If you’ve been telling yourself you’ll get back to exercising “when things calm down”, you’re not alone.
After the holidays (and honestly, after most busy seasons), life tends to move faster than our intentions. You wake up with plans, and before you know it, the day has been filled by work, family, responsibilities, and the kind of fatigue that doesn’t go away with one good night’s sleep.
And when you’re over 50, it’s not always just about being busy. It’s also about energy, recovery, and how your body feels when you’ve been sitting too long or not moving much.
That’s why this isn’t another article telling you to find an hour, overhaul your routine, or push through pain. You can reset your body and mind in just 10 minutes a day for 28 days if you follow a plan made for women in this stage of life.
Here’s how the Free 28-Day New Year’s Activation Challenge gives you the structure to actually stick with it.
Key Takeaways: Here’s What 10 Minutes Exercise a Day Can Do in 28 Days
- Ten minutes a day counts. The WHO’s guidance is clear that some physical activity is better than none and that all movement adds up.
- Short bouts can still be beneficial. A systematic review found health-related associations for physical activity accumulated in bouts under 10 minutes.
- Breaking up sitting helps your body handle sugar and fats better. Evidence on “exercise snacks” shows brief activity breaks can improve post-meal glucose and insulin responses.
- After 50, strength and balance matter more than ever. CDC guidance for older adults highlights aerobic activity, muscle-strengthening, and balance activities each week.
- Strength training supports muscles and slows bone loss. ACOG notes that strength training builds muscle and slows bone loss.
- Exercise can support mood, too. A 2024 BMJ review found exercise is an effective treatment for depression, with walking/jogging and strength training among the more effective options.
Why does exercise feel so hard to fit in when you’re genuinely busy?
“Busy” isn’t just about time, it’s also about mental load, energy, and the effort it takes to plan and start.
When your day is full, the hardest part is often not the workout itself. It’s the build-up. Deciding what to do, changing clothes, finding space, and wondering if it will hurt your knees are often the hardest parts of the build-up. Sometimes, you may feel pressured to take on more tasks than you have the time for. That mental back-and-forth can drain you before you even begin.
Midlife adds another layer. Sleep can be lighter or broken. Your recovery can be slower. You may notice stiffness sooner if you’ve been sitting for long periods. You might also feel that your body needs movement more, but your energy doesn’t always match that need.
So if you’ve been stuck in the cycle of “I’ll start when I’m less busy,” I want you to hear this gently: the perfect calm week may not arrive. What can arrive is a plan that fits into the life you already have.
If you want a simple routine that fits real life, the Free 28-Day New Year’s Activation Challenge gives you workouts that take 10 minutes or less, with a daily reminder and video so you don’t have to plan anything.
Is 10 minutes a day actually enough to make progress?
Yes, especially if your goal is to build consistency, improve everyday strength and mobility, and support your overall health in a realistic way.
The WHO’s message is refreshingly straightforward: all physical activity counts, and even small amounts are better than none. That matters because many women don’t struggle with knowledge, they struggle with the size of the commitment. Ten minutes reduces the entry barrier, which is often exactly what you need.
There’s also evidence behind short bouts. A systematic review on bout duration reported that physical activity accumulated in bouts under 10 minutes can still show meaningful associations with health markers like HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting glucose, insulin, and metabolic syndrome risk.
And if you sit a lot (at work, while driving, or while taking care of your family), this is something you should know: research on “exercise snacks,” which are short bursts of activity that break up long periods of sitting, has consistently found improvements in glucose and insulin responses after meals, along with other possible cardiometabolic benefits.
So no, 10 minutes isn’t “nothing.” Ten minutes is a practical entry point. It’s also a powerful way to teach your body and brain: we move every day.
What can 10 minutes a day do in 28 days?
In 28 days, you can expect to feel more mobile, a bit stronger in daily tasks, more consistent, and more confident that your body can change with steady effort.
Let’s be honest about what we expect. Twenty-eight days won’t make a huge difference in your life right away. Some changes are good for you, like when you feel better in your body. Those changes make you want to keep going.
You may feel less stiff and more “loose” in your body
When you move daily, you stop letting tightness build up for days at a time. Stretching and flexibility training has evidence for improving range of motion and functional performance in older adults, which matters because mobility affects how you walk, climb stairs, and move through your day.
You can start building real strength that shows up in everyday life
Strength after 50 is not unrealistic. It’s necessary. Strength helps posture, joints, and the ability to do normal tasks with less effort. ACOG notes that strength training builds muscle and slows bone loss.
You may feel steadier on your feet
Balance is not something you either have or don’t have, it’s something you train. The CDC recommends balance activities for older adults because stability supports independence and helps reduce fall risk.
Your mood can lift in a very real way
Exercise is not a cure-all, but it is a strong support. A 2024 systematic review in The BMJ concluded that exercise is an effective treatment for depression, with walking/jogging and strength training among the more effective options. This matters because when your mood improves, consistency feels less like a battle.
