Does a 15-20 minute at home workout have any health/fitness benefits?

[ImGood]

In other words, is it enough to make a difference?

I haven’t been to the gym or any classes for some time and I am confined to the house a lot of the time so I am generally not very active. I go for a walk about once a week and on the other days I will do a short YouTube workout.

I have been doing this daily for about two years and I don’t know if it is having any benefit at all. I have put on a bit of weight, say 8-10 lbs or so, and I don’t feel I am making progress in fitness so is there any point?

I am in my 50s and don’t have any particular health problems so I could definitely do more. It’s the difficulties in getting to the gym and lack of motivation that is the problem.

I’m sure many people do a lot more but is what I’m doing better than nothing?!

I’m sure many people do a lot more but is what I’m doing better than nothing?!

Of course! If you stopped doing it for a month I bet you'd notice and feel the difference.

All exercise is positive, being sedentary is known to increase chance of early death.

Depends on the workout. I used to do two 10 minute Cross Fit workouts at home (abs and glutes) and it was tough. My fitness definitely improved.

Oh I feel better now!

Every little helps.
But exercise has never been a way to lose weight in my experience. You can't out train a bad diet.

Absolutely it does

If you’ve only got a short amount of time then you want to be doing HIIT or a decent strength routine.
it’s definitely not going to burn enough calories to loose weight unless you also cut back on what you eat but it’s better than sitting on your bum.

@Mercurial123 Is cross fit the name of a brand or a kind of work out?

I did these classes

www.pearcepointers.com/powerabs-1b

Lots of evidence now suggests that a short workout with some resistance included with adequate recovery time is as / more beneficial than hammering the gym etc. think of how humans are designed to go from sitting to sprinting to avoid a threat... this is the holy grail. Short workouts are excellent for health.

Include some Calisthenics and weights - start with kettle bells - and you'll be well on your way to massive fitness gains.

Cut food for weight ( very hard / impossible with exercise alone) and build / maintain muscle with exercise. Two pronged attack

in lockdown, I did my workout at home and I noticed quite a difference. When I’m at the gym, I usually find someone to chat to and we do our workouts together which means that im more motivated to do the workout. But when i was at home, I did far less as I wasn’t motivated.

If you want to lose weight, you'll have to eat less.

But short daily workouts will definitely help you keep fit, especially HIIT. However you need to make sure that you really challenge yourself, i.e. get your heart rate up. And use weights - very important, especially as you approach the menopause. Get a pair of dumbbells - 3-5 kg, say, depending on your fitness - and a resistance band.

Growingannanas has lots of 20-30 minute HIIT workouts - with and without weights -that are very effective, including tabata (i.e. 20 seconds activity followed by 10 seconds rest). Very professionally produced and free on YouTube.

These are a few short, easy yet effective workouts that target different areas:

Lucy Wyndham Read: Thighs & Glutes, Muffin Top
Rebecca Louise: Best Abs, Ageless Arms
Bowflex: 3-minute plank (planks, abs and core exercises are very important!)

Or, if you are definitely fit and want to challenge yourself more with weights, try Caroline Girvan, who is one of the very best online trainers.

Thanks for the advice. I do have weights but don’t use them much. I could definitely push myself a bit more. I think I would be more motivated if I saw some results. I did at first where I could see a bit of toning on my arms and legs but I have plateaued.

Work on your abs and core, @ImGood
It's the key to overall fitness and acts as a powerful motivator re. controlling one's weight.

If you keep doing the same thing you will plateau. You need to work harder, faster, longer, lift heavier etc if you want results.