EasyFit

When I was the battalion sergeant major for an Army Reserve unit, I was tasked with getting the soldiers in shape enough to pass the Army physical fitness test, or APFT. I focused on the marginal soldiers who needed just a little help to meet the minimum standards and out of that evolved a program I call “EasyFit.”

The goal of EasyFit is not to create world-class athletes or even to help average people achieve top levels of fitness. It is designed to get people to the minimum level of fitness with the least amount of time and effort.

There are a couple of important principles involved. First, it only takes 80 seconds of time under tension to signal the muscle that it needs to grow. (I got that from Tim Ferriss in "The Four-Hour Body.") A minute and a half of exercise is all it takes to get results.

Second, exercise doesn’t make you stronger. It is the rest after exercise that rebuilds the body stronger than ever. Three days of rest is about right for men, two for women. Rest is also when the extra calories are burned rebuilding. Raising the body an imperceptible quarter of a degree burns an extra couple of pounds of fat in a week. (I got that from a seminar by Jeff Bland, PhD.)

Third, major muscle groups need to be engaged to affect most muscles at the same time. This is not only a more efficient use of time, it stimulates the body to release both testosterone and growth hormone. (Several papers in peer-reviewed journals back that.)

Altogether, ten minutes twice a week is all it takes. EasyFit.

This isn’t to say that the exercise is easy. It’s not. You have to push yourself to maximal effort and go to muscle failure for those 80 seconds. Less than 100% will not produce results. But in less time than it takes to work up a sweat, you can get in a session that will grow muscle, burn fat and improve aerobic capacity.

To prove that it works, I limited myself to these exercises along with my marginal soldiers. Even with doing no pushups, no sit-ups and no running, I improved my pushups and sit-ups on the APFT by more than 20 each and took 30 seconds off my 2-mile run time. And the marginal people all improved such that our statistics – which had been dead last out of 25 battalions in the division – moved to first place in less than a year.

Here’s my detailed EasyFit routine:

1. Do as many pullups as possible in 90 seconds.

2. Do as many dips as possible in 90 seconds.

3. Do dumbbell flies or hold a bent-arm plank for 90 seconds.

4. Do lunges or squats for 90 seconds.

Go to muscle failure and keep trying for the full 90 seconds each, even if you can’t do another rep. No rest between sets. The more tired you are going into the next set, the better. Leave at least two days’ rest between exercise sessions.

EasyFit.