The Most Effective Workout You Can Do From Home | Mind Pump 2785

When it comes to fitness, there's a widely held belief that you gotta go to the gym. Look, it's not true. You can have an incredibly effective workout at home with no or little equipment. It's true. You just gotta do it right. You gotta plan it right, program it right, do the right things. But we're gonna talk about that today. How you can create the most effective workout that you do at home. Look how jacked Sal is. He's never been inside a gym. Not for a decade at least. Not for a long time. It's been a long time since you've been in a gym. I go to gyms all the time now. Well, visits. Yeah. That doesn't count. Go to the gym. Oh yeah. In fact, do you even have a gym membership somewhere? Yeah, I have several. Yeah, I have one, but yeah, I never go. We just donate. We don't show up. Yeah. I'm supporting the fitness industry. That's it. We're keeping them afloat. No, you know, there is a belief, right, that if you need lots of equipment and there's only so much you could do at home, which isn't true, and we're gonna get into that. But I think that there's, I know this. Just through training people for so many years. There's a lot of advantages to having a good workout that you could do at home. One of them is just the convenience. That's a big one. It's a big time saver. When you look at the things that tend to get in the way initially of someone's consistency, because there's lots of reasons why people will stop working out. But the initial first hurdle is, ah, I gotta drive somewhere. I gotta go somewhere. And when you can get that out of the way, by the way, the data reflects this. The data shows that when people find a good workout that they could do at home or really close, that their consistency goes up quite a bit. And that's a big deal, because consistency's the problem. It's not, all the other problems, let me put it this way, pale in comparison to the consistency issue. And trainers know this. This is what we gotta work on with our clients. So home workouts, if you can make it work with a good workout, which we'll talk about, they're great. I feel like especially in that beginning stage where you're really trying to tackle this and make this a lifestyle addition where you're consistently going. And to have that one big barrier of having to get in your car and then drive and then back and forth and then work, but then the kids, all these things kind of erupt it. So to just cut that out is a pretty great way to streamline. Well, you guys converted me. I mean, if you listen long enough, I was really staunch about the gym, has to be the gym. Gym provides the energy and other people working out. And I like all that stuff, and that hasn't changed. I still like all that stuff. I think to your point about the consistency and the convenience, the last decade of my training, I've really allowed these little workouts, little micro workouts, I'd even call them, like where I only do one or two exercises. And I have to say, this has been one of my best decades of overall health and fitness. I think I've been in greater peak shape, bodybuilding when my whole life revolved around competing. But if I were to look at my life in decades, I'd say this has been one of the best decades of just staying strong, balanced, mobile, having a decent amount of muscle in my body, metabolic, all the things. And I attribute a lot of that is shifting from being the hardcore gym guy to the guy who's like, I'll just go in the garage and do three sets of squats maybe. Or maybe I'll go play around on the suspension trainer for a little bit. And I think what a lot of that has to do with is in the past, I wouldn't do that, even with a close gym. I had a gym that was really- You wouldn't justify driving- Yeah, I wouldn't get in a car and drive to the car to just do three sets of squats. I needed to muster up the, I'm gonna go do a workout or nothing. And so, and I think that's how you guys converted me was I realized like, oh, how many times I had probably talked myself out of going and working out because I wasn't in the mood for a 50-minute gym workout where when I built it in my garage, it became this like, I'm not in the mood for a 50-minute workout, but you know what? I could go do some suspension trainer stuff or you know what, I could go do a set of squats. And that has made all the difference when I look at the consistency over an entire decade. Here's another thing that a lot of people may not realize, but especially as a parent. I mean, that's a big hurdle is having kids and then finding someone to watch them. A lot of gyms offer daycare, what they'll call kids club, which is very valuable for gyms. They know this, but for some people, it's still difficult. When you work at a home, your kids hang around while you work out. And it's a great way for them to be positively influenced. It's awesome. Kids play while you do your set and then you rest and you go hang out with them. And I know a lot of parents where this is what they do. My wife does this. My wife will work out, the kids go out with her in the garage. They