- You only need nine minutes to do an efficient workout, according to a former elite military trainer.
- It's a mistake to try and do too much, Mark Lauren learned in the special forces.
The biggest mistake people make when trying to get fit is doing too much, according to a former US special-operations forces trainer.
All you need is nine minutes a day — or 0.3% of each week — to get in shape and build an athletic body, Mark Lauren told Insider.
If you want to be fit for all aspects of life and reduce your chance of injuries, you don't need gym equipment or weights, all you need is your own body, he said.
In fact, many gym-goers with the biggest muscles would struggle on long walks because they never do them, according to Lauren.
Lauren joined the US Air Force then the special-operations community in the nineties, and ultimately became the physical trainer of nearly 1,000 elite special-operations warriors, including SEALs, Rangers, Green Berets, Force Reconnaissance teams, and Air Force commandos around the time of 9/11. His job was to make sure his recruits were ready for anything, be it climbing a wall or swimming under water.
After realizing that long, grueling workouts didn't necessarily lead to better results because they were an inefficient use of energy, Lauren developed his own bodyweight program for his squadrons.
Lauren's workout programs, detailed in his new book "Strong and Lean," are inspired by how he trained the military, with an emphasis on efficiency.
The workouts are designed to help people "achieve your fitness goals with the least amount of effort," Lauren said.
9 minutes is enough for an effective workout, Lauren said
When starting out with fitness, Lauren said it's a mistake to try and do too much because habits don't become consistent behaviors if the cost outweighs the reward. For example, if you have to drive half an hour to the gym, spend an hour there, and drive back, and you're trying to do that five days a week, you may struggle to stick to it.
Instead, you can get a good workout in just nine minutes, at home, without equipment, he said.
"Especially in the beginning, or if you haven't trained in a while, you need very little to make progress," Lauren said. "You don't need an hour. You could do one set of push-ups and probably be sore afterwards."
Lauren's workouts include a warm-up, then floor work, standing work, and mobility exercises, ensuring the body is trained from top to bottom.
In nine minutes, you do three one-minute sets for each of three exercises. At the start, you work for 40 seconds and rest for 20 in each minute, then gradually decrease the rest time.
"This is the most efficient method to provide enough progression, consistency, and variety to build full-body workouts that apply enough stress to make you stronger," he said.
An example workout of three exercises:
- Glute Bridges: Lie on your back with your legs bent, feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart. Raise your hips as high as possible, making a straight line from your knees to the base of your neck. Squeeze your glutes and abs at the top, then lower and repeat.
- Starfish Twists: Start in a high plank/push-up position with your feet hip-width apart. Roll your heels to the left and reach your right arm up to the sky to form a side plank position. While keeping your right arm raised, rotate your hips so they are parallel to the floor and you're back on the balls of your feet again, then lower your arm to the floor. Repeat on the other side.
- Bottom Squats: Start in a tall double kneeling position with your arms out straight in front. Step forward with the left leg into a single kneeling position. Step the right leg forward so you're in a squat position with the hips low and chest up. Reverse the movement then repeat with the other leg.
The workouts are designed to improve posture and build strong foundations, Lauren said.
"If you really want to get a strong, beautiful, athletic body, the first thing you need to do is build a foundation of fundamentals," he said.