I’ve been exercising every morning lately (pushups and situps), and am looking for ways to optimize my morning routine without it taking too much time.
So, where can I find good tips on a morning ten-minute exercise routine, that doesn’t require any special equipment? Preferably from a credible source.
I’m not trying to lose weight (I’m pretty skinny as is), just to be healthy.
(I found some tips here, but it’s a bit more than what I want to do right now, and requires a Gym)
I use my android smartphone for this purpose. I do push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and sit-ups coupled with supermans in a four day cycle different muscle group every day. That’s less than 10 minutes every day. The smartphone apps calculate how much you should rest between sets and how many you should do the next cycle based on how many you did and how difficult it felt.
If you do every muscle group every day that might be better for your cardiovascular health, but expect to gain strength and muscle stamina much slower. Your muscles need to get some rest too. Most apps aren’t designed for no resting. The exercises don’t target every muscle group possible but if your goal is just to stay healthy I think they’re balanced enough for that purpose. If they start to feel too easy, add some free weights or make your posture more difficult. If you don’t have a pull-up bar home and don’t want to buy one, find one outdoors.
For cardiovascular benefits I would recommend aerobic exercise. It doesn’t really matter what it is, as long as you get your heart rate high enough often enough. If you want to make sure the exercise doesn’t become too anaerobic (would become more difficult to do often) but don’t want to buy a heart rate monitor, try breathing only through your nose and slow down if that becomes too difficult. You might start with brisk walking, but over time even running while breathing this way should become effortless.
That is a solid plan, but I’d recommend adding something for hip extension, like a deadlift or back bridge. That will hit most of what you’re missing in your routine.
Three days of rest for each exercise is likely too much to be optimal. Bodyweight exercises are very easy for the body to recover from, and don’t require that much time. If you paired an upper body, lower body, and core exercise (ie squat/pushup/situps and deadlift/pullup/super man) and did that on a two day cycle, you’d probably experience just as much benefits in a shorter time frame.
Thanks for those exercise suggestions! I’ll add back bridge to the routine coupled with squats so that I can still use the software. This is not completely necessary since squats and supermans target hip extensors a bit too if done correctly. Adding some calf exercise in the leg day might make sense too, and some flank exercise on sit-ups day.
I agree one rest day might be enough if you’re not a complete beginner, rest needs vary. The problem is, the exercises become longer, and I might have to eat more to recover faster. Doing one exercise a day just after waking up is so trivial the habit is easier to keep.
Do you know any good body weight exercises for deltoids?
Bodyweight squats really don’t have enough load on the hip extensors to work them adequately. Even the barbell squat mostly targets the quadriceps (full depth Olympic/front squats involves the glutes a lot, and squatting low bar powerlifting-style involves the hamstrings).
Incline pushups (ie with your feet on a box) will involve more deltoids and less pectoralis. By continually increasing the incline, you can progress the difficulty of the exercise until you’re doing handstand pushups.
The recommendation I make for folks is to buy an adjustable dumbbell set. Small cash investment, minimal space investment, and adds a bunch of exercises you can do. I’ve expanded the set with a pair of 10s and a quad of 25s, so the max weight I can put on a handle is 125lbs, and it holds up great.
I use calendar reminders to do them first in the morning. It’s important you keep techniques consistent so that you don’t fool yourself when measuring progress.
Pushups I do eyes straight ahead chest touching the ground, hand positioning I alternate a bit and push as high as I can. Pull-upps with just slightly bent elbows when down and go as high as I can, hand positioning alternating a bit but keep palms facing me. Don’t help with the legs.
Sit-ups neck straight, hands behind neck, knees 90 degrees, elbows and shoulder blades touching the floor and back as straight as possible when down and elbows touching the knees when up. Supermans I just do as high as I can.
Squats I don’t go lower than my butt on the knee level to avoid hurting my knees and don’t straighten my knees going up either. I keep my hands stretched in front and back straight.
I’m not sure if you’ve considered any of the various High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT / HIIE) type programs like Tabata which have been floating around, but they were a huge help for me in the last year or so. Essentially the idea is that you do short bursts of highly intense exercise separated by short rests, usually using a timer app, giving you a fairly compact (4-20 mins is typical) workout which is paradoxically very good at building muscular endurance.
In terms of credibility, it’s pretty solid seeming; the Tabata program was developed by the eponymous scientist Izumi Tabata in the late nineties and looks to have accumulated a fair amount of confirming evidence (and avoided disconfirmation) as it and HIIT in general have become more popular and thoroughly researched since then. I’m not comfortable saying it’s a sure thing, since I haven’t really read much of the literature in detail and it’s not really my field, but as I said before it seems solid from what I have read.
