How to Lose Weight in Only 22 Minutes per Day

You’re too busy. You’re a beginner and working out is too hard. You don’t have the space or the budget for tons of equipment.

Tony Horton has heard every excuse imaginable for not getting in shape, and his fitness program, 22 Minute Hard Corps, puts an end to three of the biggest obstacles holding people back: Time, experience, and convenience.

:If you can carve out 22 minutes a day to exercise — and believe me, everyone can — you have all the time you need to lean out and muscle up,” says Horton.

“This program is fast. It’s furious. And it only requires a few key pieces of equipment. I don’t care how many times you’ve tried and failed to get in shape in the past — if you want to be leaner and stronger than you are right now, this program will get you there.”

What inspired 22 Minute Hard Corps? The men and women of the United States military.

Horton has toured dozens of bases all over the world, helping troops in every branch of the armed forces maximize their physical potential.

“I have tremendous respect for our troops,” says Horton. “And I wanted to honor them by creating a simple, challenging, boot camp-style program that delivers functional, real-world strength to everyday people.”

What Is 22 Minute Hard Corps?

The program consists of eight routines that alternate between total-body cardio and resistance workouts — one a day, six days a week.

“This is a pretty big departure from P90X,” says Horton. “The workouts are shorter, the pace is often quicker, there’s more user participation, and most of the moves are easier to pick up. It’s back to basics for mind-blowing results.”

If you have any strength training experience, many of the exercises will look and feel familiar.

“We did that on purpose to eliminate the learning curve,” says Horton. “Ninety percent of the exercises are fresh, and each one is engineered to maximize muscle recruitment, but they’re also similar enough to exercises you already know so that you won’t have to waste time learning totally new movements.”

That’s a good thing since the sequence of exercises can be relentless — moving from, say, push-ups to squats to pull-ups with little or no rest in between.

You’ll complete three rounds of exercises in each workout, doing your best to keep up with the military-style cadence called out by Horton.

Your mission: Give him every rep. On his call. Every single time.

Dumbbells and a pull-up bar (or resistance bands with a door attachment) are all you need to get started.

But if you want to supersize your results, you can pick up the optional Beachbody PT Sandbag.

“Unlike a dumbbell, a sandbag’s center of gravity shifts as you lift it,” says Horton, explaining that a sandbag’s effectiveness comes from its instability. “As the sand moves inside the bag, your stabilizing muscles have to work overtime to keep you balanced.”

The harder they work, the faster they grow.

While 22 Minute Hard Corps might sound intimidating, Horton promises that anyone can do it — regardless of fitness level.

“Every exercise has a modifier, so even if you can’t do the main move, you can do a less difficult version of it that hits the same muscles.”

Tips to Get the Most Out of 22 Minute Hard Corps

1. Don’t miss any days

The most important element of any training program is consistency.

“If you only workout two or three days a week, you won’t see dramatic results,” says Horton. “It would be like only going to work three days a week, or only eating twice a week.”

2. Dial-in your diet

“I can tell you a thousand stories of people who do the workout, but don’t do the diet, and get ho-hum results,” says Horton.

With the accompanying Rations for Results meal plan, Horton will show you how easy it is to make healthy eating choices a habit.

3. Don’t overdo it

“Too many people let their ego get in the way of a good workout,” says Horton. “Don’t try to blow the doors off the first few times — be patient, pace yourself, and do the modifiers if you need to.”

You have to push yourself to see results, but you should never peter out early. “Finish every workout,” says Horton. “No excuses.”