Workouts & YouTube Shorts

It's a misconception that you need to spend hours and hours every week in the gym to stay in shape.All you need is a plan, discipline, and a few 20-40 minute sessions each week.High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT for short) is an efficient way to keep your body strong. Most HIIT workouts can be completed within the 20-40 minute window and they efficiently combine cardio and strength training.  YouTube has also entered the efficiency world by creating YouTube Shorts, which are 15-60 second content videos similar to the addictive Instagram Reels and the wacky content out there in the Tik Tok multiverse. Every week I will be releasing 2-3 free workouts (mostly HIIT) on my YouTube Channel by using YouTube Shorts. Some of these workouts will be all bodyweight and some will require basic equipment (jump rope, kettlebell, dumbbell, etc...), but all can be performed at home or outside. These workouts will be short (20-40 minutes) workouts captured on YouTube shorts (15-60 seconds). Efficient workouts presented in an efficient way. Plus, I'm keeping all my clothes on, unlike most of the other fitness content out there on YouTube. Trying to redeem the industry where I can. Here are two HIIT workout videos that I released this past week. 20 Minute Outdoor HIIT Workout15 Round Outdoor HIIT Workout 

The Introduction

The 12 Week Program is nearly finished!I'd like to share the introductory piece that participants will receive when they join the program. Enjoy! 

The Layman’s Fitness 12 Week Program

Stability, Endurance and Strength 

When you think about the Bible and physical strength, you probably think about the same biblical character that I do. 

Samson. 

But his might and strength in Judges 13-16 are marred by his moral and spiritual failures. There is apprehension when we think about using Samson as an example for why physical strength is good. Samson showed immorality, sensuality, and vanity as often as he showed strength.

This apprehension is similar to the confusion the man in the pew feels when he thinks about most of the fitness programs available today. Like Samson, the fitness market is full of immorality, sensuality, and vain motivations that worships man, all without acknowledging God as the Creator or without obeying His Word as the ultimate authority.

This apprehension is then exacerbated by a type of Gnosticism that has invaded our thinking about exercise and fitness. Gnosticism, a heresy the early church faced, is a philosophy that exalts the “spiritual”, calls it good, while it diminishes the “physical” and calls it evil. The heresy in Gnosticism is that it logically had to deny the humanity of Christ, as it questioned how the perfect, “spiritual” God could occupy a wicked, “spiritual” body.

For exercise and fitness, Gnosticism tricks us into divorcing the spiritual from the physical. It is a simplistic way of thinking that categorizes activities into “spiritual” and “physical” buckets, where we ascribe high value to spiritual activities and low value to physical activities.

All this apprehension causes guilt for the Christian who wants to exercise for God's glory–is developing physical strength for God's glory even possible? And if it is possible, is it even a good thing?

I'm here to tell you with certainty that yes, exercise for God’s glory is possible and it is a good thing.

Over these 12 weeks, we will look at biblical truths and examine how they relate to exercise and fitness. By the end of these studies you will have some mental hooks to hang your thoughts on that will help you think about exercise and fitness biblically. 

These studies will run concurrently with the Layman's Fitness exercise program. Each Sunday, you will receive the week's exercises and the week's study by email.

The Layman's Fitness exercise program progresses in phases. Phase I focuses on muscular stability. Phase II focuses on muscular endurance. Finally, Phase III focuses on building strength.

The 12-week theological study of exercise and fitness will follow the same physiological progression. In Phase I, we will study the origins of the body in Genesis to understand what it's for, to gain theological stability. In Phase II, we will look at the threats to your strength so that you may be on guard and run your race with endurance. In Phase III, we will look at how to apply your strength in a way that glorifies God.

Here's the full, step-by-step overview of the program:

Phase I: Stability

• Week 1: The Body & Creation

• Week 2: Theology of Work: Movement

• Week 3: The Body Cursed

• Week 4: The Body Redeemed

Phase II: Endurance

• Week 5: Smashing Gnosticism

• Week 6: Fleeing the Forbidden Woman

• Week 7: The Snoozy Sluggard

• Week 8: Swoll with Conceit

Phase III: Strength

• Week 9: Biblical Strength: #1

• Week 10: Biblical Strength: #2

• Week 11: The Strength to Beat Laziness and Gluttony

• Week 12: Developing Strength and the Habits of Fitness

My hope and prayer for you as you complete this program is that you will both strengthen your body through the workouts and strengthen your spirit through the content. 

I want you to be strong physically and I want you to be strong in Christ.

Let's go!

Don