ride their bikes or hang out with her and she gets a full workout rather than having to worry about who's going to watch the kids or where I got to put them. And so just again, it just gets rid of a lot of those barriers that tend to get in the way with people's- I'm glad you said that too, because that didn't even come top of mind for me. But when I think about what a huge motivator, for the at-home workouts, it's been really cool too. And if you've followed me for a long time on Instagram, you see, I do videos, clips all the time of us as a family inside our garage working out. And what a great way for my son to just see it. Like, I don't tell him to work out. I don't make him. I don't- He's just around it. And, you know, when you're his age, when you're, you know, three, four, five, six years old, you know, I doubt you connect the dots that when dad gets in the car and goes to the gym, that he's going to a gym and working out. I think there's probably a total different connection that he's going to have to seeing his dad and mom do things in the- lift weights in the garage. And, you know, I mean, as parents, you know how valuable what you do versus what you say is. And so it gives them that front row seat of, oh yeah, my mom and dad, they lift weights. They lift weights in the garage. And I love that because, and I'm not there yet. We're having that conversation like some of you guys are with your teenagers and stuff. But I believe that if he's around that for most of his life, it won't be like this thing that I have to like, hey, you should go to the gym. I think he'll- If it's a great relationship and dad has fun and mom has- It's already modeled, yeah. It's awesome. You know, which brings us to the first thing, which is there's a lot of like different kinds of workouts you could do at home. And most of the at-home workout programs that get sold to you are focused on these kind of like cardio based circuit type workouts where you're bouncing from one exercise to another and doing all sorts of stuff, which is fine. But if you want the most bang for your buck, if you want the best visible aesthetic changes, if you want the best fat burning changes through a faster metabolism, if you want to sculpt, shape your body, if you really want to take the time and have like the best results. And we talk about this all the time, whether you go to gym or not, make it strength training focused. So that's got to be the first point here is you're going to do your workouts at home. Make sure it's a strength training workout that you do at home. Not a cardio workout, not a, you know, whatever workout. Strength training, because strength training builds muscle. It helps the metabolism move in a way that allows you to burn more calories all the time. This makes it easier for you to get leaner, causes positive hormone changes. You can shape and sculpt your body depending on what you're working on. It benefits any pursuit. That's right, that's right. So make it strength focused. So if you're doing at-home workouts, the at-home workout, the crux of it, the focus of it, the cornerstone strength training, do that because it's going to get you the best results. Today's program giveaway is MAPS 15. If you want to win, leave a comment below this video in the first 24 hours that we drop it. Subscribe to this channel and turn on notifications. If you win, we'll notify you in the comments section. Also, all MAPS 15 programs, 50% off right now. Go to maps15programs.com. Use the code HOME for the discount. Back to the show. You guys have a theory on why most of them suck? I think it requires good programming and creativity. And I also think that when you're selling, of all the workout programs that are sold, the worst programming programs, for people listening, programming refers to the workout itself. What's in the workout, the exercises, the sets, reps, the movements, that's considered the programming. The more you're selling to the masses, the worse the programming gets. So if you get a strength training program for Olympic athletes, they're typically pretty good. Or powerlifters, pretty good. But when they're selling Mrs. Johnson, who's watching late night TV and you want to give her, you make it flashy, you call it something fun. It's an experience, right? And it's also completely based around fatigue. That's right, how sweaty. How sweaty, how much you feel exhausted, which you guys and I know, specifically, it does nothing for building strength. But the person that's going through it feels like they got some kind of benefit because their body was very tired and exhausted and sweaty, and yeah, they felt all the feelings, but they're not getting the results. And so a true strength training program to have all of that figured out, rest periods, very specific types of exercises that move the needle the most in terms of strength, I think that just isn't considered as much. Yeah, I think this has a lot to do with marketing. And I think one of the things that, obviously, we've learned in marketing is keeping it very simple. Simple and to the point. It's harder to convince the masses