Time. It’s the one resource that you can never make more of and it’s one of the top reasons people give when explaining why they don’t exercise.With responsibilities at work, the demands of a family, friends who want some of your time, home repairs, car repairs, shopping, paying the bills…it seems as if there is never enough time for anything but the requirements of everyday life.For some people, the lack of time is very real, while for others it’s a convenient excuse for not working towards their fat loss goals. “I’m too busy”, “I don’t have time to workout”, “There’s no TIME in my schedule”.As a father of two with a demanding job and a host of other responsibilities, I have an acute awareness of how precious each minute of the day really is. There’s hardly a free minute in my day. Up at 6AM and asleep around 11:30, my days are jam-packed.When I was younger (and less educated), I used to spend hours a week at the gym. Five days a week, 60-70 minutes a day working out. I’d follow the routines I’d find in the bodybuilding magazines I used to read religiously. That’s no longer possible. Not only is not possible, but it’s not the ideal way to build lean muscle and lose fat.With age comes wisdom (or at least I like to tell myself that!). My approach to fat loss and building lean muscle and specifically fat loss workouts has completely changed.Here are some basic concepts that I’ve learned in my years as a trainer and former personal training studio owner that should be helpful to any ultra-busy person that is looking to lose fat and build lean muscle, but has little time to commit to exercising:Skip the gym.Save your membership and gas money and workout from home. All you need is a 10×10 space and your own body. There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of exercises you can do with either a simple pair of dumbbells or no weights at all. Most people completely underestimate the power of body-weight only resistance exercises.Skip the social hour and shorten your workout. If you already have a gym membership and don’t want to “waste it” or have no room in your home, by all means, go to your gym. However, keep one thing in mind: shorter, more intense workouts are the way to go.Most people that go to the gym go for the social aspect. The gym is not a bar! Most gym workouts look like this: Do a set, walk around, do a set, talk to your buddy, do a set, repeat. Stop wasting valuable time and get to lifting! If your goal is to perform a fat loss workout, you can be done in about 15 minutes! Stay focused and stay intense!Anywhere, anytime. Being on vacation or on a business trip or at the park with your family is no longer an excuse for missing a workout. Learn how to do body-weight only workouts and you never have an excuse to miss one. I keep a set of workout clothes and sneakers in my trunk, so I’m ready to go whenever I need to get a workout in.Remember, you can get a great, fat burning workout in under 15 minutes and you can even do it from the comfort of your own home.  Many people think that home fitness routines aren’t effective, but I’m here to tell you that home fitness routines can actually be MORE effective than going to a gym.Dumbbells. Too many people, especially men, love to use barbells with heavy weights on them. I haven’t used a barbell in over two years (or a bench for that matter) and I don’t plan to. Dumbbells allow you to string together a range of movements in one exercise to make the most efficient use of your time (such as the squat-curl-press).I recommend buying a pair of adjustable dumbbells for home. They take up little space and are sufficient for most people as they go from 5 to 55 pounds in one set of dumbbells.Time is the one resource you can never make more of, but you can extend how much time you have (your life span) by adopting a regular workout routine and a good, sound nutritional strategy. Use your time efficiently. Use it wisely. Focusing on short, intense workouts 3 or 4 times a week, can produce wonders.Follow the advice above and you’ll be surprised how effectively this approach works, even for the busiest of people.