Usually people do this with traditionally aerobic exercises like running or cycling and tend to use treadmills and stationary bikes, although since the advantage is really just about the timing you can adapt it to use pretty much any exercise and don’t need any equipment outside of a free app; I personally do body weight Squats/Push-Ups/Sit-Ups/Dips according to Tabata timing (20s on, 10s off, 8x sets per exercise), and it requires ~20mins my free smartphone app and a chair for the dips. Originally, I didn’t even need the chair because I did jumping jacks in place of dips, but that leads into my next paragraph...
There is a real risk of injury doing any HIIT workout. The high intensity, especially with jumping/running type exercises, can be really tough on your joints so if you, say, have had undiagnosed tendinitis / bursitis for years it’s generally a poor idea to do four minutes of high-intensity jumping jacks every day for six months. I got off fairly easy and am still doing a modified more-joint-friendly routine, but the general rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t do it more than about 4x a week and watch out for any joint pain. Also don’t think you have to jump in 100% right away; something like the 8-week plan at the bottom of this silly article can help you ease into it rather than leaping in blindly like I did.
I hope that helped, and either way good luck on your exercise routine.
This is not a credible source. Yoga is less efficient in terms of the benefits you get out of it per time spent when compared to other activities (like high-intensity activities).
Mark’s Daily Apple has some body weight exercises described and somewhere there’s video links. Bascially he recommends squats, push-ups, pull ups, and planking (kind of a prolonged push-up), with modificiations for various fitness levels.
There are five essential movements: Push (pushup), pull (pullup), squat, hip hinge (single leg deadlift), and weighted carry. If you can find some way to incorporate all of this into your training, then you’ll have a totally balanced training routine.
Alternating squats+pushups with deadlifts+pullups and walking with a weighted backpack or vest will hit almost all of the bases with minimal time and equipment.
I’ve been exercising every morning lately (pushups and situps), and am looking for ways to optimize my morning routine without it taking too much time.
So, where can I find good tips on a morning ten-minute exercise routine, that doesn’t require any special equipment? Preferably from a credible source.
I’m not trying to lose weight (I’m pretty skinny as is), just to be healthy.
(I found some tips here, but it’s a bit more than what I want to do right now, and requires a Gym)
I use my android smartphone for this purpose. I do push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and sit-ups coupled with supermans in a four day cycle different muscle group every day. That’s less than 10 minutes every day. The smartphone apps calculate how much you should rest between sets and how many you should do the next cycle based on how many you did and how difficult it felt.
If you do every muscle group every day that might be better for your cardiovascular health, but expect to gain strength and muscle stamina much slower. Your muscles need to get some rest too. Most apps aren’t designed for no resting. The exercises don’t target every muscle group possible but if your goal is just to stay healthy I think they’re balanced enough for that purpose. If they start to feel too easy, add some free weights or make your posture more difficult. If you don’t have a pull-up bar home and don’t want to buy one, find one outdoors.
For cardiovascular benefits I would recommend aerobic exercise. It doesn’t really matter what it is, as long as you get your heart rate high enough often enough. If you want to make sure the exercise doesn’t become too anaerobic (would become more difficult to do often) but don’t want to buy a heart rate monitor, try breathing only through your nose and slow down if that becomes too difficult. You might start with brisk walking, but over time even running while breathing this way should become effortless.
That is a solid plan, but I’d recommend adding something for hip extension, like a deadlift or back bridge. That will hit most of what you’re missing in your routine.
Three days of rest for each exercise is likely too much to be optimal. Bodyweight exercises are very easy for the body to recover from, and don’t require that much time. If you paired an upper body, lower body, and core exercise (ie squat/pushup/situps and deadlift/pullup/super man) and did that on a two day cycle, you’d probably experience just as much benefits in a shorter time frame.
Thanks for those exercise suggestions! I’ll add back bridge to the routine coupled with squats so that I can still use the software. This is not completely necessary since squats and supermans target hip extensors a bit too if done correctly. Adding some calf exercise in the leg day might make sense too, and some flank exercise on sit-ups day.
I agree one rest day might be enough if you’re not a complete beginner, rest needs vary. The problem is, the exercises become longer, and I might have to eat more to recover faster. Doing one exercise a day just after waking up is so trivial the habit is easier to keep.
Do you know any good body weight exercises for deltoids?
Bodyweight squats really don’t have enough load on the hip extensors to work them adequately. Even the barbell squat mostly targets the quadriceps (full depth Olympic/front squats involves the glutes a lot, and squatting low bar powerlifting-style involves the hamstrings).
