A Whole Workout in 13 Minutes?
Andrew Yeung
A Whole Workout in 13 Minutes? Ridiculous
A whole workout in 13 minutes? When our creators work on different programs for Whel, we ask them to consider that people may want a wide range of program and session options. So try to provide different time commitments and levels of intensity to match those wants.
One core philosophy that we stress is that what’s most important is the consistency that people develop over time and that it is better to get a lot of small wins strung together to build off of.
Some people get back to the gym and try to maintain 60-90 minute sessions a few days a week, checking off all the boxes:
- warm-up
- resistance training
- stretching
- cardio
The reality is that most people don’t have the time or the interest to do long training sessions every day, much less consistently do so for weeks and months. Here’s the harder reality for us wellness professionals: most people don’t need to do that much stuff to have success and feel good. Because most people just need the minimum effective dose done correctly and consistently.
One really interesting study that came out a few years ago caused a lot of controversy in the fitness world. The article circled around the amount of work necessary to achieve a common fitness goal: muscle mass (hypertrophy). The article basically said you don’t need to do 3-5+ sets of an exercise to achieve your goal. You only need to do one really good set of something (at an intensity close to failure) to get close to checking the box.
Here’s an example:
Now, this doesn’t carry over perfectly to the example below, but you’ll see four exercises that you can easily complete in less than 13 minutes. In fact, you can probably do one set of each of these four exercises in five minutes and feel good after.
- Glute Bridge
- Cat Camel
- Quadruped Hip Extended
- Bird Dog
Our goal with many of our programs isn’t necessarily muscle mass. The point of mentioning the article is because it is a commonly held myth that you have to do much more volume of exercises than is necessary, especially if you are just getting started and trying to build a habit.
Focusing on the minimum effective dose and building the habit is the starting point. Once you get consistent, you can focus on making things more specific. Some goals do require more time and effort. For example, you can’t train for a marathon by walking 5,000 steps a day. But I think you get the idea.
You can use the whel mobile app to find programs and sessions to meet your schedule!