The 15 Minute Challenge

[Bruce Tackett]

Last week I decided to try to pack everything I basically need for an upper body workout into 15 minutes. This is what I came up with, and this is what I've been doing for over a week:

One set of a set number of repetitions for bodyweight exercises, adding to those numbers as I'm able to. One set to failure of equipment exercises.

1. Pushups

2. Bullworker abs and obliques

5. Hook shoulder raises.

4. Assist wide grip pullups and back rows.

5. Wall triceps kickbacks

6. Curls with a weighted curling bar with bands attached

7. Triceps extensions on an incline bench with a weighted curling bar with bands attached

8. Dumbbell concentration curls

I do the above on Mon-Wed-Fri, and then on Tue-Thu-Sat I do legs and forearms, the workout also lasting about 15 minutes.

[pierinifitness]

Let’s see your leg workout details, the other days.

[Michael]

Nice Bruce, right to the point! How much shorter is the 15-minute workout then what You were doing? Are You back to walking, riding Your bike, or using the Proform Hybrid Trainer for aerobics?

[Bruce Tackett]

Yes, I've been riding my rad beach bike. My upperbody workouts have always been around 35 minutes.

For legs, I do 100 squats, front and rear leg iso extensions, and 60 wall calf raises. For forearms i use my DIY equipment:

Overhand curls with an arm blaster:


Underhand curls with the bar behind my back, palms facing back:


Ulnar/Radial Deviation (hammer to the front/hammer to the back):


Supination (fists outward):


Pronation (fists inward):


Grip:


For pinching, I am using a small gripper.

[Michael]

Is there a reason You shortened up Your workouts? You got me hooked on those wall calf raises. I also do 60 reps, just like the feel of these.

[Bruce Tackett]

Yeah, there's a reason. I don't see the point in long, grueling workouts anymore. The routine I came up with pretty much covers all I want it to, and it's enough to maintain my physique as it is.

[pierinifitness]

Bruce changes his workouts as often as Greg Newton did. There are other similarities but let’s save that chatter for s different day.

[Bruce Tackett]

Yeah, routines just seem to be ever changing, a continuous story of ups and downs. Right now I'm very happy with this minimalist routine. It hits everything - back, chest, shoulders, abs, and arms. But at my next workout I might decide to add another exercise, and then later maybe another, and then the time spent will creep upward. Been through this many a time before. But, heavy or light, I always do something.

If I wanted to get really minimalist, pushups and pullups are probably all that is really needed, or dips, some would say.

[pierinifitness]

I recently talked to a young man at the pull-ups station where I loiter at a park. He was doing decline pushups, what some at another fitness forum called, long ago, Atlas 3 push-ups.

His opinion was that push-ups and sprinting would be a complete minimalist workout. I asked him why not burpees and he said they were harder achieving max effort than sprinting.

He was fit so I listened. But, he was young. Many of the old turds here, and you know who you are, cannot include sprinting in their training rotation.

15 minute workouts are tough. My workouts today, two of them at different times of the day were 33 minutes and 35 minutes. They were challenging but a pedal to the metal 15 minute workout would likely be tougher.

[Bob50]

6-10 reps/set, 4 sets/muscle group, 55-60 min/workout, 5-7 workouts/week are good combination for self resistance training.

[Bruce Tackett]

I have never spent 60 minutes on a workout. I'd have to take a lunch break, or at least a coffee break. In another thread someone told of a guy who does only dips and pullups, and he says this guy has a fantastic upper body development.

[Bob50]

I do not remember, but probably this guy was much younger than we. I am sure that my old joints will not tolerate the intensity and volume needed to get "fantastic upper body development", using only dips and pull ups.

[Bruce Tackett]

Well, it's starting already. For tomorrow's workout I've decided to add two more exercises. The 20 minute challenge, anyone?

[ddh]

Bruce, I wrote a thread on a guy when I worked out at a gym close to my other house I had, who had the best upper body I have ever seen, and he only did V bar dips and pull ups, a few sit ups, but didn’t really do any specific leg work, he played a lot of basketball, so he said that was pretty much all he did for legs.

[pierinifitness]

Jun 27, 2019 20:10:48 GMT ddh said:

Bruce, I wrote a thread on a guy when I worked out at a gym close to my other house I had, who had the best upper body I have ever seen, and he only did V bar dips and pull ups, a few sit ups, but didn’t really do any specific leg work, he played a lot of basketball, so he said that was pretty much all he did for legs.

ddh, my guess is this person had a good diet and lower body fat and, therefore, showcased his muscles better than the next guy who had a better fat wrap.