Can you get fit in 15 minutes?

We’re all crazy busy, but love the mind and body benefits of working out, so can you get fit in 15 minutes? Sounds crazy right?

If anyone else had claimed it’s possible to ‘healthily and safely drop a dress size in 12 days with only 15 minutes of exercise a day’ I’d probably laugh in their face. But top nutritionist, yoga teacher and personal trainer Zana Morris has the proof. She’s seen it happen again and again in her swish celebspot London gyms, The Library and The Little Library. She’s even got the before and after photos to prove it. ‘People come to see me because they live very busy lives and don’t have time for long exercise classes,’ says Zana. ‘Once they’ve completed the 12 days they can maintain the results by working out for 15 minutes 3-5 days a week.’

What?
Zana’s brand of high intensity interval weight training works on the principle that we need to build muscle mass in order to lose fat and look good, ‘Short bursts of intense exercise have been shown to stimulate muscle fibres as well as activate your body’s natural growth hormone – a natural ‘youth’ hormone that aids fat loss and helps build youthful toned muscle.’

The idea is based on a rotation of three simple programmes that could be done in any gym, using traditional weight machines (like the leg extension, the shoulder press and the assisted dip).

Day 1 – Legs

Day 2 – Chest and back

Day 3 – Shoulders and arms

In addition there’s a short-but-sore abs sequence in every workout.

How?
Each 15-minute session incorporates three sets of 4-6 different exercises (a set is 6, 12 or 20 reps depending on your fitness and preference), with no more than a few seconds’ rest between each. That way the muscles are put under pressure to change – fast. ‘Do the first set of reps with the heaviest weight you can manage, then take some weight off for the second and third set, so you can maintain good form as your muscles tire,’ says Zana.

Why?
But is 15 minutes of weight training a day really enough to keep me fit? ‘Exercising for too long at any one time can actually have negative effects on the body,’ says Zana. ‘Even an hour can be too long. Lengthy periods of exercise have been shown to cause a dramatic increase in the body’s level of cortisol, a hormone that causes muscle breakdown.’

OK, aargh, don’t want that thanks; but what about the all-important cardio element which we’ve been told for years is essential for fat burn, heart function and all manner of healthcessities? ‘The idea is to exhaust the muscles so you literally can’t do another rep by the time you’ve finished,’ explains Zana, ‘that way you’ll elevate your heartbeat, feel short of breath and sweat.’

Ah ha, this is definitely the bit I struggle with when I’m on my own in the gym; it’s all too easy to choose a lightish weight, have a long sojourn by the water cooler in between sets, and stop halfway through that final lift. When Zana’s in charge of the little black pin that controls the kilos, I find I’m pushing, lifting and grunting like a wild boar in quicksand. After 15 minutes my arms have been reduced to sweaty jelly. Usually I don’t feel like this until after, say a 45-minute crossfit class, or a fight through the sale racks on Boxing Day.

Verdict
Training with Zana has meant I now feel confident pushing myself at the gym – I’ve learnt that I can lift more weight than I thought possible, and that a quarter hour sesh can leave me fatigued. While I’m far too much of an exercise junkie to give up my longer fitness sessions altogether, I definitely take Zana’s point that sometimes less is more (my older sister said something similar when I tried blue eyeshadow for the first time and I will always be grateful.) As an addition to my exercise repertoire, the Zana method is invaluable.

Find out more about Zana Morris at thelibrarygym.com