TLDR: Beast it for two minutes.
Hi Steemers,
Please let me preface this with, diet is the number one thing required to lose weight and a relevant training program is required if you are looking to achieve a specific fitness goal (i.e. don’t rely on the following if you’re looking to run a marathon), however, if you’re looking to get better guns and buns, but don’t have time to gym and swim (or you can of course do this to complement your gym time), try this out.
It’s based on a style of training called ‘Tabata’ training. You basically choose an exercise, beast it for 20 seconds, rest for 10, repeat. 1 beast + 1 rest = 1 set. If you’re doing proper Tabata training, you’ll be doing 8 sets per exercise, and doing 4 exercises, back-to-back. That’s 16 minutes, and heavy duty… If you’re into it, check it out, but I wouldn’t advise doing the full thing every day, it’s essential to give your body rest time. I would totally advise doing 4 sets in the morning though, it’s only two minutes and that’s INCLUDING rest time. Because you’re beasting it during the exercise time, you’ll be using up a lot of energy and forcing your muscles to work as hard as they possibly can, meaning you’re getting the most out of them during that time. Add some protein to your breakfast and I’ll be surprised if you don’t see some results.
Checklist before you start:
Download a Tabata app for your phone (I use Tabata Stopwatch Pro on Android – also available on iTunes),
Ensure the app is set to 20 seconds exercise, 10 seconds rest, 4 sets, 1 cycle (names may vary app-to-app). You may want to give yourself a countdown of 5 seconds so you can get into the exercise starting position.
Choose an exercise and know how to do it properly (keep it simple, press-ups, sit-ups, squats etc)
Have water on standby (advise you drink a pint of water in the mornings anyway),
Have protein powder (or whatever) available to add to your breakfast.
In the morning:
Get up 2 minutes early
DON’T have breakfast. Exercise on an empty stomach while your metabolism is still in sleep mode (i.e. burning energy stores), eat afterwards.
Start the app and get into position.
When it’s time to exercise, BEAST IT! Do those press-ups correctly, but as fast as you possibly can.
You’re essentially sprinting, no matter the exercise, don’t let up for a second!
When it’s time to chill, try to completely relax for those 10 seconds, sit or lie down and let the lactic acid drain away. Breathe as deeply as you can.
Repeat!
You’ll find toward the end of two minutes you will be struggling, but don’t let-up. The entire point is to struggle, but still sprint. If you take your foot off the accelerator because you’re tiring, then the exercise only has a fraction of the impact. Give it 100%, the ENTIRE time.
When finished, have a rest. Drink your water at a slow, comfortable pace (try and drink it all though). Get some breakfast when you’re ready. I’d advise having your protein first, so it gets absorbed and used before anything else.
Wake up the next morning and do it all again.
It’s an idea to mix-up your exercises, but there’s nothing wrong with just doing the same exercise every morning. Try doing just push-ups every morning for a month and you’ll get guns of steel. FYI, if you’re thinking ‘six-pack ahoy’, be aware that a six-pack is 80% diet (body fat under 5%), so lay off the sugar or you won’t get your Adonis abs.
Hope this helps! For two minutes a day, I’d highly recommend it.
If you’ve any suggestions, feel free to comment. I would LOVE to hear from you if you try it out :)
Thanks!
-Peace.
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