that less is more. It's less exciting. Most people think that the harder it is, the more work I do, the more exercises I fit in the hour or the timeframe, the more valuable it possibly is. And so this thing I just did, this at-home workout I just bought that kicked my ass, that was insanity, or it was all these things, must be good because it's more of it, versus knowing what's probably better for 90% of the population, if not all the population, for an at-home workout, which is a couple of really good exercises done. Stay there. Yeah, and that's it. And just focused on strength with good rest periods where you focus on strength, you build muscle. It's not a lot. It's pretty basic, you know what I'm saying? But that's what it should look like. But that requires, then, I have to explain that or convince or educate the masses. Much easier to just, they think this, and so we'll sell them what they think. That's right. And so that's my theory on why there's such crappy programs. You think it would be in the best interest of someone who writes these programs to write programs that give the best results, but the truth is, very few people will be educated enough to understand that this is what's better for them. It'd be easier to give it to more people who don't understand and who cares if they get results or not, because there's so many more of those people to sell to. Well, the short game is to capture people when they're motivated, as many as possible, and not care if they're consistent. That's the short game. A lot of money, and you just cycle through that. The long game is what you're saying, more education. You're not capturing as many people during that motivation stage because you're not naming it, you know, cowboy, urban, hip hop, you know, workout class or whatever. Or 30 Days of Shreds. Yeah, but you're going to get better results over time, and over time, over years, you build a reputation and that kind of stuff. So, but, I mean- Buns, guns, and biceps. But things are starting to change. I think people are a little bit more educated. We're still far away from where we need to be, but it's not as bad as it used to be. Now, the equipment that you would use for strength training at home, it could be body weight. Okay, so good body weight exercises are resistance training. It could be bands, resistance bands, that's resistance. It could be a suspension trainer, and then, of course, weights. Dumbbells, barbells, at-home weights. Those are the types of equipment. It doesn't have to be all of them. It doesn't have to be just, it could be any of those, but with good programming, you've got yourself a good strength training routine, and you could choose any of those to do it. Yeah, I mean, this has changed a lot over the years with options, and definitely, you can do a lot with body weight. Obviously, there's kind of a cap to that in terms of creativity and really being able to progress a lot of these movements, but I mean, the suspension trainer's amazing for that because of how you could easily just get closer to the anchor point or away from it to really add in that extra element of intensity and progression. But now, we have things like PRX, or we have these fold-out racks, or things that are convenient, so it's not like you have to devote the entire garage. You could actually still use it as a functional garage, but now, we can have weights, and it's liberating. Nothing gets better than the ability for you to use barbells and dumbbells, but if you can't use barbells and dumbbells, then the suspension trainer's maybe one of the best tools invented in at least our career. Oh, it's great. A beginner can use it, and someone who's really advanced can use it. You just change the angle. Yeah, with one tool. With one tool. That you could hit the entire body. Inexpensive, you put it in a drawer, doesn't take up much space, they're secure. You can get a long ways. A long ways. You can get a long ways with a client with one simple tool right there, which just makes the entry level so cool. I mean, no matter where you're at in the journey or where your budget is at, it's something that I can get you going in the right direction. And then, if I get that momentum behind, it's like, okay, the investment in, like you're saying, a PRX or a foldable rack type of deal where I can actually get some barbells and dumbbells. I mean, you're good. You're good. You can build, sculpt, and have the- Well, with barbells, if you add barbells and dumbbells, you're good forever. That's really all you need. You never need anything else. But for a lot of people, you could go for a year of consistent workouts with good progress or two with suspension trainer alone without ever having to touch weights. So, the next thing, you know, this is just, we don't have to spend a lot of time here, but isometrics done properly require nothing. And they're remarkable at strengthening the body. They're unpopular because it's hard to sell isometrics. If I were to show you an isometric right now, it would just look like I'm straining. Like, I'd get into position and I'd look like I'm straining. It doesn't