Incline pushups (ie with your feet on a box) will involve more deltoids and less pectoralis. By continually increasing the incline, you can progress the difficulty of the exercise until you’re doing handstand pushups.
The recommendation I make for folks is to buy an adjustable dumbbell set. Small cash investment, minimal space investment, and adds a bunch of exercises you can do. I’ve expanded the set with a pair of 10s and a quad of 25s, so the max weight I can put on a handle is 125lbs, and it holds up great.
Thanks!
I’ll try alternating between those (I just installed the apps), and running back from work breathing through my nose.
I use calendar reminders to do them first in the morning. It’s important you keep techniques consistent so that you don’t fool yourself when measuring progress.
Pushups I do eyes straight ahead chest touching the ground, hand positioning I alternate a bit and push as high as I can. Pull-upps with just slightly bent elbows when down and go as high as I can, hand positioning alternating a bit but keep palms facing me. Don’t help with the legs.
Sit-ups neck straight, hands behind neck, knees 90 degrees, elbows and shoulder blades touching the floor and back as straight as possible when down and elbows touching the knees when up. Supermans I just do as high as I can.
Squats I don’t go lower than my butt on the knee level to avoid hurting my knees and don’t straighten my knees going up either. I keep my hands stretched in front and back straight.
Have fun! It’s almost as awesome as Anki.
I’m not sure if you’ve considered any of the various High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT / HIIE) type programs like Tabata which have been floating around, but they were a huge help for me in the last year or so. Essentially the idea is that you do short bursts of highly intense exercise separated by short rests, usually using a timer app, giving you a fairly compact (4-20 mins is typical) workout which is paradoxically very good at building muscular endurance.
In terms of credibility, it’s pretty solid seeming; the Tabata program was developed by the eponymous scientist Izumi Tabata in the late nineties and looks to have accumulated a fair amount of confirming evidence (and avoided disconfirmation) as it and HIIT in general have become more popular and thoroughly researched since then. I’m not comfortable saying it’s a sure thing, since I haven’t really read much of the literature in detail and it’s not really my field, but as I said before it seems solid from what I have read.
Usually people do this with traditionally aerobic exercises like running or cycling and tend to use treadmills and stationary bikes, although since the advantage is really just about the timing you can adapt it to use pretty much any exercise and don’t need any equipment outside of a free app; I personally do body weight Squats/Push-Ups/Sit-Ups/Dips according to Tabata timing (20s on, 10s off, 8x sets per exercise), and it requires ~20mins my free smartphone app and a chair for the dips. Originally, I didn’t even need the chair because I did jumping jacks in place of dips, but that leads into my next paragraph...
There is a real risk of injury doing any HIIT workout. The high intensity, especially with jumping/running type exercises, can be really tough on your joints so if you, say, have had undiagnosed tendinitis / bursitis for years it’s generally a poor idea to do four minutes of high-intensity jumping jacks every day for six months. I got off fairly easy and am still doing a modified more-joint-friendly routine, but the general rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t do it more than about 4x a week and watch out for any joint pain. Also don’t think you have to jump in 100% right away; something like the 8-week plan at the bottom of this silly article can help you ease into it rather than leaping in blindly like I did.
I hope that helped, and either way good luck on your exercise routine.
I’ll put in a good word for The Five Tibetan Rites, a cross between yoga and calesthenics.
I’ve found it helps with strength and endurance, and can be done at home with a yoga mat as the only equipment.
If you want more detail than the standard online resources, there’s The 10-Minute Rejuvenation Plan: T5T: The Revolutionary Exercise Program That Restores Your Body and Mind—the author has taught some 700 people, and has a lot of good advice about dealing with common problems.
This is not a credible source. Yoga is less efficient in terms of the benefits you get out of it per time spent when compared to other activities (like high-intensity activities).
The Tibetans are fairly high intensity, at least by my non-athletic standards. Doing 21 reps of sitting to table position is some degree of work.
I’ve been doing the “7 min scientific workout” every morning for the past month and I’ve seen great results. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/
Am I doing them wrong or do none of those exercises exercise muscles in the back?
The squats and lunges will exercise back and core. I also add supermans for mid back
Mark’s Daily Apple has some body weight exercises described and somewhere there’s video links. Bascially he recommends squats, push-ups, pull ups, and planking (kind of a prolonged push-up), with modificiations for various fitness levels.
There are five essential movements: Push (pushup), pull (pullup), squat, hip hinge (single leg deadlift), and weighted carry. If you can find some way to incorporate all of this into your training, then you’ll have a totally balanced training routine.
Alternating squats+pushups with deadlifts+pullups and walking with a weighted backpack or vest will hit almost all of the bases with minimal time and equipment.