At Home Workouts

We'll get to the actual workout next. Before that, we need a different approach. One to make at home workouts more successful than any other fitness routine you've done in the past.

The research above paints a bleak picture. One many of us are familiar with ---after each flurry of New Year's resolutions made and abandoned. But notice, we have two major leverage points that balance the situation. We can "avoid strength, attack weakness" the way our inner donkey does when it defeats our plans, and the way Sun Tzu advises, which may be why the donkey wins? Until now.

We can use this limited resource, our motivational mojo, for small things without exhausting our daily supply.

We may be able to create new habits, habits that replace habits we didn't choose and those that hold us back. Habits are our secret weapon. They require no will or motivation after they are established.

In fact, instead of pushing ourselves to do things consciously, habits pull us to do things. Most of us would feel funny not brushing our teeth in the morning. And new habits can be formed relatively rapidly, they don't require a lifetime, just 21-30 days.

Think of it as a 30 day trial or beta test. Like a new software package you've installed. Don't think about having to do something the rest of your life. Once the habit kicks in, it will pull its own weight, freeing our will for the next replacement. Pretty soon, we may *own* all of that 95% driving us on auto-pilot and it will heading in directions we've set consciousness.

So instead of psyching up for workouts indefinitely, let's just install a very modest habit, one we can extend with little effort once it's set. This ritual (which I'll use as an "intentional habit") should require minimal effort, no gym memberships, little to no equipment, be easy to perform but offer the absolute most efficient return for the time

We want the BEST habit we can make, one that requires the least and delivers the most for this initial experiment.

Let's explore what this could consist of.

These three exercises provide a total body workout:

The Pushup
This simple exercise is often used not only to develop strength in the arms, back, abs and core stabilizers, but also as the penultimate measure of overall fitness.
The Basic Pushup
The Hindu Pushup
The only muscles the pushup doesn't hit directly will be taken up by the next two in the series.

The Squat
Simple squats, without weights, build both balance and muscles in the legs, back and abs. Squats come in many varieties. The Hindu, Prisoner, or x are all excellent choices.
The Right Way to Do Squats
Hindu Squat

The Pullup
Finding a bar for chinups is usually an easy task, if not, a simple home chin-up bar can be used in any doorway on the fly without any permanent mounting or screws.

That's it. With just these three exercises you can have a total body workout that builds functional strength as well as an extremely toned body. You can lose weight, build muscle and you aren't risking injuries using weights and isolating muscles in movements that nature never intended.

And you can do it all at home. In fact, using the micro-workout protocol, you just need a few minutes a day to maximize the effects of this routine.

Note. This routine does not require a warm-up, making it even more time effective.

A micro-workout is specifically designed for three things:

• Maximize the limited energy we have available daily for motivation.
• Make it easy to accomplish a significant workout over the course of the day without dedicating a block of time to it or feeling like you've had a long workout.
• Make it easy to habituate to daily exercise without strain or over-training

Almost any exercise routine can be adjusted to micro-workouts. Taking the routine above, do about 1/2 or less total pushups, squats and pullups that you are capable of doing at one time and repeat throughout the day.

For example, first thing in the morning, maybe even after a shower and coffee, because you won't break a sweat, do:

• 10 Squats
• 10 Pushups
• 1 Pullup

Or whatever represents about 1/2 or less effort for you. Do 2 more of these at random times during the day. Not only will you be constantly boosting your metabolism, you'll have done 30 pushups, 30 situps and 3 pullups over the course of the day. Each time won't seem like hardly anything at all, but you will notice it the next day.

After you establish the habit in 30 days, start increasing slightly the number of repetitions for each exercise. Pretty soon you'll be doing 100 pushups and squats a day. Assess your results then and see if this wasn't the easiest and most successful workout routine for you to-date.