look sexy. I can't sell an exercise. But isometrics are- There's no movement to it. Yeah, and they can be as simple as holding yourself in a position. They could be pushing against an immovable object. They can be just tensing a muscle really hard for 15 seconds. Isometrics incorporated into a traditional strength training routine are amazing. And they produce phenomenal. In fact, if you compare all the forms of strength training, and I was doing it over short term, I just said, okay, I want the most strength gains in three weeks, isometrics wins. You plateau quickly, but in the first three weeks, it's like crazy strength gains. But my point with this is don't sleep on them. Incorporate them in your routine. It doesn't have to be your entire workout. You can sprinkle them in to really add that variety as well, because that is a bit of a challenge when you're working out at home, is having that access to variety. So one good way to do that is to change up the tempo or whatever movement that is, turn it into isometric exercise. If you don't have barbells and dumbbells, then between suspension trainer bands and isometrics, this is your three go-to tools that you can do to get a long ways. Totally. Now here's a really important point here. If the biggest problem is consistency, which it is, this is the best consistency solving problem I've ever encountered, aside from changing mindset and working with a personal trainer, all that stuff. It's this. Rather than doing two 45-minute workouts or three 45-minute workouts at home a week, doing daily short workouts for 15 minutes, way better. For consistency, way better. By the way, the results are gonna be the same, maybe even better if we throw in the consistency problem. But it's the same, it's the same volume. 15 minutes every day or three workouts, 45 minutes, you add up all the exercise sets, reps, it's the same thing. But the daily consistency, first off, it's easy. It's easier for me to carve out 15 minutes than it is to carve out 45. Even if it's two days a week, 45 minutes can be difficult for some people to carve out. Number two, the daily habit builds quickly. It's just something I do every morning when I wake up or whatever. Number three, you miss a workout, you only miss 15 minutes. You miss a 45-minute workout, you missed a whole workout. You missed a lot of exercises. This little thing right here is one of the best ways to take your programming and dramatically improve its success rate, this right here. I mean, this is to the point I was making that why I got so sold on having the gym at my house too. It's much easier to get up for two movements versus like, oh man, I gotta go to the gym and I got an hour-hard workout. It's like, ah, I don't feel like doing it. It's like, I can get in there for 15, 20 minutes and move and then see how I feel. And then your point of, you start stacking four, five, six days, two weeks in a row before you know it, this becomes a habit really quick versus like, oh, two days a week. Those days change, I get busy, I move them and stuff like that, and there's not a lot of consistency there. I find clients that have a little of something to do every single day are far more consistent than the clients where I'm like, yeah, just pick two days because those two days tend to move around or bounce around and they end up building the rest of their life or they build their workouts around the rest of their life versus you build this like, I do this thing. Into your life. Yeah, into your life. 100%. Now, this next one is really important to just kind of understand. This episode is also brought to you by our sponsor, Troscriptions. Look, you might have heard of methylene blue. So this is a compound that's been around for a long time, but if you take it orally, boy, do you get a lot of energy. It improves mitochondrial function, focus, it increases circulating levels of things like dopamine and serotonin, makes you feel good. Again, it's been around for 100 years, but people realize using this as a supplement has incredible cognitive benefits. Well, the best source of methylene blue, Troscriptions. That's the only one we work with. So go check them out. Go to Troscriptions.com, that's T-R-O-S-C-R-I-P-T-I-O-N-S.com forward slash mind pump, use the code mind pump, get 10% off. Everybody messes this one up. It's the 80-20 rule with intensity. So intensity is how hard the workout is. 80% of the time, your intensity is moderate. What does that mean? It means it's hard, but it's not really hard, but it's hard. Most of the time, this is how your workout should feel. 20% of the time, get after it, okay? Most people, they flip this. Most people, especially when they first get started, they go as hard as they can until they're forced to go easy or take time off. Which inevitably causes burnout. That's right, the 80-20 rule maintains progress, prevents injury, prevents burnout, and it feels good. You should feel more energy from your workouts. You should not feel like you're wasted. You should feel better from your workouts. You should not feel like you got beat up. This little remember this, most