The 12-Minute Fat Loss Workout
Learn how just 12 minutes of exercise each week is enough to get you fit.
Ben Greenfield
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The 12-Minute Fat Loss Workout
In a recent study researchers looked at the impact of two different exercise regimens. In the first regimen, one group exercised 3 times a week with 4-minute workout sessions and the other group also exercised 3 times per week but performed 16-minute sessions that were broken into 4-minute bouts.
So if you were doing the math, that means the first group exercised for a total of just 12 minutes a week, while the other group exercised 48 minutes per week. Granted, neither of those were marathon-esque training sessions, but in spite of that, the results were very surprising.
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How Much Do You Need to Exercise?
The 4-minute bursts of vigorous physical activity 3 times each week elevated participants’ oxygen intake levels, as well as lowered blood pressure and glucose levels, just as well as the 16-minute sessions! As a matter of fact, the 4–minute group decreased their blood pressure even more than the 16-minute group.
It is a commonly held misperception that getting the body that you desire requires oodles of hard work and hours upon hours of training. But this new research proves exactly the opposite – that it only takes 4 minutes of vigorous activity 3 times per week to be fit and healthy.
On the flipside, there are certainly downsides of exercising too much, which I reveal in the episode Can You Exercise Too Much?. These downsides include loss of time, hormone depletion, sore muscles, overtraining, and physical or mental burnout.
What Is a 12-Minute Workout?
Now, I’ll bet you want the nitty-gritty details of what these participants were actually doing for 12 minutes per week So let’s delve right in.
One group followed a protocol that was previously shown to be effective and is still a good way to get in shape. It consisted of 4 treadmill running intervals of 4 minutes each, exercising at a high intensity (that is, at 90% of maximal heart rate). These 4-minute bouts were interspersed with 3 minutes of active recovery at 70% of maximum heart rate. This is commonly known as 4×4 training. This is the second test group.
The other group followed a protocol that consisted of one hard 4-minute treadmill effort at 90% maximum heart rate. Even though I couldn’t find details on a warm-up, I would imagine (and advise this as a prudent activity) that some kind of warm-up was included prior to simply running all-out for 4 minutes.
Summary
Of course, as an Ironman triathlete, yours truly exercises much more than 12 minutes per week. As a matter of fact, I tend to exercise 6-10 hours each week! But it certainly is nice to know that on days when time is tight, I can simply get away with 4 minutes of hard exercise to maintain my fitness levels.
And what’s even better is that this 4 minutes of exercise isn’t merely limited to treadmill running, either. Other moves you could perform include Burpees, Jumping Jacks, Bicycling, Rowing, Vertical Jumps, Fast Push-Ups or just about anything else that gets your heart rate up quickly! Just try it today and see how your body feels afterwards. You can grab lots of helpful exercise videos at YouTube BenGreenfieldFitness
Let’s finish with one caveat, best expressed with a quote from one of the researchers of this study:
“It has to be noted that the subjects were previously inactive, and the same effect on physical fitness cannot be expected in active individuals…nevertheless, since we know that more and more people are inactive and overweight, the kind of improvement in physical fitness that we saw in this study may provide a real boost for inactive people who are struggling to find the motivation to exercise.”
In other words, the fitter you are, the more likely it is that you may need to do slightly more than 4 minutes of exercise. However, it’s a great place to start if you’re looking to boost your fitness levels and jumpstart your workout routine.
If you enjoyed, this episode, you should also check out How to Do a 10-Minute Workout, which is jam-packed with a collection of highly effective 10-minute routines that get you more fitness bang for your buck with minimal time commitments.
Enjoy this 12-minute workout, and if you have questions, feel free to surf over to Facebook GetFitGuy and join the conversation there.
Man on Treadmill image from Shutterstock
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.