So You Want to Get in Shape? Don’t Tell Me You’re Thinking About Joining a Gym?!
Screw the Gym! They don’t want you to lose weight and get fit. They want to you sign up to that introductory membership special and then stop showing up after a month.
Burn Fat and Build Muscle With This Super Simple Exercise Plan!
Perhaps the best investment I’ve made in my health was a $99 set of weights and weight bench I purchased from 1-Day.
Stick with me here and I’ll introduce you to a simple exercise plan to lose weight, build muscle and burn fat.
Straight Up. If you want to lose weight, the MOST important thing to focus on is your diet.
Yeah I know, I’ve said it before but I keep harping on about it for a reason. What you eat is responsible for 80-90% of your success, AND YOUR FAILURE. I spend 9-10 hours a week walking. Sounds like a lot yeah? I suppose it is, but it still leaves me with over 160 hours to screw everything up. Think of it this way; I burn about 550 calories walking everyday and that takes me about 90 minutes. I can undo all that and then some in about 20 minutes by downing 2 fush and 1/2 a scoop of chups, for a whopping 1050 calories.
If losing weight is your main focus, top-notch food choices are the fastest path to success. But if burning fat, building muscle and looking great is your target, read on.
So Cardio is Great but it Isn’t the Best Use of Your Time
As you know I’m huge advocate for walking. In my mission to lose weight, walking has been my go-to exercise. I walk to work, I walk home, I walk to go eat my lunch. All up I walk nearly 10km in a typical week day. I’ll never say a bad word about walking, but it’s a horribly inefficient way to lose weight. In fact, cardio in general is an inefficient way to lose weight.
Why? Let’s talk science for a moment: There’s bugger all Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). What the hell does that mean? Good question. Basically it means that you’re only burning calories while you’re performing the cardio exercise. So, you’re burning calories while you’re walking or running but once you stop, so does the calorie burn.
Don’t get me wrong, cardio is good for you. It’s good for your heart and it’s good for general fitness. It’s a great place to start and should be part of any balanced fitness routine. Just don’t make it your only activity.
So What’s a More Efficient Way to Burn Fat?
Strength Training! Strength training will help you lose weight in a number of different ways. If you’ve started to reduce the number of calories you consume every day, strength training will help retain and build on the muscle you already have.
EPOC. Yup the science again. Strength training has a much higher rate of exercise post oxygen consumption than cardio. So, unlike cardio your body keeps working after you stop exercising. Numerous studies have shown that this can boost your metabolism for up to 36 hours after you finish your workout.
If you’ve been here before, you’ll know my biggest regret in my own weight loss mission was not adding strength training to my workouts earlier. I lost 30kg before I started strength training. As a result I was heaps smaller, but still a flabby version of myself. Don’t make my mistake! Make strength training part of your workouts today.
Enough Already, Just Give Me the Workout Plan!
A Body Weight Workout for Beginners
Note: This exercise plan is available on the resources page as a more detailed free downloadable guide. It includes instructions, additional illustrations and is yours to take away.
This is a basic routine. There are just four exercises and you perform them one-after-the-other. If you can, do them without a break in-between. When you’ve finished all four, do it again. If you can, go for a third. You’re gonna get tired, so if you can’t do the exercises properly stop and take a break.
WARM-UP first. Always warm-up before you start! Don’t wear yourself out, just get your heart rate up and get your muscles warm. I don’t wanna hear anyone saying, “Shane, I did the workout and got an injury”. Once you’ve warmed up, here’s the plan:
- 15 Squats
- 10 Push ups
- 10 Dumbbell or Barbell Rows
- 15 Second Plank
1. 15 Squats
2. 10 Push-ups
3. 10 Dumbbell Rows (each arm)
4. PlankWhen you’re finished, make sure you stretch. Always stretch after a workout.
For the squats, keep your back straight at all times. Pretend you’re sitting down on a chair and getting back up again.
If you can’t do full push-ups, setup on your knees instead of your feet.
You don’t need dumbbells for the dumbbell rows. Fill a 2L milk bottle with water or sand, or just find something that’s hard to lift 10 times in a row.
Plank for as long as you can.
Do this routine 2-3 times a week but not on consecutive days. Your muscles need time to recover, this is just as important as actually doing the exercise. It’s during this recovery time that your muscles start to build. I recommend walking every day, but at the very least you should walk on the days in-between this bodyweight routine.
