Last updated
17 October 2009

Simple exercise routines

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Simple exercise routines are ideal for those pressed for time......

The following recommended exercise routines have been put together on the assumption that you, as someone leading a sedentary (perhaps 'office job'?) lifestyle, like many other people in your position, have limited time in the day to spend exercising.

Remember, always seek professional medical advice before starting exercise regime, particularly if you have been leading a sedentary lifestyle for a long period of time.

For the gym

Assumptions:

You have 1 hour available during your lunch break from work;
It takes you 10 minutes to walk to the gym and back;
You spend 5 minutes changing into your gym clothes and it takes you 10 minutes to get showered and dressed after your workout; and
......that leaves us with only 35 minutes to play with at the gym.

Exercise bike - 10 minutes

Choose a manual program and set the level to be such that you can, with a bit of effort, maintain 60-70rpm.

- you will burn 107 calories*

Treadmill (running machine) - 20 minutes

Choose a manual program and set the speed so that you are doing a slow jogging pace (c. 5mph / 9kph) and set gradient to zero.

- you will burn 213 calories*

Cross trainer - 5 minutes

Choose a manual program and set level to be such that you can, with a bit of effort, maintain 60-70rpm

- you will burn 60 calories*

At home

Much depends on the type of equipment that you have, but as a guide, you should try to do exercise which increases your heart rate to the aerobic zone which is 70-80% of your maximum heart rate. This will result in you burning a significant amount of calories, approximately 50% of which will come from fat stored on the body.

See our heart rate and training zones section and relevant target heart rate calculators to find out more.

To determine how many calories you burned doing your routine, why not use our calories burned calculator, which is part of our free to use exercise diary.

Using freely available resources

Try a 3 stage approach - the 'walk, run, walk' routine.

Stage 1 - Brisk Walk - 5 minutes

Start with a brisk walk (4mph / 6.5kph) for five minutes - this will warm you up nicely.

- you will burn around 33 calories*

Stage 2 - 25 minutes

Increase your walk to a jog and try jogging at slow pace (c. 5mph / 9kph) to start off with. In anticipation of being within 5 minutes of your destination (e.g. home) at the end of the jog, choose a route which facilitates this.

- this stage will burn around 267 calories*

Cross trainer - 5 minutes

Reduce your speed to a brisk walk again for a cool-down for the last 5 minutes of your work out.

- during these 5 minutes, you will burn 60 calories*