This guest post was written by Derek Wahler, creator of 10 Minute Fat Loss.
I can’t help it; I’m pretty excited these days.
You see, about seven months ago, my wife shared some news with me that would change our lives forever. She walked into the kitchen with tears rolling down her face, and said those magic words. “I’m pregnant!”
Wait a second, you wanted a fitness article? Don’t worry, just hang with me for a second.
It was one of the happiest days of my life. Fast forward to today, and we’re only about two months away from meeting our baby girl.
A funny thing has happened in the last seven months. I’ve started to think more like a parent. Yep, the guy who had an ear piercing and a man ring in college (trust me, they were SO cool at the time) is now in charge of another life.
That got me thinking.
Whether you’re a parent or just a busy adult, you might find that being able to spend 30-60 minutes working out each night is becoming less realistic every single day. I know it is for me.
That’s why I was determined to create a solution, so that you can get in the best shape of your life no matter how busy you are.
Luckily, one day I came across the revolutionary Spark study, which was conducted by Dr. Glenn Gaesser. It was designed to determine whether multiple short bursts of exercise would have the same health and fitness benefits as a standard 30-40 minute continuous workout.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been skeptical about extremely short workouts. How much benefit do you really get out of them? Honestly, what can you really achieve in only 10 minutes?
The exercises in the study included walking, weightlifting, stretching and aerobic dancing for 10 minute “bursts”. Dr. Gaesser’s study showed the following results in just three weeks:
- 10-15% improvement in aerobic fitness among middle-aged men and women; reaching the equivalent fitness level of a person 10-15 years younger.
- 40-100% increase in strength and muscular endurance; reaching the equivalent strength level of a person 20 years younger.
- 15-point drop in total cholesterol; even higher for high-risk participants. A 1% reduction in cholesterol reduces risk of heart disease by 3%. This means that, on average, Spark study participants reduced their risk of heart disease by 20%, while those in the high-risk range reduced their risk by almost 40%!
- 10-point drop in LDL or “bad” cholesterol in the group as a whole, and 29-point drop for those in the high-risk range. Most importantly, everyone who began the study in the high-risk range reached safe levels by the end of the study.
Those are some amazing results! I was immediately hooked and started creating short 10 minute workouts to use in my bootcamps, as well as in my own training.
There’s one caveat with the 10 minute workouts, though. You have to push yourself hard! We’re only going for 10 minutes, so in order to get the results you want, you have to really push yourself in each of the exercises.
Here’s a special workout that I created exclusively for Todd and all of his readers. I literally just created it this morning, so it’s for your eyes only.
The 10-Minute Bodyweight Blitz Workout
We’re breaking this workout into two sections, the first one being 8 minutes long and the second 2 minutes.
To start off, we’re going to do supersets. That means we’ll do two exercises back-to-back with no rest in between.
So for the first 8 minutes, you’ll perform supersets of:
- Triple-Stop Push-ups (8 reps)
- Squat Jumps (8 reps)
Once you’ve completed 8 reps of each exercise, rest for 20 seconds, then continue to do as many supersets as possible in 8 minutes. (You can increase or decrease the duration of the rest periods, depending on your current fitness level.)
In the final 2 minutes, you’ll switch it up and do two different exercises:
- Cross-Body Mountain Climber Burpees (5 reps)
- Jumping Jacks (15 reps)
Perform the prescribed number of reps for each of these exercises. Once you’ve done so for both exercises, that’s one round. Do as many rounds as possible in the final 2 minutes, only resting when absolutely necessary.
Trust me, you’ll be surprised by how much you really can get done in only 10 short minutes.
If you like this workout, you’ll love the 120 10-minute fat loss workouts I created just for you. They’re easy to fit in throughout the day, so you can keep burning fat no matter what the day throws at you.
Derek Wahler is the creator of 10 Minute Fat Loss. Derek is a Certified Turbulence Trainer, as well as a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. As a recently married man, with his first child due in a few months, he knows how quickly fitness and nutrition can be pushed to the side.
With his constant determination to make workouts shorter AND more effective, he focuses on getting advanced results in a minimal amount of time. Derek currently lives in Madison, WI, where he runs his own fitness boot camp. He also trains clients across the country online with his easy to follow home workout programs. He’s also been known to spoil his yellow lab Turk (yes, he’s named after the Scrubs character!)
Burn more fat in less time now! <=
The other “Unmentioned Caveat” is that according to the Spark Study you linked to, the 10 minute bursts had to be done 15 times per week… that’s a pretty big omission!
You are very right Keng. Yes, this is a very important fact. I appreciate the comment.
How many time should i do this program per week?
thank you
Hi Siwadol,
What are your goals?
My goal is lost body fat.
Please give me your advice.
Thank you very much.
Start with 4X per week. Though nutrition is even more important, remember. 🙂
Thank you so much.
Hi Todd,
Your collection and variety of workouts is great BUT not everyone, due to acquired injury has a set of knees that will enable them to do mountain climbers, burpees, jumping jacks and all the other exercises in your routines that consistently require bounding, leaping, hopping etc.
After 1 x ACL reconstruction, 10 arthroscopes, shortly to be 11 and several PRP treatments – all across both knees, I cannot do an entire workout. Just bits and pieces and never really feel that I have pushed myself.
Try and wear the other mans shoes Todd.
Cheers
Noel
Melbourne
Great point Noel. That’s the beauty of exercise, it needs to be adapted to your situation. Listen to your body. Move slower or with greater care. You could incorporate more isometrics into the mix and increase the intensity of any of the routines and still get a great workout in.