To get the most out of this routine, make sure you’re eating properly! Cut back on the refined suger and eat more real food. Ya know, vegetables and stuff.
Remember this is a basic routine, I’ll add intermediate and more advanced routines over time.
Exercise images courtesy of: WorkoutLabs.
Look, your site is great to encourage people to lose weight for the right reasons. But I really can’t get on board with your “screw the gym” attitude all over your website. You espouse people finding exercise they love to help them lose weight (and you also advocate strength training…), but criticise gyms – why? I’ve lost 45kg with the help of some absolutely fantastic gyms, in combination with team sports, running outside the gym, and all kinds of different exercise, and my gym use in that time fluctuated between once a week or six times a week, with no obligation to keep going or keep paying. Group classes and safe indoor treadmills and weights are really fun, motivating ways to lose weight if they work for you – and I don’t see why you need to be so negative towards them. Whilst I agree that incidental exercise and stuff you can do for yourself is great, and gyms can seem very ‘artificial’, there’s no point pouring scorn all over them – it just creates an isolating ‘us vs them’ mentality that’s not really conducive to people losing weight. (How many overweight people do you think own dumbbells, anyway?) Personally I find them a lot of fun – and maybe your attitude needs to be “if you don’t like the idea of gyms/can’t afford a gym, here’s some options”.
Hi Christine, thanks for stopping by and sharing your opinion. Firstly congrats on your own mission, 45kg is a fantastic achievement and it’s awesome that you found the ways that work for you. The gym worked for you and that’s really cool.
Unfortunately there are lots of people it doesn’t work for, and all too often this becomes a negative experience. I created this site to help people avoid these types of experiences. I created this site for people who are confused by media/marketing hype, fad diets and false promises. My philosophy to weight loss, fitness and health is that small, lasting changes add up to big results. Over time these changes gather momentum and eventually evolve into a much healthier lifestyle.
I’m not an advocate for big, ‘all-in’ style changes to your lifestyle. Unfortunately this is what so many people are attempting when they join a gym. For many people it’s a lifestyle change that can’t be sustained.
Everybody has to find a way that works for them. For you that included the gym, and I’ll not criticise you for that.
Hi Shane, love your blogs/posts on FB. I am 54 and have 45kg to lose, was going great, small changes, using my fitness pal and walking a few times a week. I hate the gym, soooo boring! But I have Arthritis and on one of my walks or possibly the gardening I attempted, I have developed sciatica and its so damn painful. I want to strengthen my body but I can only do one of the above exercises. My knees can’t cope with the squats, planks and push ups. Any advice?
Hi Maree, the first thing I’d say is to have a good chat to your doctor or a chiropractor before you attempt any exercise. In saying that, swimming could be a really good exercise to get into, being almost no impact it’s a great exercise for when you’re injured or in pain. Unfortunately swimming isn’t a particularly accessible activity. Any exercise or stretching that strengthens your core will probably be beneficial. But again, I’d recommend talking to a professional before you attempt any exercise.
Hi,
I’m 19 years old and I’m over 90 kgs. I feel like its time for me to start loosing my weight. I wanna follow your plan but what about advanced routines. I wanna lose my weight as soon as possible, please do reply me asap.
Hi Varun,
I’d encourage you not focus on losing weight quickly. Just focus on what you’re doing each day. Start with the basic plan, do it every second day and go for a walk on as many days as you can. It’s not all about exercise though, be mindful of what you eat – no amount of exercise can combat a poor diet. Start slowly and build up to more as you get better. I haven’t written any intermediate or advanced plans yet, but I’m working on it.
Thank You Shane, for your reply.I’m focusing on my diet now once i get used to it i will start workout.
Hi shane. New to your website and I love the advice. So I’ve attenpted to lose weight since I can I remember, so many failed attempts. So once again I started on 1st feb 2017 with small changes, going for walks, cutting my sugar intake in half (1/2teaspoon) and just fully cut my fizzy drinks. I’ve lost 6kgs in 6 weeks im kow 127kgs lol. Just read about the “fantasy gap” and omg that has my name written all over it lol. I was so unrealistic with my goals hence my many fails in the past. Anyway love your stories and advice. Much love