Get an hour's worth of fitness in 20 minutes!

December 5, 4:58 PMBoston Fitness ExaminerSarah Dussault

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Get an hour's worth of fitness and calorie burning in just 20 minutes this holiday season. Now that you've read the first sentence, you no longer have the ability to use the excuse, "I don't have any time!" This Holiday season seems more stressful than past years. With the economy in a recession, constant pressure and uncertainty about the future has become a reality at many jobs. The best stress reliever is and always will be fitness and exercise.

"Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people don't shoot their husbands. They just don't!" Legally Blonde, 2001

It's difficult to find time for working out, especially during the holidays, but thankfully there are ways to increase productivity even when time seems crunched. Want to know how to get six pack abs? It was recently announced that the best ab exercise is the bicycle crunch.

This fitness video tells why the bicycle crunch earned top honors. Don't waste your time doing ineffective ab exercises again.

• If you have 10 minutes: Try this fat burning ab workout that will have your entire body burning while working your core.
• If you have only one minute: Try this 1 minute ab workout that is sure to flatten your belly and tone your core.

There is no need to go for hour long runs to get cardio benefits. In fact, a recent study showed that 20 minute interval runs burned more fat than a 40 minute steady-paced run.

• If you have 20 minutes: Warm up for 3 minutes. Sprint as fast as you can for 30 seconds followed by a 90 second recovery period of a slow jog or brisk walk. Repeat sprint burst, recovery 6 more times or 12 minutes and then cool down for 3 minutes.
• If you have 4 minutes: Try "The World's Fastest Workout" shown here. It can burn as many as 400 calories! How? It basically lights your metabolism on fire for the rest of the day! It's also referred to as HIIT, High Intentensity Interval Training.

Instead of kicking your feet up on the weekends, stay active. Shopping actually burns the same number of calories as your weight per hour. If you weigh 140, one hour of perfect gift hunting can burn 147 calories. A 120 lb person will burn around 125 calories, get it?  Also, it may be useful to know that Newbury Street from Arlington to Mass Ave is just short of a mile.  Here in Boston there is a beautiful outdoor skating rink in the common that serves as a romantic daytime date as well as fit points. Leisure skating burns between 300-400 calories per hour depending on how much you weigh. Find out how many calories other winter activities burn by using this fitness tracker.