The three short weekly workouts that can transform your fitness

You could run this workout programme for the rest of your life and make very, very good progress,” esteemed strength coach Dan John tells me.

With a tagline like this, you might expect a convoluted plan that prescribes hours in the gym each day, but John’s offering is refreshingly accessible. There are only three workouts per week, each taking roughly 10 minutes, and you only need a single kettlebell to get them done.

This is his speciality: cutting through the (considerable) noise in the fitness space to deliver uncomplicated, efficient and devilishly effective ways to train. And he has a sterling CV to justify his confident opening gambit.

“I’ve been lifting weights since 1965, coaching since 1979, I just broke the national record for the clean and jerk in my age group, I’m stronger than anybody you know, and I’m 68,” John says. He can also count Arnold Schwarzenegger among his admirers, with the bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-politician praising John’s work in his daily Pump Club newsletter.

Now you’re aware of his credentials, it’s time to dig into the nitty gritty of the plan itself. It was devised in a recent chat with The Independent, with the goal of helping people lose weight, boost strength and build a fit, functional body for the longhaul. Here’s how to do it.

John’s foundational training principle is that “the body is one piece”, and all its requisite parts don’t work in isolation, but instead are intrinsically linked.

For this reason, there’s not a “leg day” or “chest day” in sight in this workout programme – “I call this Frankenstein’s monster training, and it’s a horrible way for 99 per cent of your readers to train,” he explains.

Instead, he targets “movements, not muscles”, and the workouts below cover all five of his fundamental human movements: push, pull, hinge, squat and loaded carry.

Complete five rounds of the sequence below. Rest as needed.

Complete the sequence below, decreasing the number of goblet squats by one with each passing round. You should also switch the hand you use for the suitcase carry each round. Rest as needed. The aim is to hold on to the kettlebell for the entire workout.

Complete 10 rounds of the circuit below (each round, perform one less goblet squat and one less press-up). Rest as needed. The aim is to move quickly and smoothly through the movements, only putting the kettlebell down when transitioning to the press-up.

“One of the problems with the fitness industry is that we make everything very top-down,” John says. “There’s this idea that, if you don’t do a workout exactly as written, it will fail.

“I think it’s important to use self-regulation and think for yourself when it comes to reps, sets and rest.”

Above, you can find the framework for three effective workouts that will strengthen your entire body. But you can still tweak them to suit your needs.

If you only have a light kettlebell, increase the target number of reps per set – doubling them can be a fun way to go. If you only have a heavy kettlebell, pare down the number of reps.

“Rest when you’re tired,” John advises, but still try to get your hands back on the kettlebell as quickly as possible – challenge tends to lead to change, as far as the human body is concerned.

“And if something feels too heavy and it’s not safe, stop,” he adds. Likewise, if something feels too easy, it’s unlikely to provide the stimulus you need to see progress, so tinker with the variables available to make it harder.

Read more: The three ‘essential’ kettlebell exercises for health and longevity, according to an expert strength coach

The key to getting plenty of mileage out of this programme is progression. The workouts have to be adapted in line with your increasing fitness levels if you want to see continued improvements. However, don’t expect one 10-minute workout to have a transformative effect – that’s not how exercise works.

“If my client is in bad shape, I tell them, ‘It took you 40 years to get in this shape, and you expect me to turn it around in a day or two? Come on!’,” John says. “But that’s what people think.

“It’s all about progression in my world – progressive resistance exercise. You can’t go from zero to hero in one day. It takes months, years even.”

There are a few easy ways to progress the workouts above. You can increase the weight you’re using, increase the target number of repetitions or perform the workouts faster to increase the intensity – provided you’re able to maintain sound technique, of course.

You can also change the total number of rounds. For example, you might do six rounds rather than five of the pressing workout, or complete SparHawk once through, rest for a few minutes, then repeat it, trying to beat your first time.

If you can very gradually increase the intensity of these workouts, week on week, fitness progress is sure to follow.

Read more: Is the 12-3-30 treadmill workout better than walking 10,000 steps a day? I tried both to find out

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One of the most common misconceptions about workout programmes is that your exercise time is the sole determinant of their success. If you want results – think weight management, muscle growth, increased strength, improved mobility and better heart health – then what you do away from your weight-training sessions will have the most sway.

