
The 9-Minute Strength Workout - ScienceHacker
https://www.nytimes.com/well/guides/strength-training-plyometrics
======
CalChris
This is an excellent list.

I'm in the gym a LOT and _nothing_ worked until I started doing squats. When I
started doing squats, everything got better. This list leads off with
bodyweight squats.

After you're comfortable with bodyweight squats you can go further with Ass To
Grass and Paused ATG. After that, Pistols. At that point, you've more than
won.

The one area of the list that I'd quibble on is push ups. If you are starting
push ups, you should start with knee push ups. You should be able to knock out
maybe 25 knee push ups before you progress to full push ups. And push ups for
taller and heavier people are harder than for shorter and lighter people. Same
with planks.

~~~
bigdubs
Mobility is much more important to get right before going heavy or going deep
in squats. You can injure your back really easily doing squats w/o good form.

I would probably say, if you can't straight back past vertical hips don't go
heavy yet, stretch daily until you can.

Otherwise, yes this is a great place to start it's just not trivial.

~~~
CalChris
Yes, but these are bodyweight squats and you are not going to injure your back
doing bodyweight squats. Definitely form is key.

Doing olympic ATG squats, you will naturally use less weight which will
proportionately be easier on your back. You can also low bar squat. BTW, I
used to have back pain. Squatting made my whole posterior chain a lot
stronger. No more back pain. Plus if I do say so myself, I have a nice ass.

A key issue with squat mobility is dorsiflexion, ankle mobility, which I guess
you can improve (to a degree) with calf stretches. That's gonna translate to
how much butt wink you have. Also the structure of your hip bones is going to
be different from pretty much everyone else. So you can't just look at Arnold
and try to do it exactly the same way. You have to find the foot position and
knee tracking which is right for your skeleton.

There's a ton of useful video on Youtube.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQWzAs2m0ck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQWzAs2m0ck)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy28eq2PjcM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy28eq2PjcM)

~~~
typomatic
> Yes, but these are bodyweight squats and you are not going to injure your
> back doing bodyweight squats. Definitely form is key.

This is really bad information to be relaying. You have no idea what is the
health profile of the people reading this advice, and what damage believing it
might do. You can very easily hurt yourself with bodyweight exercises,
especially if you're very out of shape.

~~~
tomsthumb
All fitness advice assumes some context. It doesn't make it bad advice, just
contextual. Part of the difficulty with communicating this info over the
internet is that you can't see people's mechanics nor do they often give you
their full situation. E.g., telling a 400 pound person that squatting is good
for them is not the advice which should be prioritized and doesn't really make
sense compared to other approaches. Telling a random dude on the internet that
he needs more volume to hit 2x bodyweight deadlift might make sense until you
learn that he's 5'8" 115 pounds and needs to get out of caloric deficit.

Additionally, the "form is key" part covers your point already. If you're
doing it with proper form and you _still_ get hurt then that's pretty weird,
and not really on the parent.

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wimagguc
"The best exercise is the one you _actually_ keep doing" is probably the best
thing to keep in mind here. I kept seeing these same lists of exercises, then
downloaded all sorts of apps and even subscribed to classes, but the initial
excitement wore off pretty quickly.

One year then I took one item (it was the burpee, but it could be any of them
really, the point is not having to think about what exercise to do all the
time), and from a January-1 on I did one more burpee each day. This proved to
be an easy to make a habit: "c'mon, you do have time to do 5 quick push-ups"
took away the excuse factor, and by the time I noticed I've already set aside
5-10 minutes per day for some regular exercise.

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JohnJamesRambo
Hitchhiker: You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs?

Ted: Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the excercise video.

Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to
this: 7... Minute... Abs.

Ted: Right. Yes. OK, all right. I see where you're going.

Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs
sittin' there, there's 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna
pick, man?

Ted: I would go for the 7.

Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a
workout as the 8-minute folk.

Ted: You guarantee it? That's - how do you do that?

Hitchhiker: If you're not happy with the first 7 minutes, we're gonna send you
the extra minute free. You see? That's it. That's our motto. That's where
we're comin' from. That's from "A" to "B".

Ted: That's right. That's - that's good. That's good. Unless, of course,
somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you're in trouble, huh?

[Hitchhiker convulses]

Hitchhiker: No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody's comin' up with 6. Who works
out in 6 minutes? You won't even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a
wheel.

Ted: That - good point.

Hitchhiker: 7's the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 dwarves. 7,
man, that's the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of
sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the
sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie
time, baby. Step into my office.

Ted: Why?

