Multi-tasking exercise

It's catching on- exercises that combine working upper and lower muscles and engaging more muscles, thus decreasing the length of time spent working out.  This is what happens when you play sports or do activities that involve lots of body movements- such as swimming, baseball, volleyball, jumping jacks, basketball, skating, dancing, rowing, cleaning house, and there are many others, (but not so much bicycling), as these activities include moving the arms and the legs at the same time for a period of time.  When working out with weights, it was isolating and focusing on one muscle group at a time.  That's old school now. And when you have limited time in your day to fit in exercise, it makes perfect sense to exercise using all the body, meaning working more muscle groups simultaneously.  It's okay to isolate muscles, but working more muscles gets your heart rate up and the additional benefits of doing that during your workouts gives you toning, strengthening muscles, heart strengthening, better lung capacity, fat burning, and increasing metabolism. All this in less time, too.

rowing engages the arms, shoulders, back, and  leg muscles

Photo credit: phestus from morguefile.com

Still my favorite is rebounding with resistance bands- for upper and lower body involvement. The bouncing also helps the lymphatic system and it's so easy on the joints, but it's a workout for sure with just 20 minutes. It's a gem of an exercise.  You'll be surprised to know how many calories you burn rebounding.(video). 

The gem here is it really doesn't require spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on exercise equipment to get a good workout.  Just move, include some resistance, and get your heart rate up.  For more on this go to my postings on 'Fitness'.

If you're goal is to get fit, there's nothing at all holding you back.