Welcome back!

Listening to CNN on the way into the nine to five this morning, I was not surprised that McCain’s age and health are still a subject of concern.  Dr Sanjay Gupta shared that he’d had an opportunity to spend three hours pouring over McCain’s medical records from the past eight years.  Political views aside, its pleasing and reassuring that a man of 73 years is reportedly in such good health.  Dr Gupta also revealed that he has an advantage of having a parent still alive, well and kicking at 96 years, as living healthy to a ripe old age is hereditary.

Heredity is a great advantage to have; however, those who do not have that certainly can still take advantage of what they do have control over.    Time can be our ally or our adversary depending on the given situation.  In today’s society, having 30 minutes to ‘spare’ is a hot commodity, so making the best use of it is crucial.

Finding 30 minutes
There are ’30 minutes’ just laying around waiting for you to put them to good use.  You don’t think so? Take a look:

• You favorite television show – Get on the treadmill or elliptical to watch and burn calories

• Lunch – Most people have a hour for lunch, instead of going out to eat, pack a healthy lunch and eat it after your workout at the gym

• Quality time with your kids – Chasing your toddler is easily 30 minutes a day (if you’re lucky). Have kids that are in sports? Walk or run while they practice. Include them and make it a family work out, dance around the house, pop in an exercise video and let them follow what you do, they’ll love it.

What to do with them
In Barbara Russi Sarnatro’s WebMD article, she gives example of types of exercises that allow you to  work smart and hard to get the most out of your valuable 30 minutes.  Here are a few of them:

• Lower-Body Exercise Targeting the Quadriceps  – Squats and lunges can be done almost anywhere, anytime; look for places to incorporate it into your day

• Lower-Body Exercise Targeting the Hamstrings – Sarnatro makes two suggestions: a dead lift which is rather dull, boring and well…dead; or a doing a bridge, which I always thought was fun as a kid, so why not wake up the kid in you and opt for that (for those who don’t remember what that is or how to do it, it’s outlined in the article)

• Upper-Body Horizontal Pushing Movement – Pushups will do the trick; look for uncommon ways and places to do them for variety

• Core or Abdominal Exercise – Yoga, Pilates, crunches, sit ups, the list goes on

With so many things in your life that require time and commitment, your health is no exception.  Use the time you have to its utmost ability and you’ll increase your life expectancy beyond what heredity has in store for you.

Where is your ’30 minutes’? Are you already using them as your workout time? What workout regimes do you recommend to accomplish the most in the least amount of time?