When you are busy taking care of children, working, going to school, or anything else our busy world demands, trying to burn fat doesn’t always fit neatly into your schedule.

An alternative many people turn to is short workouts. Do three or four ten minute workouts produce the same effects as one long one?

But wait. If your body needs about twenty minutes of activity before it kicks into fat burning mode, will short workouts even do anything? If you need to burn fat and don’t have a lot of time, what do you do?

The American Heart Association has found that several short exercise sessions benefit your body just as well as one long session, provided that they equal the same amount of time.

This means that if you do four ten minute workouts, you are doing the same great things for your body that a single forty minute workout can do. To make it even more effective, the AHA recommends that you make these short workouts as intense as possible.

So the key to making your short workouts count is to make sure they are rigorous and challenging to your body. Here are some ways you can do this:

1. Pick up the pace. A lot.

Try to go at a faster pace than you normally would. If you’re not a runner, walk very briskly for ten minutes. Both will get your heart pumping.

2. Attack a gym machine.

You probably don’t want to drive back and forth to the gym four times a day, but if you’re there anyway, hop on a machine and push the intensity.

3. Run up a hill or a set of stairs.

Sprint up a hill or staircase. Walk down more slowly. At the bottom, sprint up again. Repeat for ten minutes.

4. Have flashbacks to phys ed with jumping jacks.

5. Try jumping rope.

Basically, anything that is intense and hard work for your body can make a good ten minute workout. And don’t forget your strength training!

Make sure you include strength training in your short workout routine. Your body needs the variety in order to keep challenged and burn fat. Do a quick warm-up before you do the following:

* Squats. These are one of the best moves to get your body in shape.

* Lunges

* Deadlifts

* Lunges

* Pushups

For great results and a great workout, do several repetitions of each. You can also combine the moves, called compound moves. These work more than one muscle group and include chest presses combined with lunges or overhead presses done with squats.

It is also important to warm up and cool down. They don’t have to be extensive, simply walking briskly for a few minutes is sufficient for warming up, and moving a more slowly is fine for cooling down. Stretching before and after you exercise also helps loosen your muscles and prevent injury.

The important thing with exercise is to do it. If you can do four ten minute workouts per day, that is great. You will see results, and you will burn fat.

Working out for shorter periods of time can also be much more motivating and can help you stick with your exercise program.

Your busy schedule may be a valid excuse for not doing a long workout each day, but not with short workouts! You can always find ten minutes somewhere.

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