The basic idea of this book is to work the body in about 15 minutes.
Here's how you do it. You focus on a few key exercises and move quickly from one exercise to another, with mininal rest time between exercises. Then, you repeat the exercises in a circuit, again with minimal rest.
These workouts work on increasing strength, by building muscle and strong bones, thus burning more fat. These workouts emphasize getting a lean strong body, rather than bodybuilding, and is, therefore, not a general bodybuilding book.
In the number and variety of workouts, this book is excellent. It contains 78 workouts, all 15-minutes long. Some workouts are bodyweight or require dumbbells. Others use a pull-up bar, a barbell, a kettlebell, a medicine ball, a stability (Swiss or large) ball, an exercise band (tubing), a foam roller, a jump rope, a BOSU, a bench, a cable machine, a step, and so on.
Instruction and exercises for each of the workouts vary, but in general, one may do a circuit of 3 to 7 relatively intense exercises, with little or no rest between each exercise. Then, rest for 60 between each circuit. Finally, repeat 2 more circuits.
All exercise photos are large and in color, clearly showing their positions, with descriptions.
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Here's a detailed list of the 78 workouts or exercise plans. I have listed the exercises for a few of the workouts.
TOTAL BODY WORKOUTS
Bodyweight exercises
1. Beginner: strength and agility workout
Judo pushup
Seesaw lunge
Wall slide
Plank reach
2. Intermediate: your body is your barbell 1
Y squat
Spider-man pushup
Squat and jump combo
Single-leg romanian deadlift
Spider-man lunge
3. Intermediate: your body is your barbell 2: (bench or step used)
Squat
Tucked-elbow pushup
5-second forward lunge
Stepup
Jump
4. Advanced: belly off! No gym classic 1: (bench or step and a pull-up bar used)
Shoulder press pushup
Single-leg bench getup
Mountain climber
Wide-grip pushup
Inverted row
5. Advanced: belly off! no-gym classic 2: (bench, large ball, & a pull-up bar used)
Front-foot elevated split squat
Walking offset pushup
Stability ball leg curl
Single-leg hip raise
Chinup
Dumbbell workouts
6. The single: dumbbell blast workout 1
Woodchopper
Arms-out squat
Standing pressout
Towel row
7. The buildup: dumbbell blast workout 2
Straight-leg deadlift
Thrusters
Bent-over row
Squat thrust
8. Fast and furious: dumbbell blast workout 3
Incline bench press
One-arm snatch
Seated calf raise
Chest-supported row
Dumbbells, a barbell, and/or a barbell plate used.
9. Muscle definer workout 1
10. Muscle definer workout 2
11. Classic Powerlifter Workout
Jump rope used.
12. Total-body stress-buster workout
FAT BURNING WORKOUTS
Dumbbells, barbell, and other tools used.
13. You're melting: A
14. You're melting: B
One dumbbell used.
15. Strength, stamina, speed, and sweat
Pull-up bar, dumbbells, and other tools used.
16. Superhero workout
Dumbbells, bench and large ball used.
17. Supersweat Supersets
ABS & CORE WORKOUTS
Medicine ball and one dumbbell used.
18. No crunch core workout
Medicine ball and other tools used.
19. Six pack abs workout 1
Large ball, slanted bench, and pull-up bar used.
20. Six pack abs workout 2
Dumbbells used.
21. Obliques obliterator workout
Mix of tools used. Bodyweight workouts possible.
22. Build your own 15-minute core workout: choose 5 out of 19 exercises to create your own workouts.
SHOULDERS AND ARMS
Dumbbells, bench and slanted bench used.
23. Dumbbell total arms workout
Concentrated curl
Seated triceps extension
Wrist curl
Alternating grip hammer curl
Cross-shoulder extension
Standing scaption
Barbell, slanted bench, and cable machine used.
24. Arms and dangerous
Barbell, dummbells, cable machine and bench used.
25. Deltoid Definer workout
Dumbbells and barbell used.
26. Shoulders and arms combo 1
Dumbbells and cable machine used.
27. Shoulders and arms combo 2
Dumbbells, rowing station, and slanted bench used.
28. Shoulders and arms combo 3
CHEST AND BACK
Dip bars, barbell, bench, dumbbell, and barbell plate used.
29. Chest pound workout 1
Dip
Barbell bench press
Incline dumbbell fly
Seated Single-arm external rotation
Single-arm dumbbell row
Weighted pushup
Dumbbell, bench, cable machine, dip bar, and pull-up bar used.
30. Chest pound workout 2
Barbell, squat rack, dumbbells, and pull-up bar used.
31. Back attack workout
Bodyweight exercises. No equipment used.
32. Strong and steady
Cable machine, dumbbells, bench, and squat rack used.
33. Chest and back combo
Bodyweight and TRX suspension straps used.
34. Perfect pushup circuit 1
Box and medicine ball used.
35. Perfect pushup circuit 2
BOSU, bench, and box used.
36. Perfect pushup circuit 3
LOWER BODY WORKOUTS
Dumbbells, barbell, large ball, and bench used.
37. Flat butt fix
Dumbbells and large ball used.
38. Iron glute workout
Dumbbells and barbell used.
39. Ready for liftoff
Dumbbells and other tools used.
40. Total lower body blast
Cones and boxes used.
41. Lower body leaps and bounds
Bench and circular band used.
42. Protect your assets
SUPERFAST CARDIO: HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING
Basically, go fast for short periods of time, to burn more calories.