READ ALSO: The Ultimate Strength Training Blueprint For Women Over 50
Why a balanced plan matters more than random workouts after 50
After 50, the best approach is a mix of strength, aerobic work, balance, and mobility, so you support your whole body, not just one fitness goal.
Many women default to walking only, or they try an intense routine that’s hard to recover from. Walking is wonderful, but strength and balance are also essential. Intensity can be helpful, but only if it’s appropriate and sustainable.
Guidelines for older adults consistently highlight a combination of aerobic activity, muscle strengthening, and balance activities. The WHO also states that older adults should do varied multicomponent physical activity that emphasizes functional balance and strength training on three or more days a week to enhance functional capacity and prevent falls.
That’s exactly why this 28-day plan is structured the way it is. It’s not “whatever workout you can find”. It’s a routine designed to support the body you live in now and the body you want to live in for the next decade.
If you want a plan that covers strength, balance, posture, mobility, and cardio without overwhelm, the Free 28-Day New Year’s Activation Challenge was created for exactly that.
The solution: the Free 28-Day New Year’s Activation Challenge
It’s a 28-day plan designed specifically for midlife women and beyond, based on a realistic weekly routine, with workouts that take 10 minutes or less per day.
Here’s the weekly structure you’ll follow throughout the challenge:
- Three strength sessions to support muscle, bones, and posture
- One walking workout to build endurance and support overall health
- One HIIT session to safely challenge your cardiovascular system
- One balance workout to improve stability and confidence
- One stretch session to support mobility and recovery
Every workout has a purpose. You’re not guessing, and you’re not bouncing from one random routine to another. You’re building a foundation.
And the best part is that it fits into real life. Ten minutes is short enough that you can do it even on a busy day, which is exactly how consistency is built. That matters because major health bodies emphasize regular activity and the value of moving more throughout life.
What you receive when you sign up
When you join the challenge, everything is set up to make consistency easier:
- A daily reminder with your workout video attached
- A daily tip based on real menopause experience and practical support
- A workbook to track progress and stay anchored
- A private Facebook community for support and connection
- A certificate of completion, because showing up deserves recognition
How do you fit 10 minutes into a busy day without it becoming stressful?
You treat it like a daily reset, not a performance, and you make it easier to start than to skip.
Here are a few ways to make 10 minutes realistic:
- Tie it to something you already do. After your morning tea. After you drop the kids off. Before your shower.
- Stop waiting for the perfect time. The best time is the one that happens most often.
- Let “good enough” be enough. Ten minutes done consistently is better than an hour you never do. The WHO’s message supports starting with what you can do and building up.
- Use the daily reminder. When the video arrives, you remove the planning step, and that’s often the difference between doing it and not doing it.
If you sit for long periods of time, you can also think of these workouts as helpful “interruptions” to your sedentary time. This is because short breaks of activity have been shown to improve glucose and insulin control after a meal.
If planning is what stops you, join the challenge so your daily workout video is already decided for you. You just press play and move for 10 minutes.
What if you’re tired, dealing with menopause symptoms, or starting from zero?
You can still do this plan; the key is keeping it gentle, consistent, and matched to your current level.
Starting from zero is more common than people admit. Many women have had months (or years) where movement fell off because life happened. The goal is not to “make up for lost time”. The goal is to return to your body with steady, kind effort.
If sleep has been a struggle, you may also find that regular aerobic movement supports sleep over time. There are systematic reviews examining exercise interventions and sleep in menopausal women, suggesting exercise can improve sleep outcomes, though results depend on the type and dosage.
If you have ongoing pain, sharp joint symptoms, or medical concerns, it’s always wise to check with a clinician before starting something new. But for many women, short, structured movement that includes strength, balance, and mobility is a safe, sensible way to rebuild capacity, especially when it’s not extreme.
Final thoughts
If you’re busy, you don’t need a plan that demands more from you. You need a plan that supports you. Ten minutes a day is a practical, realistic way to stop putting yourself last, and 28 days is long enough to prove something important: you can be consistent, even with a full life.
And I want you to see this clearly, this stage of life is not you winding down. It’s you stepping into a smarter kind of strength. You’re building a body that feels steady and capable, not because you’re afraid of aging, but because you want to live well inside your own skin.
Let this be a new beginning where you move with intention, build strength with confidence, and keep showing up for yourself one day at a time.
FAQs
Yes. The WHO emphasizes that all physical activity counts and that doing some is better than none.
Evidence suggests they can. A systematic review found meaningful associations between activity accumulated in bouts under 10 minutes and several cardiometabolic markers.
Because strength training builds muscle and slows bone loss, which becomes increasingly important after menopause.
Because balance supports stability, confidence, and fall prevention, and the CDC recommends balance activities for older adults each week.
Short activity breaks can be helpful. Research on “exercise snacks” suggests brief breaks can improve post-meal glucose and insulin responses compared with uninterrupted sitting.
You return the next day. Consistency is built across weeks, not through perfection.
