Only have a minute to exercise? Here's the system for you!

[LifeisaBlessing]

In my quest to find time-efficient exercise routines, I came across this wonderful book written by a doctor who was finding it very difficult to fit in an exercise routine into his overly busy day. It's called "The One Minute Workout."

The author, Dr. Raymond Wu, has an extensive background in the martial arts, and used that experience to create the exercise routines and progressions in his system. He addresses his system to everyone, from super-beginner to super-advanced. The routines start out extremely basic and end at the advanced routines (which I realistically can NEVER see myself doing), which resemble something you'd see in the Olympics--iron crosses, flags, etc. This man truly has an amazing physical capability!

The book, while pricey, is worth it. It is a resource that is chock-full of information on a NoS-compatible diet; exercise, including a rather detailed and beautifully illustrated muscle anatomy section which is used to analyze which exercises work which muscles; lifestyle; motivation; and finally, detailed descriptions (with photographs) of the exercises with planned workout schedules and strategies. You can also pick and choose which exercises to follow, and create your own weekly routines.

Dr. Wu's exercise protocol does indeed take only one minute a day. There is no bait and switch. No kidding! It's absolutely amazing. No need for changing into workout clothes, special equipment (at least in the non-advanced stages), driving to and from the gym, or needing to shower and re-dress afterwards.

Throughout the week, you rotate through his exercise selections so you hit every muscle. Within the individual exercise groups, there are "progressions"--changes in positioning, support, etc.--that will enable you to target muscles at different angles, and make the exercise more challenging when you need or want to advance. You can even break up the one minute of exercise into intervals of seconds over the course of the day if the selected exercise is too difficult to do for an entire minute.

For an example of one of his most basic foundation exercises, check out this one from his website: the sit press. Once you're on the page, just scroll to the bottom where you'll see the author demonstrating the intermediate version of the sit press.

For anyone who doesn't like to exercise and/or for those with time constraints (WHERE was this system when I was a young mother with young children and barely had time to use the bathroom by myself, let alone exercise?!?!?!?), I highly recommend giving this a try!

(***Note*** Don't confuse this book with the HIIT one with the same title by Martin Gibala--the Gibala book does not truly take one minute a day--you end up stringing together a bunch of mini-bursts throughout the day to add up to 30 minutes total of exercise.)

[Bluebell]

Thanks for this, I have just signed up for the free version to get me started, even I can manage one minute a day! (Chronic exercise avoider here )

[LifeisaBlessing]

Yay Bluebell!!! I hope that you find these exercises as great as I have--it's amazing how many parts of the body they hit. They have been invaluable to me throughout this busy pre-Christmas season where it seems like every time you turn around, there's something else to do. Easy to incorporate, and super-effective!

[oolala53]

I signed up for the free version. I thought it said there would be 8 exercises, but I can find only 3. Do I get access to them later? (Two of them look like it would take me QUITE awhile to get that far.)

[Merry]

I'll have to check these out sometime. Everytime I see this, I think, how can 1 minute of anything make any difference?!

[LifeisaBlessing]

oolala - Which three exercises did you get? I do have the (Kindle) book, so I could reference that to check and help you out. Maybe the individual progressions count toward the eight total exercises--meaning if you get three increasingly difficult variations of the sit press, that would count as three exercises, possibly?

Don't worry about feeling daunted about some of the positions. I believe that moving through the progressions is HIGHLY individualistic, and everyone will eventually reach his/her personal maximum, which may be at some level way below the author's. For me, I can't see myself moving past some of the basic, non-equipment-level exercises. For instance, my hamstring flexibility has never been that good. The top-level sit press in the "Basics" section has you using on-the-floor support bars, holding your body in a full pike position. In my wildest dreams would my lower back and hamstrings cooperate to hold that for an entire minute. It's just not going to happen in my lifetime lol. And that's okay! Knowing that, I just work up to the level that I'm most comfortable and still feel a bit challenged.

Prior to finding this book, I had been doing a variation of one-minute isometric holds on my own in my own personal exercise routine. I've used the author's suggestions to add to my menu of exercises to choose from, and really like how he set up his progressions. It does give the individual something to shoot for, keeping an eye on personal physical limitations.

Merry - I've often thought that the fitness industry completely missed the boat in addressing the individuals who wanted to exercise, but didn't want to commit to the standard recommendations for time and duration. I can personally vouch for the effectiveness (both aesthetic and practical) of short bouts of isometrics--it's how I've been exercising for a few years now--and that the most important thing is finding something you can be consistent with. The exercises that the author of this One Minute Workout system put together are doable but challenging, and have really added to my arsenal of short exercise routines. This is so invaluable, especially during the holidays when you may have houseguests and your time is even more limited.

