The Simple Six: The Easy Way to Get in Shape and Stay in Shape for the Rest of your Life

I'm over 30, and while I have been very fit at various times in my life, when I started this program was NOT one of those times. I've been doing Simple Six for two months now. Fitness background: I played sports through high school, and I've done a fair amount of powerlifter-style barbell weight training, some CrossFit, and some soul-crushing workouts from programs like Special Forces Fitness Training. Equipment: Kettlebells (2 initially) , chin-up bar. If you've never touched a kettlebell in your life, Dobbins provides a helpful chart for men and women to identify which weights you should get for any fitness level. What's intriguing about Simple Six is the author's focus on consistency and sustainability. This is often lacking in the fitness world for various reasons -- many (highly effective!) programs require lots of equipment or time or ENERGY. The point Dobbins makes in Simple Six, which I found very resonant at this point in my life, is that any program is only as good as your ability to stick with it. Can you get great results from doing intensive, brutalizing workouts 5-6 days a week? Unquestionably. Will it be worth the misery? That's harder to pin down, especially as you get older and time becomes more scarce. Unless you are a competitive athlete or soldier, in all likelihood your fitness regimen is intended to enhance your health, wellbeing, and possibly appearance. I can say that if you stick with this, it will deliver on those fronts (when paired with a proper diet, same with any other exercise routine). This is quick enough to do five days a week for almost anybody, and it is "easy" in the sense that the program is simple to understand, and you will not be left sobbing in the fetal position at the completion of the workout. It is NOT easy in the sense that you're just going through the motions of working out. If you are honest with yourself and your capabilities, you will definitely be challenged and you WILL get stronger -- substantially so! And of course increased strength is attended by a better, more impressive physique. I love the combination of getting stronger and not feeling totally depleted from my workout. If you are unable to complete any of the exercises in the program due to age or injury, the author provides alternatives. He also gives sound advice on when to move up to a heavier weight for a given exercise. Overall, I think this is a program that pretty much anyone can benefit from. The exercises are all time-tested, the time commitment is manageable, and the results are noticeable.

The book is thin with lots of pictures. Honestly I didn’t read the whole book, just got an understanding of the program. This program is great, especially for beginners. It hits every major muscle with little equipment and little time. I have worked out intensely 6 or 7 days a week for decades so I felt like I could use more exercise than the program. Just a few extra exercises hitting the focus that day. I have lost 15lbs and maintained muscle. In addition the kettlebell swings have helped strengthen my back, as opposed to deadlifts which always aggravate it. I understand some of the poor reviews, the book is thin and cheap and I can understand why people feel like they overpaid for the physical book. However the plan and information the book includes is worth way more if you stick with it. Think about how expensive workout programs are P90x, Insanity, Body Beast. It is a bargain at $10 with minimal equipment. The overhead press always hurt my shoulders so I substitute band pull aparts.

This book is very short, only 58 pages. It is kind of refreshing in a way to have a book with only 6 exercises, and not a lot of complexity to the program. Basically you do the same exercises every time, just more reps of a different one each day. I tend to get caught up in analysis paralysis on which of a 1000 things I should do, so this solves that. Otoh...this book could benefit a lot from having more of a progression in each exercise. There is another like that, I think it was one of the Body By..books, where it's broken up into pulling, pushing, and pushups go from wall to one legged decline craziness. In this book...chin-up is one of the exercises. A lot of people, especially people that would be attracted to a small book with 'simple' in the title, can't do one chin-up. The page describes chin-ups...and then just says if you can't do this, try one of these ..with 3 bullets of suggestions...but no description or illustration. Bent over row is one of the alternatives, and I really wonder if that is going to meet the same goal, but there is no talk of that. If you are new to exercise, you'd have to go look the alternatives up, and find info from other sites. A few simple illustrations and a few more pages and it could be self contained. So in that I am disappointed

If you're looking to be "FIT" and not a "Body Nazi", this routine is for you!! I'm a 50+ y/o man who's worked out off & on since I was a late-teenager, and this is by far the simplest, and the most rewarding, workout routine I've ever followed. I went from "COVID Couch Potato" to "daily workout animal" with this easy-to-do workout routine that takes about 20 minutes a day to do, plus whatever time I spend walking. After 5 months, I've doubled my kettlebell weight from 25 lbs to 50 lbs, and for the first time in decades, I can do a pullup! I rarely get sore, and I have lots of energy. In the past, I have tried many different training methods...3 X 10s, Push/Pull, Pyramids, Isometrics, and Stacking. I've also tried other routines that I can't even name. This one has been the easiest to follow and I don't get as sore as I used to, yet the benefits rival any of those other routines. Here's my "tweaks", which have accelerated my workout: - As a nutritional supplement, I use a protein powder (with BCAAs) and "lite" salt (for potassium) in my electrolyte drink. I suffer from low potassium because I'm on a Keto diet, and this also helps fight "keto breath". - I supplement this routine with some planks and body-weight calisthenics to help strengthen my artificial hips and repaired knee, as well as tighten my core and add flexibility to offset my age. By incorporating this into my warmup & cooldown, it only adds about 10 minutes to the routine. It doesn't take much, because the Simple Six is pretty complete by itself; but I thought it's worth pointing out that you can add specialized exercises into your warmup if you have a special health condition or need. - I alternate the RF exercise with my non-RF exercises, so my workout is: Warm Up -> RF -> Non-RF -> RF -> Non-RF -> RF -> Non-RF -> RF -> Non-RF -> RF -> Stretch -> Walk a couple miles. (Read the book and you'll understand what I mean by "RF".) - I also walk a lap around the gym between sets, so I get about a mile of walking during my workout, which also keeps my heart rate in the fat burning zone, with the lifting "spikes" acting like interval training. I first read this book on Kindle Unlimited, and it was so good, I bought it for my permanent library.

