, why bother?'" says Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., fitness research director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts. "But just one workout a week will maintain your strength. And if you exercise at the same or greater intensity, you can keep your fitness while doing much less than usual." Just how long will this kind of bare-minimum workout keep you in decent shape? If you can devote about 20 minutes to exercise once a week, you can preserve fitness for up to 2 months — plenty of time, we hope, for whatever's clogging your schedule to ease up. Until then, here's precisely the least you need to do to keep your endurance, strength, and flexibility intact.
Endurance
Expert Rec
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) prescribes 20 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity (brisk walking, running, or a cardio-intensive class) on most days of the week to keep your heart and lungs pumping like champs. To keep your pounds in check, the USDA recommends 60 to 90 minutes.
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You can slice your usual cardio routine by up to half as long as you add intensity, according to a 2005 Canadian study. Researchers found that regular exercisers who cranked out 30-second, full-throttle sprints on exercise bikes — 15 minutes' total training time, including rest — three times a week for 2 weeks as their sole source of training doubled the time they could ride hard before hitting the wall. Follow-up research revealed that exercisers pumping out 10 minutes of sprints at a similarly high intensity three times a week for 6 weeks reaped identical fitness gains to those ticking off an hour a day of moderate-intensity exercise 6 days a week for the same period.
The Least You Can Do
Climb. Gyms aren't filled with StairMasters for nothing. "Stairs are the most convenient, and highly effective, training tool," says Harvey Newton, C.S.C.S., owner of Newton Sports Consulting in Haiku, Hawaii. There's nothing like fighting gravity to add intensity. Duh, you say. But Newton suggests this twist on the standard stairwell slog: one-two stair repeats, which work your muscles harder. Start at the bottom of two to four flights of stairs. The first time up, take them one step at a time with quick, light foot strikes. The second, take two at a time. Walk down nice and easy and repeat for 10 minutes.
Strength
Expert Rec
To build muscle, the ACSM recommends a minimum of one 8- to 12-rep set of 8 to 10 exercises targeting all major muscle groups, 2 to 3 days a week. Most fitness experts suggest two to three sets for maximum strength gains.
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Reach for the weights once a week, targeting all the muscle groups you typically work. A 2002 study from Ball State University put 10 sedentary adults on a traditional strength-training program 3 days a week. After 3 months, half the group returned to inactivity, while the other half hit the weights just once a week. The quitters returned to their weakened state, but the once-a-weekers maintained all the strength gains they'd developed in the first 3 months.
The Least You Can Do
Try Dr. Westcott's once-a-week, 5-minute strength routine, "The Power of Four". "Navy research shows you can maintain strength and even lose fat and gain muscle, by doing just four exercises," Dr. Westcott says. The key is to hit all of your major muscle groups. And one set will do it: Studies show you get 50 to 90 percent of your strength gains from your first set.
Flexibility
Expert Rec
The average desk drone loses a quarter to a third of her range of motion during her adult life. Not good: Decreased mobility sets you up for overuse injuries like muscle strains and tears. That's why the ACSM wants you to stretch 2 to 3 days every week, performing at least four stretching repetitions per muscle group.
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Stretching is the flossing of fitness: It's the first thing you blow off. But without it your muscles shorten and lose strength. Prisca Boris, cofounder of Yoga for Athletes in Vail, Colorado, recommends doing a downward dog to stave off tight muscles. "It's the ultimate pose for lengthening the spine," she says. To stretch your front: Stand with feet together. Extend your arms overhead, close to your ears, palms facing each other. Press your heels firmly into the floor and, keeping your arms and legs straight, lean your torso to the right as far as is comfortable. Repeat to the left. Do the down dog and stretch sequence three times a week, repeating the flow three times and holding each pose for 30 to 60 seconds — breathing deeply through your nose — before moving to the next.
The Least You Can Do
A once-a-day, full-body stretch sequence that you can do anywhere, any time — no sticking your butt in the air required. "Even 30 seconds a day can keep you from tightening up," says physical therapist Vincent Perez, director of sports therapy at Columbia-Presbyterian Eastside Hospital in New York City. To take your muscles through their full range of motion, try this: Stand up and windmill your arms from the shoulder three times forward and three times back. Place your hands on your hips and lean to the right from the waist, hold for 5 seconds, then repeat on the other side. With your right leg in front of you, draw three circles clockwise with your right heel, then reverse and do three circles counterclockwise. Repeat with the left leg.
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