How to set up a quick, free and easy exercise routine

Nowadays, most people would probably agree that an exercise routine is one of the pillars of physical healthwith sleep and nutrition and that they should probably start one if they haven't already. They wouldn't be wrong. According to the World Health Organization, obesity has nearly tripled around the world since 1975. Between 1980 and 2014, the number of cases of diabetes has quadrupled. Lastly, cardiovascular diseases are the overall leading causes of all deaths. It’s undeniably a good idea to exercise and try to pursue a healthy diet.

The current standard for working out is going to the gym, which seems to be held by most as the holy panacea for ensuring one's physical health. A narrative that doesn’t profit the Food & Fitness industry in the least, I’m sure. Similarly to global warming, one could say, whose main cause is definitely the hoodlums who can’t be bothered to properly sort their trash.

Sink or gym #

Since when did going to the gym become so ubiquitous? Was there some sort of successful grand marketing scheme, like for bacon and eggs? Has Edward Bernays struck again from beyond the graveEdward Bernays is one of the most cartoonishly mask-off yet unrenowned villains of history, in spite of the massive influence of his marketing and propaganda schemes on the current state of the world. Among his accomplishments, he managed to create the supposedly culturally "all-American breakfast" from thin air.?

In any case, according to the current hegemonic framework, the options for exercise don’t seem very abundant at first glance. In order to do the righteous thing, dare I say, and avoid going to Hell for wallowing in cellulite, you must:

• Commit to this new endeavor by purchasing an expensive monthly subscription to a gym (50 USD on averageIn the US at least, based on this 2022 report.).

• Commute to its whereabouts and back at least once a week.

• While on the premise:

  • Wait for one among a set of numerous intricate torture machines to free up and get acquainted with it if you haven't already.
  • Use said machine to inflict a slew of various drills upon yourself, with the set purpose of holistically rupturing muscular fibers within your body.
  • Rinse and repeat while surrounded by a legion of sweaty counterparts.If you get lucky, you might even get embroiled in the currently trending controversy of untoward flirting at the gym.

• Lastly, make the whole thing a regular habit whilst the apex of workout you got so far was climbing the occasional staircase when confronted with one.

That’s a lot of things to do. It’s no wonder many people think they definitely should exercise, but never actually act on it.

It does seem to me that sometimes this worship of the gym and sacrificing our time, money, sweat, and blood at the altar of building ourselves a shredded body, rippling bulky muscles through every nook and cranny, ends up missing the main point of regular exercise: merely, being fit.

But are there any viable alternatives? Well, what if I told you it's possible to start exercising right now with no requirements for a specific location or any equipment? More than that, you could do it for free, and to top it off, it wouldn’t even voraciously drain your measly free time.

Because, as a reclusive wimp, that's what I’ve been doing for more than three years and a half. So far it’s been working pretty well for me, and doctors don’t even hate me!

…or at least I hope they don’t.

My quick, free and easy exercise routine #

If you’re reading this post, I’m assuming it’s probably to get the answer advertised by the title rather than peruse my extended ramblings. Therefore, I’ll get right into the meat of the subject with a quick overview.

It's not a particularly controversial take that regularity beats intensity when it comes to exercise. I based my strategy on this principle: maximizing frequency to minimize strain and duration. Could I find a short exercise routine that anyone could do quite simply? After some quick investigating online, I settled on the first decent program I found and tried it out the following morning.

The rules were simple: I would do 10 minutes of exercise every single morningweekends and holidays included for three months, after which I would decide whether to keep going on or not based on the results. I started this program on the 1st of October 2019, and not only did I respect my initial engagement, but I’ve been going strong ever since. I've racked up a streak of 1224 days in a row as of writing.

Personal results #

I'd like to stipulate that I wasn't a well-in-shape and sporty person before sticking to this routine. No need to be concerned about a potential unfair advantage from the outset on my part. Actually, it was because I had started growing a burgeoning beer belly after one year of slight overindulgence and wanted to see it melt away that I set the whole thing up in the first place. At that point in time, I would need to pause and catch my breath in a wheezing fit after a thirty-second run.

I did fulfill my initial goal within the span of these three months, albeit greatly reducing my beer intake must have helped too. I also gained a moderate amount of muscle in the process. This is what convinced me to keep going. That, and not feeling like I was on the brink of death after dragging the weekly groceries up to the fifth floor. As a bonus, I also got a bit more confident in my body and myself.

As it happens, because I started on the spur of the moment and am also a bit absent-minded, I didn’t weigh myself before and after those three months, nor did I take before and after pictures. I didn’t think I’d be writing a blog post about it a few years later and having some quantitative data sure would be nice. I'm afraid you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Still, to give you a rough idea, I've weighed around 67 kilos on averageMy weight is very volatile. I can easily drop or gain half a kilo in one day, if not more. So I think an average is more informative in this case. I've only started weighting myself regularly since June 2020, and it's fluctuated within the range of 62 to 72 kg up to now. for the last few years for a height of 1 meter 85. If you’re in a country that still uses barbaric units of measure, that’s about 148 pounds for 6 feet 1. I'm not making any promises about you reaching these numbers, though. Far be it from me to oversell you a miracle cure. Keep in mind that I'm also an ectomorphTechnical jargon designating the lanky body type. by default, and fortuitously follow haphazard intermittent fasting through the habit of skipping breakfast.

