CHANGE #24
Do a 45-Minute Workout 3X a Week
SIMPLY PUT… Starting today, I want you to do some form of 45-minute full-body strength-training workout three times a week. You’ll stop doing the workout from Change #17 (the 30-minute workout I showed you), but you’ll continue to walk 10,000 steps each day.
It’s all about progression. Just when you get used to something, you have to shock the body and kick it up a notch. The change will make your muscles work harder. The harder work will burn more calories. The more calories you burn, the happier you’ll be. The happier you are, the more you’ll stick to the program. And the longer you stick to the program, the happier I’ll be. So it’s win-win!!
All kidding aside, what I’m building you up to is a full 60-minute workout. That’s how long my workouts are. That’s how long my clients’ workouts are. You can do everything and anything in sixty minutes: cardio, strength training, balance drills, flexibility movements, core work, speed work, homework (OK… not homework).
Can you still do a lot in less time? Of course! There are days I have only ten or twenty minutes free, and on those days I pack the workouts with as much as I can. But you never need more than sixty minutes and that’s where we’re heading. But first, a stop at forty-five minutes.
First of all, I know you can do this. It won’t be easy, but none of the truly rewarding things in life are ever easy. It’s called a workout after all. Not a chillout. Not a hangout. Not a relaxout. Not a grab-a-beer out. And not a grab-a-book-and-kick-your-feet-up out (unless it’s this book). It’s a workout, so put the work in and you’ll get the results out.
But if adding another fifteen minutes to your three-times-a-week workout sounds like a lot, just know that the hardest work is already behind you. The exercises you’ve been doing since we began haven’t just been moves that build lean muscle and burn fat. They’ve been teaching your muscles to work together in a way that improves your functional strength, coordination, and endurance. That’s been the harder adjustment to make along the way. Now you’re ready for the fine-tuning.
Will this routine be a little more challenging for you? Obviously. But it’s supposed to be. When the workout is no longer a challenge, it’s time to move on and switch things up.
But aren’t you also in a little bit better shape than you were before we started this journey together? Don’t you have a little more energy as a result of eating better and reducing your stress? Haven’t you started to lose a little weight? Don’t you like what you’re starting to see? I know the answer is yes to those questions, which is why this is the Change that’s going to help take you from satisfied to electrified.
The Game Plan: This new workout takes only about twenty-two to twenty-three minutes to complete, but you’ll be doing it twice, so that your total workout time will reach forty-five minutes. The entire full-body workout is composed of only five quick circuits of exercises, all of which you’re already familiar with from previous chapters.
Why no new moves? You won’t need them. The exercises you’ve already been doing are some of the most effective bodyweight exercises around. So instead of giving you new moves, I’m giving you new ways to do the moves. Changing the length, intensity, or rest time between sets each makes an impact, and for this Change, you’ll be doing all three.
There are five mini-circuits made up of various exercises. You’ll go through the exercises without resting (or with minimal rest). After each round, you’ll rest for only one minute, then move on to the next mini-circuit until you’ve completed all five.
Once you’re finished, you have a few options:
• You can do the workout again for a full 45-minute workout.
• You can repeat the workout 2 more times for a full hour-plus workout.
• You can just do the workout once and stop right there, but only if you’ve been using the book as a 30-Day program—and this is Day 24—and your body isn’t quite ready yet.
Depending on your level of fitness when you started this program, you may—or may not—be ready to move from a 30-minute routine up to a 45-minute workout, and that’s fine. But if that’s the case, and you feel you can only do this routine once, I still need you to build up to being able to do the workout twice through. Keep going back to it and see if you can do a little more each time.
Just like Change #10 and Change #17, there are a few rules you must follow to make sure your muscles are prepared for every workout:
• Before each workout, do a quick five-minute warm-up.
• Take one day off between sessions to let your muscles rest and recover.
