It boggles my mind and makes me feel cooped up when I hear that the average American watches 5 hours and 4 minutes of TV per day (That’s why we need the couch workout that I’m sharing below)! I watch a tiny, tiny fraction of that, unless I’m binging on some of my recent favorite shows like Silicone Valley, Stranger Things or The Crown. And even then, it’s just a couple episodes at a time, and I can fast-forward through the commercials – if there even ARE any. 
However, it’s even more revealing to learn that 4 ½ of these hours are spent watching live television (not necessarily “live” but traditionally broadcast where you get stuck with the commercials) and only 30 minutes of DVR shows. Think of all the time wasted sitting on your butt being influenced by messages from the sponsor?! Another study says that in an hour time slot of television, nearly one-fourth is filled with ads! Turn this down time with into “found” time for fitness with my 15-minute Couch Workout. Read on the get all the details.
Most commercial breaks seem to be about three minutes, give or take. That might not seem like a lot of time to get anything worthwhile done, but remember there are numerous breaks in an hour show (usually more and more as the plot thickens, ha-ha). I came up with this 15-minute Couch Workout as a way to take cumulative advantage of the downtime. Instead of just sitting there, brain and body idling, you can get up and get your heart rate pumping as fast as possible for about 3 minutes and then take a break until the next commercial! 
The idea of this 15-minute Couch Workout is to do as many repetitions as possible (in groups of 5) for the 3 minutes, going hard and not taking a break. Break time comes when the three minutes is up or the commercials have ended. Repeat the process until the end of the show, likely about FIVE 3-minute rounds for an hour episode. Get your family up off the sofa too and make this a friendly competition! Also, my Three Anywhere Workouts (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced) only use body weight and are perfect for a home sweat sesh!
Taking a break from my couch workout! ha!
Are you active during your screen time? What’s your current favorite show . . . I’m asking for a friend 😉! Please share in the comments – XOXO, Jennifer