Researchers have found numerous benefits to staying dedicated to your strength training routine, including promoting weight loss and developing stronger bones. Studies have revealed that strength training can also sharpen your thinking and learning skills, as well as enhance your overall quality of life. You can do strength training at home or in the gym using your own body weight with moves like pull-ups, planks, lunges, and squats.
With our busy schedules, finding the time to exercise is one of the biggest challenges for many of us. Do we really need to spend an hour in the gym to see results and improve our fitness, mental health, and more? What does the research show?
Five minutes of daily bodyweight exercise
Recently, researchers revealed that just five minutes of daily bodyweight exercises can enhance both fitness and mental health, even when you spend hours sitting during the day. In this study, participants performed progressive variations of the humble press-up, calf raises, sit-ups, and squats.
Consistency and progressive variations
The key is in the consistency and the progressive variations. The participants saw results and leveled up their overall
Just five minutes a day can boost your mental health
In the same study, participants experienced a significant improvement in their mental health with just five minutes of bodyweight exercises every day. Moving their muscles helped their minds.
Improving your heart health
In another study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers concluded that 11 minutes of daily exercise or 75 minutes a week significantly lowered the risk of early mortality and helped prevent stroke, heart disease, and some cancers compared to being sedentary. Those who worked out for 150 minutes a week had a 27% lower risk of heart disease and a 12% lower risk of cancer.
This research reminds us that it’s worth squeezing in some exercise even if you only have five minutes. If you have 10 or 11, that’s even better.