Nutrition, recovery and general activity levels play integral roles, and John has a few golden rules he follows to make sure he’s nailing each one.

Read more: How a drunken epiphany led endurance runner Russ Cook from a nightclub to national treasure status

“The only cardio I recommend for my fat loss clients is walking, and that’s it,” John says. “I also recommend always walking after your workouts.”

He says “there’s nothing purely scientific” about the lauded 10,000 steps per day goal. The same applies to drinking eight glasses of water each day or settling in for eight hours of sleep each night. But that doesn’t mean these things aren’t going to benefit you, making them decent goals to gun for.

Hitting 10,000 steps per day doesn’t mean you need to set aside 90 minutes to rack up the miles, however. Simply make active choices where possible, such as picking a parking space slightly further from the supermarket or swapping escalators for stairs on the Tube, and watch your daily total soar.

“I keep a very inexpensive pedometer in my pocket,” says John. “I’ll easily get 500 to 1,000 steps just walking around the gym during my morning workout. Then I walk after the workout, and that gives me another 3,000, so I’m on a good amount before I have my first meal.

“On Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, when you’re not lifting, those are the ‘must’ days to get the walking in.”

Your approach to nutrition will depend on your fitness goals. However, the underlying principle remains the same.

“It’s calories in and calories out,” says John. “I do think the gut microbiome is an important thing for body fat; I do think the insulin matrix is an important thing for body fat; I also think ultra-processed foods are a nightmare for body composition. Having said that, calories in and calories out is the deciding factor.”

Put simply, if you eat more calories than you burn each day (a calorie surplus) then you will gain weight. If you eat fewer calories than you expend (a calorie deficit) then you will lose weight.

Those prioritising muscle growth and strength gains will likely want to prioritise protein and eat at calorie maintenance or a calorie surplus to support their training efforts. However, weight loss is the world’s most common fitness goal, and a calorie deficit is needed to achieve this.

There are many ways to go about this, as detailed by fat loss expert Ben Carpenter in his interview with The Independent. But John favours fasting – abstaining from eating for part of each day or week. By providing yourself with less time to eat each day, most people end up eating less overall.

“My daughter makes fun of me, because I’m 68 and I like to eat dinner at 4pm or 5pm,” he says. “What they don’t understand is that, if I’m finished with dinner at 5pm, by the time midnight has come around, I’ve fasted for seven hours. If I wake up at seven in the morning, that’s a 14-hour fast if I eat right away, and I generally don’t.

“This way, the only time you need self-discipline is [after dinner]. So eat a filling dinner, fill yourself up, and if you’re going to snack, snack during the dinner.”

He also recommends focusing on nutrient-rich, “calorically cheap” foods to make achieving a calorie deficit easier.

“I went on a date the other night, and the menus in America now often show the calories in each meal. I had steak, potatoes and asparagus and it was 730 calories. At the place down the hall, the regular french fries were 1,000 calories.

“That’s why I think it’s worth counting your calories at dinner a few times, and you will be shocked to see that what we would consider ‘good’ food – veggies, potatoes and meat – can actually make for a very good, calorically cheap meal.”

Read more: I tried five simple expert-approved tricks for better sleep – and the results were incredible

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Time is the biggest barrier to exercise for most people. A lack of motivation is often cited as another key hurdle.

This minimalist plan is designed to overcome as many of these obstacles as possible, providing a workout programme you can do at home using just a single kettlebell, all while committing to just three short weekly workouts.

If you can do this consistently, and progress the difficulty of the workouts gradually over time, you can see some impressive results such as improved heart and lung health, strength, body composition and mobility, as well as increases in bone density and tissue strength which will leave you far less vulnerable to injury. But these results are dependent on what you do away from your workouts.

“You have to emphasise the sleep, the water, the steps and the nutrition,” John advises.

Aim for eight hours’ kip each night, or as much high-quality sleep as you can; shoot for 10,000 steps per day, or as many as you are able to squeeze into a busy routine; eat nutrient-rich foods in amounts that fit your fitness goals; complete the three weekly workouts above.

Do these four things and you have all the ingredients of a recipe for success.

Read more: As a fitness writer, here are the seven habits that have made the biggest difference in the gym