Most people never start an exercise plan because they believe that they don’t have enough time in the day to do a 30-60 minute workout. And they believe that it is not worth working out unless they can devote that 60 minutes time all at once. However you can break your workouts to shorter periods and also you can get an effective workout in just 10 minutes a day.

In our busy, fast-paced world, who can spare 30 to 60 minutes a day for working out?  You may be surprised by just how much of your day is “wasted” on non-essential activities that you could use for exercise – for most people it will be way more than 30 minutes.

Examples:  You spend 2 hours getting ready for work in the morning, taking more than 30 minutes to check  out what’s new in Facebook or Twitter, make and pack your lunch, and other activities that you could have done the night before and left room for a morning workout routine.  Then after work you finish eating dinner at 6:30pm and your favorite television show doesn’t start until 8:00pm – so you channel surf through mindless shows that you don’t care about for 1 1/2 hours – when you could have easily squeezed in a great workout!

I mention that only because “time” is such a relative term and most of us have a lot more time than we realize.

But okay – let’s assume that your day is packed full of very essential activities from the moment you awaken until the moment you fall asleep at night, and you truly cannot spare 30 minutes or more for exercise.  This article is going to share some easy ways to squeeze in 10 minutes or less of exercise several times a day, and all of those short bursts of activity are nearly as good as a full length workout.

1) Every time you use the restroom throughout the day, you could squeeze in 10 squats, lunges or jumping jacks.

2) You could park your car farther away from your workplace and stores, and walk there briskly for 5-10 minutes.

3) You could take the stairs instead of the elevator.

4) You could keep a small set of dumbells in your desk and do curls while you are on “hold” on the phone.

5) You could use your 10-15 minute work breaks to walk briskly around your workplace, either inside or outside.  Ditto for part of your lunch hour.

6) You could do stomach crunches or sit ups during television commercial breaks.

7) You could walk or march in place during commercials too.

You could do buttock clenches while standing at the sink washing dishes.

9) You could “bench press” your kids while playing in the backyard (only if they are small enough, of course – don’t try it with a teenager unless you’re really strong).

10) While shopping, if you see that the checkout lane is busy, you could keep walking around the store rather than standing in line for 10+ minutes.  When the lane dwindles down to just a few people, then get in line.

If you want to get a serious workout (and not just burn a few calories here and here) take a look at a program like Tony Horton’s 10 Minute Trainer – The Workout Program for the Busiest People – Click here With Tony’s program you’ll get a good workout in less time by super stacking your exercises so that you work out more than one area at a time and you get awesome results by compounding your workout time.

Whether you choose to do a few extra exercises here or there or devote 10 straight minutes you’ll be moving your body and that’s what counts.