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You aren't going to win any strong man competitions with this routine, but if you are just trying to keep your body in shape there are a few things to consider.

You aren't going to win any strong man competitions with this routine, but if you are just trying to keep your body in shape there are a few things to consider. 1) Abs are made in the kitchen. You need to spend a lot of time on the treadmill to burn off a single doughnut. If you skip the doughnut, you can skip the treadmill. 2) Each morning I do one set of pushups, curls, overhead press, lat pulls, and triceps. Probably takes less than three minutes. Back when I went to gyms, I would do 3-4 reps of 5-6 different lifts about twice a week. With travel time, rest between sets, and a shower that would take close to 2 hours per trip. So if you do the math, I am getting 7 reps of 5 exercises per week with a total time of about 20 minutes now vs 6-8 reps of 5-6 exercises per week for a total time of 4 hours. And if you do the math on total elevated heart rate time, the numbers are probably close enough, as there is usually a 10-20 minute recovery period after each workout. If we assume 15 mins, you get 7x15=105 minutes vs 2x(~40+15)=110 minutes. Basically in the ballpark even if the numbers are off a bit. 3) More importantly, I rarely skip the short workout whereas I would regularly skip the gym workouts. I definitely don't feel as good as I did after a gym workout. But I never feel as bad as I did after skipping the gym workouts for a few weeks in a row. It is worth mentioning that I am not a disciplined eater. So I do go for a 3-4 mile run once a week, a short bike ride 1-2 times, and usually mix in another outdoor activity or two on the weekend. But just in terms of substituting gym time, I think the short daily workouts actually get you most of the way there. I am probably going to start mixing in an afternoon routine as well because it has been such a good development.

megameter 5y ago
I am definitely on the same track. When the gym reopened I tried going back and doing higher intensity routines again after mostly sticking to smaller daily ones. Within about six weeks I had managed to blow through my fatigue threshold and it had a ripple effect on everything else(motivation, ability to learn, etc). Lesson learned, I now strive to hit "maintenance" workouts most of the time and then only do "training" occasionally so that I still experience some overload while also leaving myself some leftover energy. There is an 80/20 type of rule to be had. I have been applying the "maintenance" attitude to a lot of things as well as exercise too. My whole approach to household matters is informed by this now - I think about most my consumer purchases in terms of the "low intensity, high volume" use case, and measuring what improves my life by looking for benchmarks that would improve passively by having the item. Best ROI here is to spend on storage, organization, and ergonomics, because that lets you assemble a workspace for something much quicker. Assigning some things to a tray or bin can make all the difference. If it's shoved in a pile, the activation energy goes way up, rendering everything you already have relatively less useful. This is true even if you barely have any stuff to begin with!
maroonblazer 5y ago
To add to your point #1: I recently transitioned to one meal a day in concert with a very minimal/maintenance strength building routine, of the kind others have described here. The combination has made a huge difference. I'm much leaner and more fit than I've been since my 30s. Obviously the trick is making smart choices about that one meal, which isn't as difficult as I thought it might be.

megameter 5y ago

I am definitely on the same track. When the gym reopened I tried going back and doing higher intensity routines again after mostly sticking to smaller daily ones. Within about six weeks I had managed to blow through my fatigue threshold and it had a ripple effect on everything else(motivation, ability to learn, etc). Lesson learned, I now strive to hit "maintenance" workouts most of the time and then only do "training" occasionally so that I still experience some overload while also leaving myself some leftover energy. There is an 80/20 type of rule to be had. I have been applying the "maintenance" attitude to a lot of things as well as exercise too. My whole approach to household matters is informed by this now - I think about most my consumer purchases in terms of the "low intensity, high volume" use case, and measuring what improves my life by looking for benchmarks that would improve passively by having the item. Best ROI here is to spend on storage, organization, and ergonomics, because that lets you assemble a workspace for something much quicker. Assigning some things to a tray or bin can make all the difference. If it's shoved in a pile, the activation energy goes way up, rendering everything you already have relatively less useful. This is true even if you barely have any stuff to begin with!

maroonblazer 5y ago

To add to your point #1: I recently transitioned to one meal a day in concert with a very minimal/maintenance strength building routine, of the kind others have described here. The combination has made a huge difference. I'm much leaner and more fit than I've been since my 30s. Obviously the trick is making smart choices about that one meal, which isn't as difficult as I thought it might be.