30 Minute vs. 60 Minutes? What's the Real Sweet Spot?

How many times have people told you that in order to reach your fitness goals, you must workout for at least an hour at a time each exercise session?

As a former group fitness instructor this 1 hr approach to fitness was actually they way they taught and certified us to instruct. The breakdown was as follows: 10-15 minutes to warm up, 35-40 minutes of exercise, and another 5-10 minutes for cool down. Funny thing is, I’d have more than half the class breaking a sweat during the warm up thinking to myself “Please don’t let Emily in the back pass out 10 minutes into class”. I always wondered why 60 minutes was the “magic number” for what I thought then was the most effective way to get the most from an exercise session.

It’s when I transitioned to one-on-one personal training where I threw the 60 minute exercise model out the window. My days of in person training were dedicated mostly to fast paced professional women (similar to the ladies I train now) who could only give me approximately 30 minutes of their time. In the beginning, my group fitness mindset always told me “There’s no way your client is going to see the results they want if they’re only exercising 30 minutes each session”. At the same time I wanted these women to at least get “something” out of it. I mean, they were paying me for goodness sake! Only a couple months into my new 30 minute method of training is where I saw some REAL transformations. Not only were these women seeing results, but they were able to accomplish more throughout their day.

I then transferred this 30 minute workout method into my online training model and continued getting the same results and this is why….

THINK ABOUT IT

1. What sounds more daunting? A 1 hour workout or a 30 minute workout? I think it’s safe to say the 30 minute option sounds way more appealing and way more feasible for your busy day-to-day life. That means, you’re more apt to actually doing these 30 minute workouts versus having to give yourself a total NFL hype talk to get yourself to do the 1 hour workout. As a personal anecdote behind this, let’s just say I had an in person training roster FULL of 30 minute session clients with perhaps 1 or 2 (60 minute) clients. What does that tell you? To me, it seems that more people think to themselves “30 minutes? Yeah, I can do that!” vs. the hour they have to dedicate to a workout. This is something they (and you) can routinely stick to!

2. You have more energy and time throughout the day. Since you haven’t expended as much time and energy from your 30 minute workout vs. the hour workout, that means, you’ll have more time and energy to be more physically active throughout the day. Does that mean a walk after work? Maybe getting to that yard work needed to be done this weekend? I don’t know about you, but I’m usually toast after an hour workout. If my hour workout was in the morning then after work I’m ready to hit the couch and chill, HARD. I find the same to be true with my current online clients whom I create these more quick and effective workouts for. I frequently hear about more walks with the dogs and more time playing outside with the kids. Could this additional time for activity also be because these workouts are 30 minutes in length as well? I think the answer to this question is “yes”.

3. Why can’t your 30 minute workout be just as effective as your 1 hour workout? I call this “perceived rate of exertion”. Let’s take persons A and B. Person A is performing a 30 minute running and jogging interval workout. Bringing their heart rate up to a max HR zone and down to a Lower HR zone. Person B is performing a 60 minute walk with a sustained heart rate throughout. So who exerted the most energy? Technically, it depends on their perceived rate of exertion meaning the intensity of the workout but I’d say….BOTH! Get this, according to the study published in the American Journal of Physiology, 30 minutes of daily exercise is just as effective for losing weight as 60 minutes.

 So what do you think? Think you can find these 30 minutes each day to get up and at em? Something as simple as a brisk walk is all you need to start seeing the results you want!