The Steve Jobs Workout - Bodyweight Exercises For the Virtual Nomad

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The pace and rhythm of our lives are changing.  And the transformation is only accelerating.  I read today how Steve Jobs is now working from home.  This speaks volumes about the future of lifestyle design.

My colleague Ryan Murdock has been intrigued by the Virtual Nomad concept for some time now.  Probably because he is one himself.  More and more, people are abandoning the daily grind.  In its place a lifestyle of flexibility and creativity is coming of age.  And the metamorphosis is reaching into every tentacle of this new lifestyle, including the way people are getting and staying fit.

Ryan gave a good example of this new approach to fitness in his article about bodyweight training for business travelers.  It no longer flies to tell people they need to fight their way to a crowded gym and waste their time standing in line for marginally effective weight and cardio machines.

These people are choosing better options at work.  They need better options in the rest of their lives too.  As you probably know, one of my favorites is bodyweight exercise.  It's a time-tested and NATURAL way to build muscle and burn fat anytime and anywhere.  Deep rooted physical cultures have been using nothing but bodyweight to build natural vitality, beautiful physiques and outstanding performance for centuries.  But enough with the sales pitch...

What could Steve Jobs, and all his fellow Virtual Nomads, being doing to stay fit, healthy and vital?  The answers to that question are endless, but here are a few suggestions.

1. Compensate for your over-specializations

First off, many Virtual Nomads will be spending significant time slouched in front of laptops, iPhones or other tools of their trade.  This causes certain over-specializations.  The body adapts to take on the "shape" that you spend most of your time in.  If you spend all your time in the "slouched desk jockey pose," that is the shape your body will want to take on.  You need to specifically counteract that.  Try these mobility exercises for the desk jockey as a start. 

And then there is Prasara Yoga exercise to specifically target the desk jockey slump.  You must strengthen the "functional opposite" to whatever over-specializations you may be developing.  In the case of the Virtual Nomad, this probably means some form of back bending.  Here is Coach Scott Sonnon doing an advanced back bending exercise.  But you can start with something simple like a Cobra or Upward Facing Dog pose.

2. Build or Maintain Muscle Mass

As we age, we inevitably lose muscle if we do nothing to prevent it.  Many Virtual Nomads are still young.  Start preventing now!  But increasingly older Nomads like Jobs are coming onto the scene.  For them, it is crucial to encourage lean mass.  Muscle, and by extension strength, are a vital factor in keeping us young.  It helps you burn energy and reduce fat.  And when developed in a balanced way will reduce the chances of injury.

You don't need fancy equipment to build muscle.  There are plenty of bodyweight exercises for strength and hypertrophy.  The result you get from exercise has more to do with the way you put things together and the protocols that you use than with the tool.

One of the easiest rules of thumb to target muscle building is the Time Under Tension (TUT) principle.  Essentially this uses the time you perform the exercise to target different goals.  If you are looking to grow muscle, generally it is recommended to stay "under tension" for between 30 and 75 seconds (depending on the source).  I like to work with 45 seconds.  By the end of those 45 seconds, you should be starting to run out of juice, but still have two or three repetitions in reserve.  Do that for 3 sets and you're good to go.

When first getting started, you can pick a few simple exercises that hit most of the body.  Push-ups, One-legged squats and Planks are enough to get you going.  Then, when you start to crave variety, you can browse through these unique bodyweight exercises for some ideas...

3. Burn Fat

Again, although Virtual Nomads are generally on the go more than their cubicle bound counterparts, they are still more sedentary than our evolutionary ancestors.  So we're going to have to spend some time burning off any excess fat.

The most bang for your buck comes from short and sweet metabolic conditioning workouts.  One of my favorites is the Tabata protocol.  It's super easy to understand and to implement, and it delivers awesome results.  Just choose two to four bodyweight exercises that get the heart pumping.  Starting with the first exercise, perform 20 seconds of maximum intensity work and then rest for 10 seconds, then start all over again for a total of 8 rounds through that same exercise.  Then move on to the next exercise and do the same thing.

A couple good candidates for this approach are the Mountain Climber and the Prisoner Jump Squat.  You can take a look at them in the clips below:

So you see, it takes little space and no equipment to get an effective and complete workout.  The Virtual Nomad has no excuse to not stay healthy and fit as they ply their craft from exotic locations around the world – or from their local Starbucks as the case may be.

Comments

[Dean]

Love that video of Scott Sonnon. I'm trying to get that move down. I can get into wheel but coming out is really tough. I've made it one of my goals for the summer. Great post!

[Yavor]

Those videos are awesome buddy! Training for muscle size + training for strength/flexibility/mobility/body weight skills + staying lean = awesome body that looks, performs and feels great.

Yavor

[Adam Steer]

Hey Dean,

Glad to see you working on that. Generally, it is one of those moves that eventually just "clicks" for you, then it is yours forever...

Cheers,
Adam

[Adam Steer]

Yavor,

Thanks for dropping by man. Glad you liked the clips. CST is chock full of great stuff to build a "Functional Physique."

Cheers,
Adam

[Greg at Live Fit]

Great summary of body weight exercises. I really like the Time Under Tension analogy, as well. Unfortunately, I'm only doing 2 sets, which may explain slower strength gains that I'd hoped for. Good info.

[Adam Steer]

Hey Greg,

3 sets is a bit of a catch-all recommendation. If you are going hard for two sets, you may be getting what you need. It also depends on lots of other factors like how many exercises you're doing, what your rest times are, etc.

Thanks for dropping by!

Cheers,
Adam