18 Minute Minimalist Exercises

True story: I used to be horribly out of shape

A couple years ago, I couldn’t do a single push-up. And I certainly couldn’t do a pull-up. Hell, I didn’t exercise at all. Or, when I did exercise, it was sporadic; it never lasted more than a few days before I gave up. Sound familiar?

Even after losing seventy pounds—which was due mostly to my diet—I was in terrible shape. At age twenty-eight, I was doughy and flabby and weak.

But not anymore.

At age thirty, I’m in the best shape of my life. That’s a weird thing to say, I know—but it’s the truth. I’m in good shape because I’ve found ways to enjoy exercising; I’ve found ways to make exercise a daily reward instead of a dreaded, tedious task.

Three reasons exercise is enjoyable now

I only do exercises I enjoy. I don’t enjoy running, so I don’t do it. I attempted it for six months and discovered it wasn’t for me. If you see me running, call the police, because someone is chasing me. Instead, I find other ways to do cardio: I walk; I get on the elliptical machine at the gym; I do bodyweight exercises that incorporate cardio.

Exercise relieves stress. I love hitting the gym (or the park) in the evenings if I feel tense or stressed (although I haven’t been too stressed since I started living with no goals). Exercising at the end of a long, stressful day also gives me time in solitude to reflect on what’s important.

Variety keeps exercise fresh. When I first started exercising, I used to hit the gym three times per week, which was certainly better than not exercising at all. Then, as I got more serious, I started going to the gym daily. This routine became incredibly time consuming, and doing the same thing over and over eventually caused me to plateau. These days I mix it up: I walk every day, and I still hit the gym occasionally, but the thing that has made the biggest, most noticeable difference has been the variety of my daily eighteen-minute bodyweight exercises.

My Eighteen-Minute Exercises

Honestly, eighteen minutes sounds like an arbitrary number—that’s because it is. When I started these bodyweight exercises, I didn’t have a specific window of time in mind. But I timed myself last week and discovered that almost every time I hit the park for my exercises, I was worn out within eighteen minutes. Thus, these are my eighteen-minute exercises (all of which you can do in your living room, outdoors, or just about anywhere else—even outside during a thunderstorm).

I usually alternate between the following exercises (video tutorial links included). You can of course pepper in your own favorite exercises. And, yes, these exercises are suitable for men and women.

Push-ups. Like I said, two years ago I couldn’t do a push-up. Eventually, I could do one push-up (after doing modified pushups for a while). After a while, I could do ten, then twenty. Now I can do a hundred or so. I tend to do about five or six sets, resulting in about four-hundred push-ups within my eighteen minutes (Muscles worked wiki.)

Pull-ups. Two years ago I thought I’d never be able to do a pull-up. I learned how to eventually do one pull-up with this technique. Soon I could do two pull-ups, then four. I can do about thirty in a row now. I do five or six sets, resulting in about a hundred pull-ups within my eighteen minutes. I use monkey bars at the park. You can use a pull-up bar at home. Leo uses tree branches. I used to hate pull-ups, but now it’s my favorite exercise. (Muscles worked wiki.)

Squats. I just started doing bodyweight squats, and I’ve already noticed a huge difference. I’m only doing three or four sets of twenty right now, but I’ll continue to work my way up, I’ll continue to grow. (Muscles worked wiki.)

Shoulder press. I use two twenty-pound dumbbells for shoulder presses. You can use smaller or larger weights, or any random object with a little weight (e.g., a large bag of rice, a couple gallons of water, etc.). I tend to do three or four sets, resulting in about 50 shoulder presses. (Muscles worked wiki.)

I don’t have a specific routine or plan, I just take a thirty-second break between sets, bouncing from one exercise to the next. After 18 minutes, I’m completely spent. And I feel great afterwards. I get that incredible, tired feeling you get after a great workout. What used to be tedious is now exhilarating.

You can work your way up, even if you can’t do a single pull-up or push-up. Everyone has an eighteen minutes per day to focus on his or her health, right?

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For additional resources and inspiration, my friend Vic Magary has some great material on his website.

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