Treadmill workouts
43. Workout 1: speed demon
44. Workout 2: HIIT the hills
Running workouts
45. Workout 1: dash it off
46. Workout 2: flying laps
Cycling workouts
47. Workout 1: Lance Armstrong
48. Workout 2: rolling hills
Elliptical workout
49. Boredom beater
Swimming workout
50. Interval medley
Jump rope workout
51. Skipper 2
SPECIAL GEAR WORKOUTS
52. Kettlebell workout 1
53. Kettlebell workout 2
54. Exercise band workout 1
55. Exercise band workout 2
56. Medicine ball workout 1
57. Medicine ball workout 2
58. Stability ball workout 1 (large or Swiss ball)
59. Stability ball workout 2
60. Sandbag workout 1
61. Sandbag workout 2
IMPROVING YOUR STAMINA WORKOUTS (actually called better-sex workouts in the book)
Dumbbells used.
62. Stamina workout
One dumbbell used.
63. Over the top workout
Stability ball used.
64. Man on a mission workout
65. Pretzel position workout
Dumbbells and a sandbag used.
66. Four on the floor workout
HEALING WORKOUTS
Dumbbells, stability ball, cable machine, and slanted bench used.
67. Shoulder stretch and strengthen
One dumbbell used.
68. Knee saver
Bodyweight exercises. No equipment needed.
69. Lower back booster
Box or step used.
70. Age eraser workout
71. Foam roller workout
SPORTS WORKOUTS
Dumbbells and medicine ball used.
72. Golf workout
Dumbbells and low step used.
73. Tennis workout
BOSU, dumbells, step, medicine ball, and barbell used.
74. Ski and snowboard workout
Barbell, bench, step, and plate used.
75. Running race workout
Hyperextension station used.
76. Triathlon workout
Dumbells, bench, and step used.
77. Cycling workout
Dumbells used.
78. Basketball workout
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I did workout #3 (bodyweight) and I was breathing heavily during the exercise and I did a modified version of workout #7 (dumbell blast 2) and it was intense and made me sweat. I loved the concept of 15 minute workouts and I liked this book.
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If you liked this book, try the women's version of this 15-minutes book. This shows more bodyweight and dumbbell workouts.
If you want just bodyweight exercises, (with no equipment), get this book, "You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises" by Mark Lauren and Joshua Clark. This is excellent in the range of exercises which, again, do not require equipment.
As a young father, my Wife and I do not have much spare time anymore to exercise nor do outdoor trips (hiking, mountain biking,etc.).
We felt very sad about that.
This book of optimized exercises helped us being motivated again by gaining results as impressive as if we were training 3 times longer !!
But don't imagine these are miracle recipes... the basis is that you don't lose time resting between the workouts, so the 15mn are very, I mean very efficient...
Results do come fast and after 2 weeks (training 1 day out of 2, as suggested in the book), I am already feeling my abs recovering their former strentgh, more durably than before. Needless to talk about the thighs and arms and shoulders...
The workouts in this book won't help you build "big" muscles, but they will help you gain EFFICIENT muscles, EFICIENT strength, and endurance.
You just have to complete your weekly workout by one "HIIT" (High Intensity Interval Training), ideally outdoor (in my case: skysurfing/paddling : ) ) and you're done.
And the main benefit is that you have... more spare time to rest between the daily workouts and after each day's workout !
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for awesome (and motivating because of the variety!!) workouts, especially if they don't want to spend hours excercises because of her/his busy lifestyle !
Buy The Men's Health Big Book of 15-Minute Workouts: A Leaner, Stronger Body--in 15 Minutes a Day! Now
Not to go all Zen on everyone, but the concept of this book and its companion book for women is what's most important here. It's well laid out in chapter 1 "The Genius of the 15 Minute Workout". Simply put, shorter (but very high intensity) workouts are optimal in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Hands down. This book gives you tons of workouts that fit that bill. If you buy in to the concept (as I do), this book is for you. If you prefer to spend your time on the elliptical, then, well, you should still buy this book and change your approach to training :).
Read Best Reviews of The Men's Health Big Book of 15-Minute Workouts: A Leaner, Stronger Body--in 15 Minutes a Day! Here
I totally agree with the philosophy of this book and have found short, intense workouts to be MUCH more effective in building muscle and burning fat than long, drawn-out gym sessions. (The saved time is quite a plus too.)
This book gives some great circuit routines that will get your heart pumping and your muscles working. There are gym-free total body workouts, which also are great cardio; dumbbell workouts for your upper and lower body; barbell workouts meant to build maximum muscle mass; ab workouts; cardio routines; and more.
I've already tried several of the workout and was surprised at how challenging they were! This book doesn't disappoint!
P.S. I also highly recommend Muscle Myths: 50 Health & Fitness Mistakes You Don't Know You're Making (The Lean Muscle Series) because it straightened out a bunch of confusions I had about how to build muscle, lose fat, and be healthy. I was making quite a few mistakes and didn't even know it!
Want The Men's Health Big Book of 15-Minute Workouts: A Leaner, Stronger Body--in 15 Minutes a Day! Discount?
I've liked the Men's Health Big Books, but they are big. I tried out the Kindle edition here and it works well all workouts and exercises are hyper linked so that you can quickly get to them. Their pictures display well on my second generation Kindle (with the keyboard). Each exercise does not fit on a single screen even if you make the text small which is a bummer, but less the book's fault.
This is going to be great for traveling. I already have my Kindle and in the hotel, I have many options for working out regardless of the "fitness" room quality and enough variety to make it interesting just what I wanted for this book.
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I found this book to be pretty helpful in explaining the basics of a Triathlon to the uniniated. I didn't understand how the transitions worked and never heard of tri suits until I read this book. It's written in that positive easy to read Dummies style. If you're thinking of doing your first Tri, I highly recommend it.
