The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #580: Creating a Solo Training Regimen for Yourself

On this week’s show, we’re taking a little departure from sculpting, 80s movies, and sequel writing to go back to a topic I’ve talked about on here before (eps 450, 456)- exercise, specifically creating a solo training exercise plan that you can do in a few minutes a day. This episode serves as a summary for folks who attended Whistlekick’s Free Training Day MidAtlantic on 9/19/26. But even if you weren’t at the event and/or don’t do martial arts, this topic may still be of interest, as many people want to exercise but are not sure how or where to find the time.

A number of years ago, I realized that I’d been working in a job that required large amounts of sitting at a desk and in the car. Even though I was still working out afterwards and on weekends, it was hard to neutralize 8-10 hrs of sitting with few breaks in between. At the end of the day, I was tired, and my body felt tight. I lost a significant amount of flexibility, especially in my hips, hamstrings, and lower back. It was not long before I started racking up muscular injuries, mostly in my upper and lower back, and my body started to hurt all the time, not just after a long day. I lost about an inch of height as muscle tightness and scarring from the muscle pulls yanked my spine out of alignment. I knew it was time for a change.

A number of years prior, I’d started doing some martial arts to kick off the day. But I’d never been a morning person, so I didn't keep it up long term, preferring to do it in the evening instead. But at the time, Whistlekick's founder, Jeremy Lesniak, was doing a 6:30 AM EST podcast that had a live component, and I wanted to be up for it to participate. That turned out to be just the right incentive I needed to get up in the AM. I figured while I was listening, I would exercise. I didn't want it to be super intense, since I knew I would find excuses to not do it, so I started very low key. Basic warmup, some stretching, some punches, some kicks, some conditioning ... initially it was probably about ten minutes. But I felt better after and noticed that unlike other times when I worked out in the morning before, it didn't leave me feeling exhausted. In contrary, I felt energized.

Fast forward a number of years. That morning exercise routine is something I do every day. It takes about 15-20 minutes and is not super intense (my heart rate for most of it is in zone 2, sometimes 3, i.e. moderate exercise). On days when I can't do anything else, at least I have done that. I sit a whole less less for extended periods. If I need to be at the computer, I usually stand. My body hurts less. I have regained a lot of the flexibility I lost. It's helpful enough to me that I even do it when I'm sick. I can't think of a time when I felt worse off having done it. So I wanted to share it with you. Maybe you can do something similar in your own life.

There are some different components (in reality, most of these actually fulfill more than one component):

1.) warming up the joints (neck, shoulders, wrists, hips, knees, ankles)

2.) resistance exercises (e.g. squats, pushups, crunches, etc)

3.) flexibility/suppleness (e.g. static and dynamic stratching)

4.) technique practice (for me, martial arts, though it could be anything - both techniques I want to maintain and ones I do not know well yet)

5.) meditation / visualization (not all things can be done solo, but may be visualized for at least some component of mental practice)

I put many of these ideas in The Thirteenth Hour Workout Deck I made back in 2024. You can download the sample exercises and print them out here: https://www.patreon.com/13thhr/posts/thirteenth-hour-111697530?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

More next week!

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https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/09/21/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-580-creating-a-solo-training-regimen-for-yourself/