Although I do not possess any advanced degrees in either fitness or nutrition I have been working out in some form since I was 8. I have dabbled in martial arts (judo and some Okinawan forms of karate), played baseball, and swam competitively. I have trained in two weightlifting sports (powerlifting and Olympic style), I enjoy hiking, was a rock climber, and an Army Green Beret. I understand how to be in shape. I do not pretend to know everything about fitness but what I do know does work. A few years ago I pulled my right QL muscle while lifting weights. It was a significant pull and took me a year to get over it. Although I have always had diverse workout programs weightlifting was always the centerpiece of my physical fitness. This time though I could not lift significant weights for many months. I realized that I was tired of being in pain from 2 and 3 hour weight workouts. I was approaching forty and wanted to be able to work out the rest of my life relatively injury free. I began to look for other methods to provide the bulk of my physical fitness. Looked at pilates, Matt Furey’s Combat Conditioning, Crossfit, aerobics, cycling, and old fashioned Army PT. What I decided on was all of the above. If one looks at these separate systems there are many similarities. I will try to explain these below. Now, several years after the back injury I am at my playing weight, over 40 and in excellent shape.
The twenty minute athlete is a work out philosophy and system designed around the average person’s day. Most people have twenty to thirty minutes in the day in which they can work out. But the knee jerk reaction to working out is “I would love to work out but I do not have the time.” This is essentially not true. Americans have more leisure time than ever before. This system requires very minimum equipment. If you do not have the specified equipment then do something similar. For example if you do not have a fit ball to do sit ups on then just do them on the floor. In fact, a little talked about secret in the fitness industry is that you do not need equipment, personal trainers, or gym memberships to be in good shape. If you desire to be a body builder or power lifting champion then of course you need such things. But for the average Joe who is trying to be in better shape so he can play with his children and not wear out before they do, you can do a lot in your own living room during the football pre-game show.
I lift weights. I enjoy it, but the problem with traditional weights is that most people do not use them properly. Poor lifting leads to injury. Worse still poor lifting means that you are not working the muscles that you think you are. Men tend to lift upper body and tend toward any exercises that give them large pecs. They are not balanced physically and generally are not in as good conditioning as the average high school wrestler (an excellent standard of fitness by the way). Women tend to not do enough weight or reps. Either way the average person can ill afford the injuries that occur with this form of exercise. It is frustrating to spend hours in the gym and not have significant results. Also, the over reliance on weightlifting machines is, in my opinion, a negative trend. Machines isolate muscles. They are designed to do so. The problem with this is that isolation makes nicely formed good looking muscles but will not enhance real strength and power. In short, machines do not really help you get through your day or enhance your ability to do work or play sports. Weightlifting, as a rule, is too unfamiliar to most people and they are not willing to learn to do it properly. Men are too egotistical to take good advice and men don’t like to give women lifting advice for fear of being accused of stalking. Either way, there is a lot of bad lifting going on in the average gym. Do not misunderstand me here; weightlifting is a valuable form of exercise and, when done properly, will garner very beneficial results. However, many of these benefits can be gained by strength producing calisthenics.
Real strength is earned by focusing on core work; using the muscles of the trunk (abs, obliques, spinae erectae, etc) to generate power. These muscles will assist the major muscles around them in generating strength for a given movement. There are many examples of this in sports. Albert Pujols is arguably one of the strongest hitters in the game of baseball. Pujols’ powerful swing is the result of integrated core muscles at work. The swing starts with a small foot movement that allows him to turn his hips toward the ball. The core muscles generate the power of that very smooth, violent, and powerful swing. Even the great Ted Williams acknowledged this when he gave his famous “hips ahead of hands” press quote.
NBA and NHL players have long been considered the best all around athletes in professional sports. Although most of these athletes do lift weights the bulk of their workout day is spent on playing their sport and achieving the proper conditioning through athletic drills. Boxing out Shaquile O’Neil is a core exercise. You box him out by pushing your glutes into his personal space and using your legs to drive it home. The image of Kurt Russel as Herb Brooks in the movie Miracle comes to mind here. Herb Brooks was the 1980 miracle on ice USA hockey coach. His tenure there was characterized by endless skating drills which resulted in the best conditioned team on the ice at those games. Their method of conditioning was just skating. Skating short hard bursts over a sustained period gave the team the result they needed. The twenty minute athlete is a smaller version of this. The exercises are designed to be sustained series of short intense burst exercises. If you need to rest, then rest for a few seconds but the ultimate goal is to just go from one exercise to the next.
The twenty minute athlete is designed around functional strength, or that kind of strength that will help you do the things that you need to do for life or your particular sport. This workout system is designed for people without a lot of time, in conjunction with other activities (even weightlifting) or by itself. Fitness is strength, conditioning (muscular endurance and cardio stamina), flexibility and probably coordination. These are not new concepts, but the goal here is to develop these somewhat simultaneously, rather than the traditional theory of sets of exercises. Most of these workouts take approximately 20 minutes. There are a few that will take closer to 40. There are a few that will take less. The times will vary based on your fitness level, expertise in doing these exercises and intensity for that day.
