I tried the Arnold Schwarzenegger-approved 10-minute bodyweight workout

• Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daily Pump Club newsletter recommended an exercise called 10/10.
• It only includes 10 minutes of bodyweight exercise and 10 minutes of walking.
• I tried it and will definitely do it again when I run out of time and motivation.

One of the biggest barriers to regular exercise is finding the time. But, Workouts don’t have to be longand something is better than nothing.

Earlier this week, Arnold Schwarzenegger‘Daily Pump Club newsletter shared a workout that requires just 10 minutes of exercise and 10 minutes of walking. It’s called the 10/10 workout and was created by personal trainer Cory Gregory.

The workout is very simple and includes only two movements: squat And promote. You do one squat, then one push-up, then two, then three, etc. until the 10 minutes are up.

The idea is that it is scalable:

• Beginners can do chair squats and wall/incline push-ups (put your hands on a wall, bench, or chair).

• Intermediate level is body weight squats and push-ups

• The advanced version is a dumbbell squat with dumbbells or kettlebells and chest weights.

If you’re using dumbbells, it may take some trial and error to find the right one, but the newsletter recommends choosing one that you can usually do 10 to 12 repetitions of, even if at first feels very light.

Then you go for 10 minutes walkand that’s it.

Gregory told Insider he recommends this exercise for two reasons.

“I believe everyone gets 20 minutes, and most people can scale this workout and walk afterward,” he says. “I think this has a very high completion rate and this form can really be applied to any two exercises and time frame.”

It’s a total-body workout that combines strength and cardio

I did strength training and exercise regularly for over six years, but I also travel a lot so it’s not always possible to get to the gym or any equipment.

I read about the 10/10 exercise while visiting (and working at) my parents’ house, so I decided to try it during my lunch break.

Before trying the workout, I wasn’t worried about squatting because I was only using my body weight. I used to be, however, worry about doing push-ups. While I could have finished Do 100 push-ups every day for 100 days During lockdown I haven’t practiced them much since then and my strength has definitely declined.

I knew the reps would add up quickly, so I figured if I had to kneel, I’d just do it and move on.

And that’s what I did.

The workout session went by quickly but quickly encountered challenges in the push-up part. Squats are never too difficult, but they get my heart rate up, making me short of breath and sweaty. Next time, I think I’ll try holding weights.

Sometimes I lose track of how many reps I did, but I think I ended up getting about 15 reps of each move.

For me and I’m sure many others, perhaps women, in particular are looking at research that shows it may be more difficult for us to build upper body strength with pushups and squats. by body weight doesn’t really match the level of difficulty.

My advice is to take the set levels as a guide and modify them to your own level. If you need to do incline pushups but squat with weights, do them.

It’s perfect when you’re short on time or motivation

Overall, I liked this workout. It’s a simple full-body attack that combines the two power And Heartand the format keeps it interesting. You can’t think much more than counting your repetitions.

Unlike exercises where you try to do as many repetitions as possible, that’s not the goal here, so you don’t feel like compromising form for speed.

I also liked the addition of the walk afterward. It makes for a nice cool down. When I work from home, lunch breaks are valuable. I like to get out and exercise, and find time to prepare and eat lunch. This workout allows you to do it all.

Even though I’m a fitness reporter, I don’t always feel it motivated to exercise. But everyone can spend 10 minutes (if not 20), and unless you’re wearing extremely restrictive clothing, I’d argue you don’t even need to change into your workout clothes.

I will definitely try this exercise again and may also try combining it with other exercises.