We’re officially in that stretch of the year where it feels like someone hit the chaos button: work deadlines, school events, holiday travel…all happening at once.

And in the middle of that, trying to follow a “normal” workout routine can feel impossible.

Luckily, you don’t need to!

Here are three strategies we use with busy coaching clients to get great results without workouts having to take over their lives.

Pick one and plug it in whenever your schedule tightens up.

Strategy 1: Focus on the “Big Rocks”

Pick exercises that give you the biggest return:

• One lower body exercise (squats, deadlifts, lunges)
• One upper body “pushing” exercise (push-ups, bench press, overhead press)
• One upper body “pulling” exercise (rows, pulldowns, assisted chin-ups)

This little “push-pull-legs” triangle works with ​dumbbells​, machines, bodyweight, whatever you’ve got.

Take our ​Beginner Bodyweight Workout​, for example.

You can delete the lunges, planks, and jumping jacks and focus on the squats, push-ups and rows and boom! You’ve cut your workout time in half and still get a great workout in.

Three movements. Full body. Massive bang-for-your-buck.

Strategy 2: Fewer Rounds, Higher Effort

I hear a lot of people say, “If I don’t do the full workout, it doesn’t really count.”

Not true.

Even one solid round still gives your muscles enough stimulus to maintain strength – and often to build it.

Here’s an approach we use all the time with busy clients.

Matching Sets

1. Pick a challenging weight or version of the exercise.
2. After a warm up, do as many good reps as you can with solid form.
3. Rest briefly.
4. Do one more set and try to match that number – even if you need a few mini-breaks to get there.

Two high-effort sets and you’re done in minutes.

Strategy 3: The 10-minute Time Box

Sometimes life is so slammed you feel like you barely have 5 or 10 minutes to squeeze a workout in.

So let’s build a workout that you know will take EXACTLY that long!

Here’s how to do it:

1. Set a timer for your allotted time box. (5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, etc.)
2. Choose 2-4 exercises.
3. Cycle through them one after the other, resting as needed.
4. Get as many total reps as you can before the timer hits zero.

If you get one round: great.

If you get four rounds, also great.

You worked hard inside the window you had, which is what counts.

One Last Thing

Even if none of these strategies happen and the day is a complete whirlwind…a two-minute walk, a quick stretch, or a single set of squats still matters.

It keeps the “workout space” open in your life.

It reinforces your identity as someone who moves.

And it makes sliding back into a routine in January so much easier.

You don’t need a perfect plan.

You just need a plan that works today, with the time and energy you actually have.

-Matt

P.S. If you want help building a plan that fits your life, and the accountability and support to implement it, that’s exactly what we do in our ​Coaching Program​.

The post Short on time? Here’s how to modify your workout. first appeared on Nerd Fitness.