America is overweight. People see working out as something that you need a gym and steroids to do. Workouts have come to require expensive gym memberships or expensive home fitness equipment that once broken only serves to take up space. Most traditional workout routines are repetitive and one-dimensional - they only focus on one of the aspects of fitness. We are amazed by the old farmer who lives long into his 80’s and seems strong and vital through most of his life. Your grandfather, the construction worker who could drive a 10 penny nail in two hammer strikes probably lived a long time as well. One of the contributing factors to this is that their jobs required them to do the kinds of things that we are talking about here. And oh yeah, they never had a personal trainer either. One of the goals here is for you to give up your reliance on equipment and gyms. Those things are great if used frequently and well but in order to make fitness user friendly and inexpensive as it should be we do not include them here.
Start seeing yourself as an athlete. Athletes treat their bodies well, are made better by competition, and have discipline. If you have a blue collar job or a white collar job it takes skill, focus, and stamina to get through your day. You can afford to dedicate twenty minutes per day to fitness in order to improve this. If you are losing weight then try doing it twice per day for fifteen to twenty minutes. The workouts are generally simple. We will put more advanced workouts and even some weight workouts on the website separately as we develop the site but the bedrock of fitness is sustained, intense, conditioning through integrated whole body movements using your own body as the resistance. These workouts are modular. They are varied. You can break them up to emphasize different groups or focus on the conditioning or coordination aspect. If you get done in ten minutes do it twice, if you like. If the workout of the day is not as challenging as you would have liked, then do a supplemental one. Always see yourself as in competition with yourself. Competition is good. Lab rats under stress grow larger. Be the lab rat. Push yourself. If you did 50 reps in 50 seconds the last time you did workout x then shoot for 50 in 49 seconds this time. Shoot for less or shorter rest periods. Shoot for two more reps, two less seconds, etc. Give yourself goals and acknowledge your small victories that way.
The system is built around 3 day blocks. Workout three days consecutively and take the fourth day off. You can adjust this to your particular schedule and bio rhythms however, you must include rest into your workout cycles. Each three day segment will have a focus to it. Each workout will likewise have a focus to it, although each individual workout will generally have multiple facets. So if you want to deviate then just make sure that you are focusing on the focused group or skill set. All are based on movements that anyone can learn. They are designed to be of short duration and intense. They are designed to compliment your everyday activities whether you are an amateur athlete or just a housewife.
Keep track of your progress. Nothing helps your life long dedication to fitness like tracking your progress. Reward yourself for your progress but don’t make it ice cream or a missed workout. Buy yourself that new sweater or special cup of coffee at Starbucks or something similar. Don’t make non-fitness the reward for fitness. This is another common mistake.
A note on dieting
I do not believe in diets. I believe in healthy eating habits. Diets are negative - I must do without. Eating habits are positive - I must feed the machine and I enjoy these foods which will help. I do not believe in cutting out sweets forever. I have a sweet tooth. I occasionally crave chocolate. I eat chocolate when I crave it. Generally though, fresh food is better for you than boxed, bagged, or packaged food. I believe that the key to fitness nutrition is protein. I used to follow the Zone fitness or 40-30-30 plan. These are similar to the South beach and some other plans. I no longer slave over numbers of grams of things per these plans but try to follow the simple principles they put out like incorporating the macro nutrients into my every meal and keep the saturated fats to a minimum. I think olive oil is really good and good for me so I use it a lot. I generally snack on trail mix of dried fruits and nuts. It satisfies your cravings for energy, protein, and fats (HDL producing fats mostly which help you) and will quell hunger pangs. I stay away from cereal bars. They just make me eat more for some reason and generally are really high in fat and sodium. My family has histories of circulatory and diabetes problems so I try to keep foods that contribute to this to a minimum.
There are shortcomings for every fitness system. It will do better than just get you started however. The key to any fitness program is to do it. Do something frequently. Use a variety of some things. It is too easy to say that I can’t work out today because the children are sick or I have to work late. If this is you then select one of the shorter exercises and do something. The push up workout that does three types of push ups in reps of 10-1 takes about 8 minutes if you are in decent shape and don’t screw around. My personal favorite is body weight squats. If you are in a rush just do a few hundred of these. All of your workouts will not be stellar but they can all be done. Obviously the more you do the better your level of fitness will be but if it is a workout day then work out; even if it is only the 8 minutes of a push up ladder. If it is a workout day then do a workout. If it is a rest day, then rest or, at most, stretch.
If you have a Bowflex or a Total Gym at home or a gym membership then continue to do those activities in conjunction with these workouts. If you do you will see your fitness increase exponentially. Continue to keep your workouts short and intense however. When I do these kinds of combined workouts I keep it to less than an hour. As long as you are not doing sets and continue to roll from one exercise to another, you will get a very good session in within a short time.
Good luck. Give the 20 minute athlete about a month to see discernible results for you. If you have questions then email me at joe@whitewolfsecurity.com.