Dr. Doug McGuff, in his book "Body by Science: A Research Based Program to Get the Results You Want in Twelve Minutes a Week", suggests that if you exercise once per week for about twelve total minutes, you'll burn fat, add muscle, gain strength and get the body of your dreams. He backs his claims up with a lot of factual, scientifically true information on how your body reacts to exercise, how hormones alter your ability to burn fat, has plenty of testimonials and runs a successful gym in South Carolina.
If you want to shape your body, his program might work for you. If you want to get in shape, you'll need other elements.
Dr. McGuff's program uses high intensity training which is why it takes only twelve minutes and why he suggests you perform the drills once per week. And, when I say high intensity, I mean high. This is muscle training at the top end of the load spectrum. For example, his typical prescription is to use a weight that causes maximal fatigue within 40 to 90 seconds completing a repetition in 20 seconds. You continue until you simply cannot move the weight one more time. In order to follow this program though, you use mostly exercise machines like a leg press, shoulder press, biceps curl, etc.
His routines are scientifically sound but have two drawbacks. One is that you must use a gym (or build on) and the other is that his routines provide little to no challenge to balance, coordination, speed, or agility. If you expect to keep your speed, you need to train for speed; keep your agility, train for it. You become what you do and do often.
So, why only once per week? When you tax fast twitch muscle fiber to their max, your muscles will need at least between three and five days to recover (or longer depending on the intensity and duration of the activity). This is why many bodybuilders exercise the arms on Monday and not again until the following Monday. If you try the same routine, same intensity on Wednesday, you won't be able to lift the same loads and could easily injure your self.
Exercising once per week is tantalizing and I'm sure works as described by Dr. McGuff. But for me, it's boring. I want to move. I want to challenge my balance, speed, agility, coordination as well my strength, flexibility and power. I want athletic conditioning; not body building.
But, that's just me. For you, this might just the thing you need. Whatever you choose, make sure it's something you can create a lifestyle around, enjoy, and look forward to. You're not training for six weeks or even six months. You're training for your life.