of the time, moderate intensity, and then every once in a while, when the stars align, I get good sleep, and I feel good, and I ate well, and I'm well hydrated, I'm gonna get after it. If you do this right here, you'll avoid so many problems. I know this is still a new concept for people because it took me a long time to adopt this mentality of really kind of flipping that protocol. So you do less intense, and then occasionally, you do the full max intensity, and I'm still getting into arguments with my friends about this. But once they figure it out, it's so liberating, and you see actual progress and change because your body needs that time to recover and respond. I think this is so difficult for people to actually do that I would even say to urge even further on the moderate intensity side to just going through the movements and practicing. There's so much value in going to the gym and just, I know you made the point of it's hard, it's just not really hard. It's like, you know, sometimes you don't have to be that hard. It's like, go there and practice the movement. Get good at the stuff. You're gonna get lots of, but if you follow the exercises and make them somewhat challenging to where it's like you're doing, like you're not just doing nothing, right? You're doing something and practicing the movement, that's got value. You can always scale up. You can always increase intensity. And it's far better that you're consistent with it and you get good at the movements than if it was 5% more intense. So I'd always rather have a client like, hey, just be consistent and practice the movements. We can play with the intensity. And so I think most people get this part wrong and think that it has to be so intense, that they have to be so sore, they have to break a sweat. When it's like, no, getting in there and moving the body and getting good at those movements is so valuable in itself, even with moderate to no intensity, just doing it. So it's like, practice that. We can ramp up intensity. And so I would urge most people to even lean on that, lean in that direction. Yeah, and lastly, and this is just to give you that motivation to, or should I say, increase the odds that you'll be motivated. Increase the odds that you'll feel inspired to give you that energy that you're looking for. This is to break up the day with what are called trigger sessions or little mini breaks of exercise. It's what it could look like. You're at your home desk. You're working. You look at your watch. Oh, I've been sitting here for two minutes. Let me stand up and let me do one set of body weight squats. Or let me get down the floor and do a few reps and put nothing crazy. Let me just do some pushups. Or let me do some band rows. You do this two or three times throughout the day. Number one, you've increased your activity. Number two, this pairs so perfectly with your workouts that you're doing. It actually amplifies your workouts effectiveness. It facilitates recovery. But most importantly, number three, it does make you feel good. You get more energy. You're more fitness-minded. Moving throughout the day tends to correlate with better eating habits because, oh, I just did some squats. Let me eat something healthy. So this is just something I like to recommend to people who are at home a lot, especially stay-at-home moms or people who have a home office. Break up the day with little bouts of activity and trigger sessions. I think of it like the value of how we talk about 10-minute walks, but you're doing it with bands. Yes. You know what I'm saying? It's the same concept of how valuable just taking two or three 10-minute walks throughout the day, it's like how valuable it is, like let's say it's raining outside, is to just get up and do these 10-minute trigger sessions with some bands. I mean, I used to love to put the bands and hang it in the doorway somewhere visible where I could see it, where it's near my living room where it's like, oh, before I sit on the couch, I'm going to do that thing. Or it's like, if I've been sitting on there for more than a half-hour hour, I'm going to get up and do that thing. Or if I'm passing by the kitchen, I'm going to do that. Doing that throughout the day, just like 10-minute walks are, I mean, you feel so much better. It breaks up the lulls. Oh, big time, totally. Look, we have at-home 15-minute workouts. So it's 15 minutes a day. We have a variety of them, and all of them that you'll see on our site, Maps15programs, so it's maps15programs.com. What you'll see is all of them have an at-home version, and they also all have, or most of them have, a gym version. So there's quite a few on there. The ones that don't have the at-home version are Performance and Muscle Mommy. Is that Muscle Mommy? Is that what that is? And Muscle Mommy. The rest of them all have an at-home version. So there's a bunch of Maps 15 programs you can do from home, and they're all 50% off because of this episode. So go to maps15programs.com, use the code HOME, and you'll get 50% off. By the way, you can buy all of them. That code works for all of them. So go check them out.