The #1 reason people say they don’t exercise is because they say they don’t have time. These same people very surprised to hear that I train my legs for a grand total of 4 minutes per week! “How is that possible” they ask “You can't workout in only 4 minutes?”

But you can (and I do) get a great workout in only 4 minutes. I ask them if they have ever heard of Roger Bannister? Roger is an English former athlete best known for running the first mile in less than 4 minutes. Are you telling me he was not working hard?! Last Thursday at my corporate fitness center lunch-time class I cranked some “Hail the Villian” and we did lunges until the song was done. That hurt for days! And my metabolism was elevated for days because of it.

You see it has nothing to do with the time; it has to do with the right exercise choices and form. And it has a lot to do with hard work. Once you have proper form you can increase the workload and decrease the rest or a combination of both. At my fitness club (Fitness NATION) in Mississauga we know that slow cardio has no role in fat loss. We do high intensity (HIT) and Techniq Systems (classes) with intervals, sprints, power and muscle endurance. We do full body, multi-joint movements with weights, bodyweight and the EQUALIZER™ and BUDDY SYSTEM™. We do boxing and Taekwondo. We keep it varied with high work intensity, and rest intervals short. This is how you change the body. Plateaus? We smash right through them.

We love to vary our training for many reasons. It keeps fitness interesting and challenging and because the body quickly adapts to any form of training. Imagine going into a big chain club and hitting the treadmill or same old class every time. Some people might like this and that’s fine but research shows that the majority of those who signed up in January won’t make it to swimsuit season. Soon they become bored and the results stop.

We have designed our “Systems” (classes) to save you time (and gas $) by making you work harder and keep your body guessing. What might take 10 workouts at another club or on your own you can get done in 4 workouts per week at the NATION. I know which one I prefer. I have things to do and want to actually look like I workout!

And here is one last tip that I like to share with my classes. At least 3 times during every workout I do a crazy hard set. I take the pace, weight, or reps up a notch and get after it! It’s fun and challenging. It takes me a while to recover from this burst of intensity during the next few minutes of the workout but keeps me progressing.

Keep training hard!