Not everyone has time for an hour at the gym every day, and even if we do, it's a big commitment requiring a lot of resolve. And very few people find that drive and make long term weight loss progress. Fortunately for all of us who'd rather spend that time at home or with friends, we can get dramatic results with at home mini workouts rather than the conventional sweat-your-butt-off gym sessions.
What is a mini workout? It's just what it sounds like. It's a small workout you can squeeze in at any time of the day, as frequently as you like. It lasts anywhere from 2 minutes to 10 minutes and believe it or not, it gets great results. You see, it's the most efficient application of the most important fitness principle of progressive overload. Progressive overload dictates that our body is forced to adapt by building muscle or burning fat when pushed past previous levels and intensity limits.
Intensity can be measured by energy exerted per unit of time, which means that the less time we require to perform a certain set of movements, the greater the intensity of the workout. If I take an hour to finish a full body workout and someone else takes 30 minutes to finish that same workout, his intensity is much greater and he is the fitter person.
As always, when we're talking about weight loss, its essential we spend our time on big compound movements which burn more calories in the shortest amount of time, and which work our cardiovascular system as well. These are the basic movements of pushups, pull ups, squats, and crunches or more difficult forms of abdominal work. Combining the principle above into one short and intense workout we create a circuit of these three or four exercises and perform each one to failure, that is, until we are not capable of performing another rep.
After finishing one movement we progress immediately into another with no rest time in between. So for example, I may do 50 pushups, followed by 46 bodyweight squats, followed by 37 crunches, all done as fast as possible with good form until I can finish another. This small circuit takes less than 2 minutes and constitutes one mini workout. If you cannot perform more than 15 reps per exercise, then you can add a second set after a short 2 to 3 minute rest for greater energy exertion.
This can be done first thing in the morning, during a 5 minute coffee break at the office, just before dinner, or any other time of the day. Done once or twice a day, 5 to 6 days a week, this mini workout will reap great rewards for your weight loss journey. Just remember that continued progress requires increased intensity. So some days you'll be weaker, some days stronger, but you do want to see yourself gradually completing more and more reps per exercise. And that's it. Good training to you.
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