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4 Day Fat Loss |
Two hours and three minutes. I remember the time exactly, it’s a number that will always stick with me.
A couple years ago, I was stuck in a rut of an endless workout routine. It involved commuting to the gym, changing into my workout clothes, getting warmed up, doing my workout, cooling down, and finally commuting back home.
Two hours and three minutes is the longest it ever took me. That was back when I was working out every single day as well, which now just seems foolish.
This was also back before I became a fitness professional. I was working a day job for Hewlett-Packard, doing business analysis, writing code, and a lot of other work that you wouldn’t associate with someone who has a passion for fitness!
I would work all day, come home for a quick break, then head off to the gym. Working out at home wasn’t an option, I didn’t have any equipment (another foolish thought)!
It got to the point where I dreaded going to the gym. Does that sound familiar? It wasn’t because of lack of results, or that I didn’t enjoy working out, it was all about the time commitment.
Finally, I decided to actually time myself, to see how long this entire routine took to complete. I looked at the clock before heading out the door, then became determined to make this the most efficient workout possible.
Well, hitting 3 red lights on the way there didn’t help. Still, I was determined. I didn’t waste any time when I got to the gym. I did my warm up, then my workout, and finished up with a short cool-down, in what felt like record time for me. Then I raced home.
But there it was, two hours and 3 minutes. I left at 5:30 p.m. and returned home at 7:33.
I was shocked and immediately tried thinking of ways to cut down my time.
First, I’d pack all my workout clothes and take them to work with me. That way I wouldn’t have to stop at home, I’d just go straight to the gym from work.
That helped cut out a little time, but working out for at least an hour, after working all day, was hard to maintain. Talk about needing extreme energy levels! It ultimately didn’t last.
Neither did anything else I tried, until I actually opened up my mind to a whole new way of working out.
As my life changed (getting engaged, eventually married, owning a house, and now starting a family), I realized that dedicating so much time to my workouts every night was simply no longer an option. Unless I wanted to get divorced in a few years!
As work demands increase, family matters come up, all while trying to find time for your personal interests, it’s just not realistic to spend hours each night working out.
I saw it first hand with friends, as well as people I worked with. They wanted to become healthier, get in shape, and lose the unflattering pounds that built up over the years.
The problem was, there wasn’t a solution for extremely busy people.
Sure, you were always told to make time for what’s important to you. As I began my career transition into the fitness world, I told many people the same thing. You have to be able to set aside at least 30 minutes per day.
That doesn’t sound too difficult, until a deadline comes up at work, and before you know it, your 8 hour days become 10-12 hour days. Or your kids start joining school activities, so after work, you have to rush to the baseball diamond, or to the school auditorium to watch the choir concert.
When these things happen, what do you do? Blow them off to make sure you get a workout in? Or push your workout to the side, because you can always “do it tomorrow”.
That’s actually how the 10-Minute Fat Loss Program was born.
I had some unexpected commitments come up, last minute, which I couldn’t get out of. Instead of pushing my workout to the side, I came up with a 10 minute workout to at least get something in.
I literally set my timer for 10 minutes, knowing that’s all the time I could afford, because I had to meet my wife (fiancee at the time) and her family for dinner in less than an hour. Her relatives were visiting from Michigan (I live in Wisconsin), which I had just found out earlier that day.
I still the remember the workout I did, which is now called a Challenge workout. It was simple, yet I couldn’t believe how tired I was at the end.
Here’s all that I did:
5 Close Grip Pushups
10 Prisoner Body Weight Squats
15 Jumping Jacks
One right after the other. Once you complete all the reps for each exercise, that’s 1 round. I simply did as many rounds as I could in 10 minutes, resting whenever I needed to.
At the end, I was gassed. I was actually a little embarrassed too, because for the past 8 years, I had been working out for at least an hour, 6 days per week. Lifting weights, cardio, high intensity intervals, I did it all.
Now here I was, sucking air in only 10 minutes.
It was like a light turned on in my head. I immediately realized how much time I was wasting in my current workouts. One set of dumbbell chest presses, rest for a minute, do set number two, rest for another minute, finish up with the third set and then on to the next exercise.
That’s great if I wanted to become a bodybuilder, but like most of you, that’s not what I wanted. You don’t need that much rest between exercises, unless your only goal is to gain muscle mass. I simply wanted to build some lean muscle and burn fat.
I went from commuting to the gym, to simply walking downstairs to my basement.
From needing an indoor track to do my sprint intervals (yes, that was the determining factor in which gym I chose to join), to working out in a small 8×8 foot space.
From an hour long plus workout 6 days per week, to 10-minute workout bursts, only 3 days per week (yes, your body NEEDS rest)!
More importantly, I finally had the time to do the things I enjoyed. My workouts didn’t dictate my schedule every night, I was now able to fit my workouts in around my schedule.
I had my life back, you deserve that too.
Derek Wahler, CTT
Certified Turbulence Trainer
Creator, The 10-Minute Fat Loss Program
P.S. If you want to change your health and start burning some serious body fat, without getting a gym membership, buying expensive workout equipment, or dedicating hours each day, then take advantage of the limited time discount for 10-Minute Fat Loss.