Anyway, let's cut to the chase and explain how you would go about implementing it for yourself.

The workout #

Exercise is by no means my field of expertise, so when I started my experiment, I just browsed for a decent 10-minute workout. Something doable that wouldn’t leave me begging for mercy and cradling my aching muscles afterward, while still providing decent exercise to most of my body. I ended up using the first formula from this list of quick "total body" workouts by self.com.

It consists of the following steps:

Rinse and repeat until you reach a total of 10 minutes.

The only thing you need is a patch of uncluttered floor, which I’m assuming shouldn’t be too troublesome to find, and a device to time yourself. If you’re reading this post, then you have access to the internet where you can find online chronometers (like this one). There’s also a high probability you possess a smartphone, which should have a preinstalled clock application with this feature anyway.

I just want to be sure to mention that although this routine should be fine for the vast majority of people, if you have a special muscular or bone condition, perhaps a wound, or just doubt that this is suited for you, be sure to check with your doctor. I’m definitely not fit to give any medical advice and my goal here is to help you out, not to cause injuries.

If some of the moves are unfamiliar to you, you can look them up onlineIf you click on the callouts for each step, you can see a short GIF serving as a visual example. (that’s what I did). There are a lot of video demonstrations out there

By default, you’re just supposed to try to get as many rounds as you can within 10 minutes. However, I don’t know about you, but a slightly bigger number does nothing for my motivation. Maximizing my free time does, though. So noting that I did 4 rounds on average, I decided to stick to that number, and if I finished in under 10 minutes, then I got to keep that time difference. If you’re a time hoarder like me, feel free to implement this twist.

Customizing it #

The easiest way to start tweaking this routine is simply to reduce the break duration. I wouldn’t recommend this for the first few weeks, especially if it’s been a while since you last exercised. You want to get into the habit before you start intensifying the challenge.

Personally, by now I’ve gone down to 10 seconds for my in-between breaks. And yes, that’s extra free time. These days, I do the routine in about 7 minutes. But that’s a seasoned maneuver unfit for rookies, alright? Don’t start on the hardest difficulty only to immediately give up because you bit off more than you could chew. You also want to decrease it incrementally. I didn’t go from 45 to 10 seconds in one fell swoop either. Go down to 30 seconds, then 20 once you’re comfortable at 30, and so on.

Depending on your goals, you might also want to add extra stuff. In the beginning, I had a really hard time doing the five push-ups, and I was unsatisfied with that fact. I might be a wimp, but come on... I don’t want my heart to be pounding like a gerbil on crack after five meager push-ups. So I added 20 more in a row after my four rounds. The first few days were pretty rough, but now it takes more than just five to intimidate me.

I also wanted a nominal amount of abs, so I added 30 seconds of plank after these extra push-ups. Just like for the rounds, I made it progressively harder, up to a max of one minute and a half. Although I have to say that unlike all the other moves so far, you might need some material for that one, such as a flat pillow or a yoga mat. Because, speaking from experience, if you do it on a hard floor, you can hurt your elbows.

I did these extra push-up and plank sessions for several months but have stopped since then. With new things popping up in my morning routine, I had less time overall and was hitting diminishing returns regarding my personal goals anyway. More recently, I bumped up the number of push-ups to 10 per round to rekindle a touch of challenge as the routine gets easier with time.

Basically, feel free to customize this routine to fit your goals and adapt it to your current situation. I sure did. It's even possible to get quite shredded from home with little equipment. Colin Murray made an interesting video on the topic if you're interested in some domestic yet more strenuous workouts.

However, if you're starting from scratch, I’d strongly advise sticking to the vanilla version for at least the first month. This way, you can garner some experience with a fairly safe option and get an idea of what you’re doing before you sway from the beaten path.

With all that said, there is only one truly challenging element in this routine, and that's just picking up and upholding the habit.

Building new habits #

A challenge to get started #

If you’re anything like me, you regularly consume this type of life improvement advice but only end up implementing an infinitesimal amount of it. Impatience can also be an issue. If you’re expecting to lose 3 kilos after two days, you might get sorely disappointed and give up too early.

So if you're not already exercising regularly, I'd like to challenge you to try out and stick to this routine for 90 days, i.e. three months, starting today.

"Why three months?" you might ask, and that’s a good question. Well, I’ve stolen this concept from a subreddit I went to when I first decided to grow a beard. They had set this rule that if you wanted to post a picture to ask how dire your situation was and whether there was any hope, you had to let it grow for three months first. There were two reasons behind this rule.