Hitchhiker: 'Cause you're fuckin' fired!

-There's Something About Mary

~~~
paulddraper
Looks like we're headed in the wrong direction.

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krat0sprakhar
This looks like a very well rounded list. When I started body-weight fitness a
couple of years ago, I found this link to be immensely helpful too:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommend...](https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine)

If anyone's looking for more progressions on these exercises, the link above
has some cool routines to checkout.

~~~
kelvie
Is it? I don't see any pulling exercises that target the biceps, unless I'm
mistaken.

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giarc
I get up every morning at 6am to feed my dogs. I used to just do meaningless
tasks while they ate and went outside, took about 10-12 minutes.

Recently my wife bought a play mat from Ikea for our kids and so I decided to
use that 10 minutes to do some pushups, crunches and squats. The biggest
difference I've noticed is that I'm instantly not tired and ready to start the
day. It's just a short time, but it's a good boost to start the day.

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michaelsbradley
I never imagined I'd get into group exercise, but I did a couple of years ago
and it changed my life. From personal experience, I recommend the _Les Mills_
group ex brand. For building all around strength and endurance, look into the
GRIT (30 min)[1] and BODYPUMP (30/45/60 min)[2] formats. Both involve a
variety of lifts — their focus is on high reps and relatively light–medium
loads. Done regularly, those programs won't make you huge, but you can build
lean muscle, stay well toned, and burn large amounts of calories. As a
programmer, who spends a lot of time standing/sitting in front of a computer,
that's exactly what I need/ed. And there are added benefits of working out in
a group: you can make friends, and be encouraged and challenged by the efforts
of your fellow classmates. N.B. the quality of a class can depend a lot on the
instructor; don't be afraid to attend different instructors' classes and/or
shop around gyms offering such classes.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-iHzlWnwq4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-iHzlWnwq4)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWuc67ZiVs4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWuc67ZiVs4)

~~~
CalChris
BP is a great full body workout in an hour. Hell, I did a ton of Bodypump. I
did BP when they used New Zealand cover music. We did our squat track to the
Haka.

But I can't stand the pop music now and I had definitely plateaued. At a
certain point, I ventured out into the weight room. While BP got and kept me
in shape, I'm now a big believer in the Stronglifts 5x5 workout. Yep, I walk
around the weight room with my iPhone. 90 seconds between sets. Check off my
set.

[https://stronglifts.com/](https://stronglifts.com/)

~~~
michaelsbradley
I prefer now to do a 30-min Pump followed by a 30-min HIIT class (e.g. GRIT or
cycling), or vice versa. I still do 60-min "full" Pump classes, but definitely
not my first preference for how to spend an hour at the gym, as I like more
overall variety. I should note that I got so into Les Mills that I went on to
become a certified instructor, so I'm a little biased.

The pop music in Pump can get a little tiresome, I actually agree with you
there. FWIW, the music in their GRIT and SPRINT formats is much edgier and
some of the quarterly releases even feature original music produced
exclusively for those formats.

 _Les Mills_ classes are definitely not a long-term fit for everyone. I do,
though, encourage folks to give them a try, especially if they don't have any
kind of fitness regimen and/or they're struggling to stay regular with their
solo workouts.

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lifterbro
A nice, simple, and effective bodyweight routine.

Also, for what it's worth a 5X5 workout for those who have the time for the
gym is probably the best if you're limited on time - but have more than 10
minutes a day. There are a whole bunch of variations, but it's mostly 3 moves,
with a 5 rep/set.

Stronglifts have a good one, Fat Shredding too -
[http://fatshredding.com/workouts/5x5-workout/](http://fatshredding.com/workouts/5x5-workout/)

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burntwater
This looks great. Know what I'm going to do? I'm going to print out the
worksheet today, and try it during my gym time tomorrow.

Know what I wish I could do instead of printing it out? Download an app where
I can hit "Play," it displays the exercise (picture, animation), starts a
timer, exercise for one minute, shows the next exercise, etc, all the way
through for the 11 minutes.

Anything like this already exist?

~~~
CalChris
There are probably apps that target what you're talking about and I don't know
what they are. But I do use an iPhone app for weight lifting (stronglifts.com)
and I can tell you that an app definitely helps immensely.

Instead of me wandering around wondering what to do next, I leave that to the
app. 90-180 seconds between sets? Keeping track of progress? Increasing
progressions? Took a couple of weeks off and need to reset? I leave that to
the app. I leave the details to the app. I still take responsibility for
decisions like whether, when and how much to increase.

So I'd encourage you to look for an app. I just don't know which one.