THE WORKOUT
Mini-Circuit #1
(Do this circuit 5 times in a row)
• 20 jumping jacks
• 20 front kicks (left leg, right leg = 1 rep)
• 100 upper cuts (left fist, right fist = 1 rep)
Mini-Circuit #2
(Do this circuit 4 times in a row)
• 20 high knees (left knee, right knee = 1 rep)
• 50 shoulder circles (forward)
• 50 shoulder circles (backward)
• 50 quad drops
Mini-Circuit #3
(Do this circuit 3 times in a row)
• 50 butt kickers
• 15 slow mountain climbers
• 50 apple pickers
Mini-Circuit #4
(Do this circuit 2 times in a row)
• 30 pikes
• 25 squats
Mini-Circuit #5
(Do this circuit 1 time)
• 50 jumping jacks, one 10-second plank
• 50 upper cuts (left fist, right fist = 1 rep), one 10-second plank
• 50 high knees (left knee, right knee = 1 rep), one 10-second plank
• 20 slow mountain climbers, one 10-second plank
• 20 squats, one 10-second plank
• 20 pikes, one 10-second plank
THE EXERCISES
Jumping Jacks (see here)
Front Kicks (see here)
Upper Cuts (see here)
High Knees (see here)
Shoulder Circles (Forward) (see here)
Shoulder Circles (Backward) (see here)
Quad Drops (see here)
Butt Kickers (see here)
Slow Mountain Climbers (see here)
Apple Pickers (see here)
Pikes (see here)
Squats (see here)
Plank (see here)
Tips and Tricks
Once you devote yourself to a 45-minute workout three times a week, every little bit helps. Here are a few things to think about—and try—that could help you get even more from the extra time you’re now putting in.
Feel the burn—but keep your cool. You’ll be able to comfortably exercise longer and harder if you stay cool, as opposed to letting yourself get too warm, which can lower your performance by placing stress on your body’s thermoregulatory system. Try to cool down the temperature wherever you are as you burn calories.
Grab your phone and record your routine. The more familiar you become with the exercises in this book, the easier it can sometimes be for your body to reposition itself to make the exercise easier to perform. If your form isn’t perfect, you could be cheating yourself out of results. Recording yourself from certain angles, particularly from the side and from behind, will allow you to play the routine back and look for exercises you may not be doing properly in the heat of the moment.
Try a new room—or take it outside. Just because you’ll be using the same routine several times a week doesn’t mean you have to perform it in the same place twice. To keep it fresh, mix it up and do your workout in a different place each time whenever possible. If you’re stuck in the same place, even facing another direction can help each workout feel slightly different.
Don’t expect to improve every single session. The more you exercise, the fitter you’ll feel and the stronger you’ll become. But that doesn’t mean that with every workout, you can always expect to see and feel an improvement compared to the last time. Just keep in mind that your progress may ebb and flow, but the longer you stick with it, the fitter you’ll become.
If you exercise before bedtime, know this: For some people, working out right before going to bed can help them have a much deeper, restorative sleep. But revving up the metabolism through a long workout can leave some people feeling more alert, which could keep them from getting enough shut-eye. If that’s you, try to schedule your workouts earlier in the day.
Today show Tested
After weeks of talking to my good friend Lester Holt about his workouts (tons of push-ups, ridiculous amounts of abs, and lots of biking), I invited him to do one of mine. When he asked me about it, I left it pretty vague: a 60-minute, boot camp–style workout that combined cardio work, strength training, plyometrics, and balance drills. (OK… maybe it wasn’t that vague.) After a few seconds of silence, he asked, “Do any of those words include abs? I like doing abs.” I assured him we’d be doing tons of core work, which, yes, included abs.
We met that Friday morning at the gym as planned. NBC has an incredible gym in the building. It’s so convenient, and always fun to see colleagues out of their work mode and into their workout mode. (I won’t name names, but that Stephanie Gosk is one fast runner!!) And as always, Lester was right on time and ready to work. (He’s so ridiculously punctual and so pleasantly perfect all the time—yes, exactly as he is on TV.)
I knew this would be a more intense routine than he was used to. I figured there would be some growing pains, but we still dove right in with a few of my tougher circuits. And while it seemed like a bus ran over him, and then backed up and ran over him again, he pushed through the entire 60-minute workout. (Love that guy!)
Why was this workout similar to his, yet so hard? The exercises weren’t that different from the ones he was already doing—but I did change three things about them. We did them longer, I added a second (and sometimes a third) muscle group to each move, and I took out the rest time between exercises, all to improve his stamina, stability, and strength.
That one Friday workout turned into a standing appointment every week. And every single week that followed, we built in even more changes to make each workout harder. Eventually Erica Hill, Dylan Dreyer, and Natalie Morales all joined in, each coming in with their own different and unique athletic backgrounds (some runners, some spinners, some just Lester). And they all pushed themselves for sixty jam-packed minutes and walked away realizing that if you love how you work out, you don’t have to change it completely to make it more challenging.
Sometimes, just a few tweaks are enough to see and feel a real difference.
