A Light, Quick Workout is Better than No Workout

Punch the clock, short workouts are better than no workouts at all.

You don't need a ton of time or energy to train.

Just do something – anything – brief, simple, easy, hard – it doesn't matter.

But doing SOMETHING is always better than doing NOTHING.

Here's how to do a punch the clock workout:

1. Pick 1-4 exercises and do 2 sets per exercise.

2. Don't go to failure in any set during these sessions.

3. Aim to be done in 15-20 minutes.

If you're familiar with Dan John's, "Easy Strength" method, you'll notice this looks eerily similar to his principles in that method.

Dan John's "Easy Strength" is a great "punch the clock" program. But you don't need to follow his exact Easy Strength principles or programs. While the above 3 rules tend to fit into Easy Strength, you may feel free to be flexible and choose exercises or training splits that please you (Easy Strength is a general, full body template).

For the record, I don't think you should be doing "punch the clock" workouts for the majority of your training.

While I don't care how long your training sessions usually take (mine usually last around 30-45 minutes, but I can get very good quality training done in less than 30 minutes, also), I DO recommend that you usually train pretty hard. You don't need to train all the way to failure, but you should USUALLY train relatively close to failure. 

You should usually (most of the time) follow a general training plan or template.

But, keep these punch the clock principles in your back pocket when you're tired, short on time, or mentally stressed and not able to appropriately focus on a usual training session for a given day.

You can also use punch the clock to abbreviate a specific training session. For example, yesterday I was pretty tired, short on time, and just getting back from a week of travelling. I'm doing a Lift & Swing program currently, that involves 4 exercises per session, 2-3 sets per exercise, and a set of kettlebell swings between exercises.

Since I was tired and training later than usual yesterday, I abbreviated my Push session.

I did only 3 exercises, and therefore just 3 sets of kettlebell swings (1 set after completing both sets of each exercise). I didn't do any warmup sets and I used lighter weights than usual. But, I still got the push workout done. I checked the box and am better off for it. 

Today, I will train legs and I plan to do the usual plan with my usual higher efforts. But by not skipping, or pushing off yesterday's session to today, I kept positive momentum going and I feel better knowing that I moved the needle, ever so slightly more.