First, some things just take time, and if you are not patient enough, the diagnosis can be way off. Before three months, it can be hard to make an accurate estimation. It’s the same with exercise. After three months, you should definitely start seeing some improvements. At that point, you’ll be in a good position to make a rational decision, based on empirical data, on whether it's worth it or not for you.

Second, according to that sub, if you don’t have the resilience to keep at it for three months, then you’ll never make it anyway. Although it’d be nice if that weren’t the case, there's some truth to it. It’s the same with getting healthy. If you can’t invest 10 minutes every day (i.e. about an hour per week) for three months, no offense, but I’m not sure how exactly you’ll ever get fit. Frankly, when compared with most alternatives, 10 minutes a day is a pretty good deal.

Anyway, I followed their advice at the time, albeit I never ended up posting a picture of what then looked like I had lacklusterly plastered my cheeks with glue before rubbing them against a cat undergoing chemotherapy. I was committed enough by that point to abstain from relying on external validation (ok, fine, I was also self-conscious). Regardless, it worked out well enough for me eventually.

Based on this experience, I followed the challenge I'm giving you now and tried my 10-minute workout every single day for three months. And when the fateful day came, I judged that the investment was definitely worth it, and I've kept on ever since.

If you think 90 days is definitely too much for you, at least try it out for one month and make your decision then. If you’re struggling, you can also try something a bit more lenient, like exercising six days a week instead of seven.

Let me give you a few additional tips to help you have the easiest journey possible.

A few tips and tricks #

If it’s been a while since you’ve engaged in any physical activities, you’ll most likely experience sore muscles the first few days. It will make the second and third days a bit harder, but push through it. Personally, it didn’t ache anymore on the fourth day, and I doubt it should last for more than a week. In fact, you'll become more resilient to them as you implement this routine, so it's a worthy investment in the long run.

Setting up new habits can be tricky. Here's some advice to maximize your chances of success if you tend to struggle with it.

First, you have to fit it somewhere in your schedule. For example, I always take a shower when I get up in the morning. If I don’t, I'll just feel off for the whole day. That's why I scheduled my exercise routine just before it. I can't shower before I've finished my exercise, which effectively makes it a requirement to get on with the rest of my day. There are added benefits to doing things in that order: you’re exercising on an empty stomach and can wash off the sweat right after. But you know yourself best, so choose the optimal time slot for you.

Following through with the routine should also be automatic. It's a lot harder to keep up a habit if you need to invest substantial willpower to do it every single day. Frequently questioning and negotiating the routine's terms instead of just getting on with it is definitely not going to help with consistency. The same applies to obsessing over the expected outcome.

That's why you should just commit to the challenge and accept it as part of your daily routine for the next few weeks. Reassess whether it's worth it only at predetermined and fairly distant intervals. Maybe weigh yourself only once a week if it helps. It can be demoralizing if you expect to see big changes from day to day.

Second, I’d recommend tracking your progress. Habitbull is a pretty good app for this. It will keep track of your current streak. It might be a pretty insignificant stat overall, but I’ve found it’s a very good motivator for me. I get really pissed when I screw up a nice streak. You want to harness the power of the Sunk Cost FallacyMaintaining a pattern of behavior regardless of whether it's still beneficial because you've already invested too much into it. For instance, persisting in a failing gambling spree instead of cutting your losses while there's still time in the hope you'll turn things around. to your advantage.

However, don’t let it screw up your entire effort either. If you miss a day, it’s not the end of the world. Regularity is key. Missing a day here and there won’t have any negative effects, as long as you don’t let it tank your morale and get back to it the next day. You don’t need a 100% continuous streak to complete the challenge, just shift the end date by one day.

Lastly, accountability is also a good way to stay motivated. Personally, I made do without, but following through on habits comes pretty easily to me once I set my mind to it. If you think it might help you, let a friend know you’re doing this challenge. Or even better, get someone to do it with you, you can even share feedback this way.

Conclusion #

My main concern in this post was to refute the Toolbox Fallacy that you need anything in order to start getting fit. Anyone can take up regular exercise.

The Toolbox Fallacy is a concept I discovered in this YouTube video by Ian Martin (also available as a Medium article). He describes it as such :

I can’t do X until I have Y. Once I have the (gym membership, tablet, camera, laptop, time), then I’ll be able to (workout, paint more, work on my photography, write, be happy.) That is the Toolbox Fallacy […].

You already have everything you need to get started right now! Furthermore, there isn't only one proper exercise method. Going to the gym is not the only way to get fit💡To be fair, for many people, the gym is a good fit, and there's nothing wrong with that. If it ain't broke, don't fix it., so think outside the box and find something that works for you.

If my solution does the trick for you, that’s great! If not, that's fine too. Just make your own. That's what I did, and so can you. Do you enjoy biking, swimming, running? The specific activity doesn’t matter all that much as long as you're getting a decent workout on a regular basis. The gym is not the end-all be-all of fitness. Be creative and find an enjoyable and manageable way to stay healthy!