You can throw away your gym membership.
[Get] rapid results by working out just thirty minutes a day, four times a week.
These are the promises offered by You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises by Mark Lauren and Joshua Clark, along with others, such as “ingeniously simple” and “do-anywhere program.”
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had a lot of faith in workout books and programs. Not because they don’t work, but because I’m the type of person that flakes out. They either require too much of a time commitment or I get bored – or any other excuse I can think of to justify watching So You Think You Can Dance instead of going to the gym.
Enter this book. I started its 10-week basic program four weeks ago, and I threw out my gym membership yesterday. Well, I let it expire, not to be renewed. The four workout programs in You Are Your Own Gym are made up of exercises that use your body weight – no gym equipment, free weights or gizmos – to build muscle, burn fat and develop balance and stability. I’ve become a YOYOG believer. Here’s why:
- The program takes only 30 minutes a day, four days a week. Say goodbye to the gym commute.
- I saw results after the first week.
- I can do it in whatever outfit I want, including barefoot since I don’t like wearing shoes in the house.
- No free weights are involved, but the authors offer many ways to make a body weight exercise harder.
- I have everything I need in my apartment. I’ve had to rig up a few things but nothing unsafe or too difficult.
- Once I’m done I feel the same way I did when I worked out at the gym for over an hour.
- The program only has one day a week of core-specific exercises yet my abs are flatter than they’ve ever been.
- There’s no cardio so I don’t upset my downstairs neighbor.
- My knees don’t creak anymore, and lunges no longer cause me pain.
- The exercises, number of reps and number of sets change every two weeks so I don’t get bored.
- I can easily do the program while traveling.
Quite simply, this book has changed the way I look at exercise. I’m not going to tell you to throw out your gym membership right now, but I do recommend trying this program. Give it a week and see what you think.
For more information, visit marklauren.com.
