Let me tell you a little secret – getting results doesn’t have to take hours and hours in the gym and/ or on the trainer. It doesn’t require that you devote every spare second you have. And it doesn’t require that you exhaust yourself every time you workout.
In fact, seeing results can be so simple and easy that most people can’t believe it and look for some way to screw up the process. They get nervous watching other riders training like mad and thinking that surely they have to train like that to. Even though they don’t have the time and motivation for more they still try to dive into long, complex progams and just end up frustrated and burned out.
So how can this be? How can you see results in as little as 20 minutes a day? By simply applying a couple little used principles to your training programs.
The first one you need to know is the 80/20 Rule (also called the Parreto Principle) which tells us that 80% of our possible results in an area come from 20% of the possible things we can do. If you can drill down to that 20% you can maximize your training time, seeing the best resuts possible in the least amount of time and effort. What’s more, if you have a workout that misses the all-important 20% you can spend more total time training but see fewer results than someone who is focused exclusively on the most important things.
With strength training this means that we need exercises that work a lot of muscles at once and train the major movement patterns. These exercises include:
- Deadlift
- Kettlebell Swing
- Turkish Get Up
- Goblet Squat/ Kettlebell Front Squat
- Shoulder Press
While we could debate about adding a couple more this core group of exercises will deliver the biggest bang for the buck, so to speak. Every rep you do of one of these exercises is worth 1.5-2 reps of any other exercise in terms of benefits to your strength and fitness. By focusing your workouts on these exercise and filling things out with a few others to inject some variety you have the “secret” recipe for results.
Another principle that ties in with this is the idea of mastering the basics. Put another way – do fewer things but do them better. Time and again it has been shown that the best at anything don’t know something everyone else doesn’t, they have just mastered the basics to a much higher level.
This mindset and ties in well with a famous Bruce Lee quote…
“Don’t fear the man who has done 10,000 techniques once, fear the man who has done 1 technique 10,000 times.”
Focusing on the basics isn’t about “fun”, it is about getting results. The fun comes from kicking ass on the trail, which you’ll be able to do since you’ll have more time and energy. By focusing on the basics you can cut your total training time by over half and still see the bulk of the results you would if you trained for a full hour or more.
But this approach does have one caveat – you have to train 3-6 days per week. If you can only train 1-2 days per week you will have to find a different approach because this one won’t work.
However, a lot of people actually find it easier to fit in more 20 minute workouts than fewer 1+ hour workouts. Wake up a bit earlier or go to bed a bit later and anyone can find 20 minutes in their day but carving out more can be a challenge, not to mention shorter workouts aren’t as taxing on the body so you don’t get as sore and tired.
So yes, you can see results in as little as 20 minutes per day…BUT only if you know how to most efficiently use that 20 minutes. Waste your time on the wrong exercises and you’ll end up frustrated no matter how long your workouts, focus like a laser on the most important things and you’ll end up riding faster, longer and with more confidence on the trail.
Speaking of efficient 20 minute workouts that get you results where they matter the most – on the trail – I am about to launch my new Time Crunched Trail Rider Solution. This 90 day program will give your 20 minute follow-along workouts that require minimal equipment (a single kettlebell or dumbbell) and will also give you the nutrition tips, skills drills and mental prep strategies you need to improve your riding in bite sized pieces.
This program is for the rider who is so busy they don’t even have time to read a manual to get started. Click on the link below to learn more about this all new program and how it can help you overcome the time and motivation hurdles facing so many riders…
…but don’t wait because I am having a special pre-sale where you can get over 50% off the regular price when it is launched on Monday the 11th!
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