Studies suggest that breaking up a work day with exercise can improve productivity but working out on company time can still be hard to justify. The FT’s Daniel Garrahan looks at the most time-efficient ways to train, from circuits with Olympic champion rower Helen Glover, to running clubs and high intensity interval training. Read more at
Sometimes it feels like there isn’t enough time left in the day to exercise but studies say that working out during office hours can improve our mood make us more alert and increase our productivity businesses are increasingly attuned to this some offer subsidized health club memberships others have their own office gyms but exercise on company time isn’t always
Easy to justify so i want to know how to make the most of a lunchtime workout i figured a good place to start was with double olympic rowing champion helen glover helen recently had a baby boy and legged my little one is 10 months old now and i’m very much experiencing some sleep deprivation and it’s really important for me to to do something physical every day
Then i just feel like i have more energy and i just have the capacity to be the best mom i can’t believe you talked me through what we’re about to do should i be scared yeah it’s gonna be ten minutes see only one minute needs exercise i want it pretty much go as hard as you can no break do i get a break if i don’t like i’m about to have a heart attack i have my
Doubts that just a single 10-minute circuit is going to be that challenging but shortly after i start pushing this weighted sled up and down a track i start to see what had a means after just the second exercise tire flips and blurring heart okay big jump on what makes you angry you get the anger out now rex it nice dad you see that really is a lunchtime workout
Yeah ten minutes you can do so much in ten minutes can you gone breathe if you’re looking at losing weight and you’ve only got 10 20 minutes every day to work out this is what you do something high-intensity something that’s gonna keep your tablet and took me over the rest of the day something that’s gonna make you sweat like this it’s not even hot in here from high
Intensity with helen to high-intensity interval training or hit and it’s known if you’ve got a gym membership and a bit longer than 10 minutes you might want to consider something like les mills as griffith letting steve tansy is taking today’s class it’s half an hour long but you will burn calories at higher level five to two and a half hours after the workout a
Quick glance at the size of steve’s biceps and i can see that he means business it’s just as intense as the workout i did with helen but mercifully the exercises are broken up short rest periods where i can at least try to catch my breath some of the moves are easier to master than others and i struggle to keep up with some of my fellow classmates but the group
Workout environment does motivate me to at least try the class is punishing according to my fitness tracker i burn 406 calories the max heart rate of 183 bpm loud dance music and group high-fives clearly answer for everyone if you don’t have a gym membership but still liked the idea of group exercise you might consider a running club instead gives you some time
Away from work so processor something that’s probably going on with your day maybe have a bit of a moan and we all go for a run here and then we come back and we have a drink as well after the two high intensity workouts a jog around the park followed by a pint sounds like a nice change of pace my heart sinks when i’m told i’ve joined the club for their weekly
Sprint interval training session after a light jog to warm up or expected a sprint for a minute then jog for a minute to recover each sprint interval then goes up in 1 minute increments until we’ve completed five rounds i starts off near the front of the pack after the second sprint interval it feels like i’m running backwards no discernable change in pace when
I should be sprinting i’m quickly overtaken lapped several times for ducking out early running club it’s very exhausting i got overtaken lapped at least three or four times clearly not the fittest person here but in half an hour around for nab it case i’ve at heart rate 135 beats per minute max heart rate of 166 according to my fitness tracker i burned over 400
Calories too and because it’s also a form of hit i’ll continue burning calories afterwards london city runners is an after-work club but there are plenty of lunchtime running clubs around – and they’re worth considering if you’re working out at lunchtime then you’re getting all of the different chemical and hormonal releases that you expect from exercise so if you
Think about alertness concentration that comes from particularly things like adrenaline release then you’re going to have that carrying on for a period of time so there are multiple benefits to work beyond just the health benefits you definitely stay awake a little bit longer as well immediately afterwards which particularly in that post-launch low it’s critical
Companies are really getting on board but i hope it’s not just knit service i know people who say yeah we have an hour for lunch and we eat it out of deficit we’re still working productivity will go up if you just kind of take that chance take that risk and let people have the opportunity to do something physical so businesses can benefit by giving staff the time
And the facility exercise but i hope helens right because that’s all of this high intensity training i feel too exhausted to even contemplate doing anything objective anytime seen
Transcribed from video
How to make the most of a lunchtime workout By Financial Times