[oolala53]

Oops, I was wrong. I don't know which page I was looking at before, but I see now that there is a drop down menu that has sitting, plank, and squat variations that add up to eight different ones. I can already do the hardest version of the plank, but it will take awhile to get to the whole 60 seconds on the full squat, and I'm not sure if the lifted sit press will ever be a possibility. I can see how seductive it is to want to get those other exercises. But I'm honestly not busy enough to justify needing to stick to only one minute. Should I give myself a small monetary reward for each day or week of full compliance and buy it later? I've already got books with graduated exercises in them, but I don't use them, so it would have to be the online program. They know what they're doing! I always then think of Reinhard never spending a dime more than the cost of his sledge hammer. But I've had weights sitting beside my couch for years and I don't use them, either. Would the online program make the difference?

I did my second day. I'll let the suspense build for now...

[LifeisaBlessing]

Lol oolala!

Actually, I think that those "free" exercises give you a pretty well-rounded taste of Wu's program. The book does provide additional exercises based on plank variations, plus different directional martial arts kick holds in the "basic" level. For the truly ambitious and flexible, you could move on to the "advanced" level which includes the Olympic-style iron crosses, flags, etc. I also appreciate his well-rounded approach to fitness; i.e., his acknowledgment of diet's role, as well as staying motivated--one of the toughies for both diet and exercise. The anatomy section is surprisingly thorough yet easy to understand for the non-medical person. So depending on how much "extra" stuff you'd be interested in, it sounds like the free version would work well.

I've taken his approach to other exercises I do and am finding it very useful in making things doable yet challenging. The Darebee website also has a ton of variety for exercise selections, so that's another option to apply the "one minute" concept. They even address a similar exercise protocol where you accumulate reps throughout the day of certain exercises--kind of like taking the one-minute hold and substituting repetitions for the time held in position. Maybe you could experiment with a combination of both styles?

[oolala53]

I hope to revive an intermittent habit of just searching for youtube videos of short lengths and doing those on N days. They could be as short as 4 minutes up to 15. And I sometimes just throw in moves I know for 30-second stints. But I talk myself out of even those short workouts. It would be truly ludicrous not to do the one-minute version!

[noni]

I'm thinking my son would like this. He's in shape, so he would progress quickly. I was just wondering about equipment needs, like doing the iron cross, etc...

[LifeisaBlessing]

Hi noni!

In the Basics section, the only additional equipment needed would be a set of parallettes bars for the sit presses when you advance to the hardest full pike position. The Amazon link is just an example--there are others available.

In the Advanced section, a very high quality and heavy duty pull up station is recommended for the pull up variations. The flags can be done on the pull up station if the vertical supports are weighted and heavy gauge; otherwise, a stationary heavy-duty pole is recommended. The iron cross exercises will most likely require a gym that has rings suspended from the ceilings.

[noni]

Thank you, Life!

[VictoriaMurphy]

Thanks for this.

[oolala53]

Thanks to you, I've gotten in 22 minutes out of 31 since 12/28. If you take off the 9 weekend days (though not kosher since it IS only a minute ), that's an average of all the N days, though I did miss some weekdays and "worked out" on some S days. I even got out of bed one night to do the exercise.

[LifeisaBlessing]

Just saw this now, Oolala, but so thrilled to hear that the One Minute Workout helped you keep more consistent with your exercise program! I love this approach, and have been incorporating some of my own exercises into the sequences that Wu recommends.

We've been told for years, "It's all about consistency!" as the industry has thrown more time-consuming programs at us. It's nice that some professionals are finally "getting it" that there needed to be something more doable for the general population. As I said upthread, I wish that this would've been around years ago when my fitness journey was first starting.

For you and anyone else following this program, I wanted to share one of the exercises in Wu's plan that is absolutely fantastic for the hard-to-reach tricep area on the back of the arm: the back plank. In all my years of exercising, I never felt like any isolation exercises addressing this area were truly useful, effective, or functional. But this position works, and works well! It's simple: sit on the floor with your hands on either side of your butt, fingers facing any direction that feels comfortable (I usually have them towards the toes). Push up your butt, holding the position for one minute total. Ideally, you want to keep your body from head to feet as straight as possible. For a visual, think of the being in the top position of a push up, but facing the other way. This leaves my triceps sore for days afterwards!

[oolala53]

I'll try that out on chair sit days. One of the best ones I ever used for triceps wouldn't work as an isometric. But I'm adding a few minutes on, either attached immediately to the one-minute, or at other times. I use exercises I've learned over the years that tax the same muscle groups. That way it keeps rotating the exertion. And some vigorous but lower intensity moves, some just for joint mobility. Fitness is sneaking up on me. Or I'm sneaking up on it.