Exercise: Breast Cancer Prevention ~ 4 Fast No-Excuses Workouts

You all know by now that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  If you scan the magazine isles of any bookstore or grocer this month, you will see that nearly every life-style magazine geared toward female readers includes the most recent statistics related to breast cancer. From prevention strategies to myths vs. facts, there's a lot for us ladies to consider!

If you don't think that exercise is really that important, would you reconsider if you knew that it could be a potential safe-guard against developing breast-cancer?  The research is out and the experts agree, exercise is one of the best preventions we have in the fight against this disease. This excerpt was taken from an article in Time Healthland:

Exercise can lower women’s risk of breast cancer, but how much exercise is enough and at what age do women have to be physically active to benefit?

Those are the questions that Lauren McCullough, a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and her colleagues sought to answer in a new study published in the journal Cancer. They found that women who exercised about two hours a day five days a week were about 30% less likely to develop breast cancer than less active women. The intensity of the exercise didn’t seem to matter; all it took was moderate physical activity, which could include gardening, walking or doing household chores, for the women to benefit.

If the number #1 reason for not exercising is a lack of time, then we have re-evaluate our schedules and our priorities in order to find the time.  You don't have to exercise for hours to receive the benefits of exercise or to get in shape.  If you have 20 minutes to give each day, you can still get in a great work-out.  Here are a few examples:

 Pinterest is acutally a great place to get work-out ideas.  I found this one by simply searching "quick work-outs" on their home page. It's a great way to just get moving.

This 20 Minute Workout from Real Simple comes with step-by-step instructions and photos to match.

I'll admit, I don't do yoga, I'm more of a Pilates fan.  But, yoga can be a great form of exercise and is known to be a super stress reducer.  Here is a Printable 20 Minute Yoga Workout.

If 20 minutes is a stretch for you, then how does The 8 Minute, Fat Blasting Cross-Fit Workout sound?
8 minutes?? C'mon, you can handle 8 minutes? I'm excited to try this one!

Here's an added bonus: My friend Leah from Empower Fitness shared with me her Busy Mom's Workout.  I've been using it for a few weeks now, and love it! It only takes me 25 minutes! You can check it out here.