Smart exercises are the way to go!

Short, but productive workouts are key to achieving a fit body without straining it unduly, writes Luke Coutinho

In our zeal to get fit, sculpt an attractive body or lose weight, we may tend to overdo it when it comes to the exercises we choose. When we find ourselves struggling to get the results we want, we tend to enroll ourselves in more complex and intensive training, clock in longer hours in the gym, adopt fad diets and crazy supplements.

In today’s world when life is so busy, the best way to be fit, without spending long hours, is doing smart exercises. These are short, but productive workouts which take barely an hour a day. The best workouts get over in 25-30 minutes, saving us a valuable 30 minutes of the day to use for things that are meaningful to you.

So, now that we have a background, here are a few tips on how to go for smart exercises:

1. Doing maximum sets with minimum rest between each set is important, depending on your fitness goal.
2. You should be maxed out post 30 minutes and still feel energetic.
3. Warming up and cooling down will allow you to be more productive.
4. Break away from traditional exercise methods — mix it up, challenge and push your body.
5. Consistent walking is one of the best exercises ever. Walking, along with a balanced nutrition plan and sufficient sleep helps in losing fat and in toning the body.
6. Meeting and exceeding 10,000 steps daily is one of the best benchmarks when it comes to walks.
7. Don’t just think ‘NOW’, consider the future as well.

(The author is GOQii Master Coach, holistic lifestyle coach- Integrative Medicine)