At 69, lifting heavy and cycling 150 miles a week, my body is starting to tell me to back off a little. This might be the answer. The book is easy and fun to read. Explains how and why to do the 6 exercises and how to progress as you get stronger.

A good approach for those looking for a healthy lifestyle to include toning, loosing weight, etc. but without a lot of time to spend. Also good for those like me with long-hour desk jobs who have let themselves go the way of the couch potato for too long. I tried the gym-rat thing but had to steal from sleep time for workouts. This method doesn't get you ripped and ready for body-builder beauty contests, that's a completely different audience. If however you don't have time for a gym membership and want to start with a minimal investment (2 kettleballs and a doorway mounted chin-up bar), these 6 exercises (one is walking) will hit all your major muscle groups including your heart. You do these at least 5 times a week, each day it's only 1 set of 10 reps (if you can only do 4 reps, you just do 4 and build to 10), but one of the 5 non-walking exercises you do 5 reps of 10 (or max capable) that day, and cycle through each exercise each week. The goal of consistent daily exercise as a permanent lifestyle alteration which is flexible to allow for life and results with minimal aches and burnout can be easily achieved with this simplified method of daily exercise you won't hate doing.

I have read numerous workout books and tried numerous programs over the past few years. The recommended programs ranged from the commonsensical to the absurd. The fundamental problem with most of the contemporary workout books is that they weigh the reader down with tons of physiology, dieting advice and an explanation of every exercise known to humanity before, about 200 pages later, they actually get around to explaining their basic exercise program, which even a 5 year old will recognize as being strikingly similar to the exercise program in the last workout book they read. While attempting to get to that point the reader will have probably fallen asleep several times out of sheer boredom and befuddlement. The authors of most workout books are not exactly great believers in coherent prose. This is the exact opposite of those books. The “Simple Six” delivers exactly what the title says: a daily workout plan based on six exercises. Each of the exercises aids a major set of muscles and range of motion. There is no need to invest in a ton of equipment: order a chin-up bar and a couple of kettlebells and you’re rolling - approximately the cost of 1-2 months’ gym membership. The time investment is 1/2-1 hour, five days a week. These are exercises for people of all ages and fitness levels. Simplicity! Clinton Dobbins gets to the point and he does it concisely, comprehensively and coherently. I am giving the book 4 stars right now. I am ordering my kettlebells and chin-up bar and actually start doing this. I will be back in a couple of months and tell you how it goes.

Not a bad book but very thin on information. His basic premise is very good in terms of the 6 moves you need to stay fit, but he could go into much more detail about them as well as offer more options to accomplish them. I do say the upside is that it is a very simple and quick read to really grasp the 6 fundamental fitness constructs you need. Spoiler alert: hinge move (kettlebell swing), squat (goblet squat), verticle pressing (single arm kettlebell press), horizontal pressing (push up), pulling (pull up), and walking...

Love the 80/20 nature of these exercises and the rolling focus program design. This workout routine seems to do a great job of focusing on the few important exercises and packaging them in a way that seems sustainable and interesting as a daily habit. I love the central theme of consistency over intensity, and that this book suggests a very practical way to achieve that. The fact that these workouts can be done at home with minimal gear is a great advantage. Unlike most fitness books, the author respects your time and capacity - both during workouts and reading. It was a quick read and I feel like I have everything I really need to get started again and build a solid, sustainable daily workout routine. Thank you!

Simple, quick, effective. This a great workout that is working for me because I keep doing it and would feel guilty if I didn’t do it (it’s so short). The only tweak I have made is that I do ordinary pull-ups (palms facing forward) and use dumbbells to do arm curls and then shoulder press in one compound flowing movement. Thank you Clinton!

I was looking for an easy work out to follow and I found it in the simple six. Someone could say that it too simple and you need more information, but more is not always better, sometimes is only more.

Simples e preciso, porque antecipa todos os questionamentos. Em tempos de quarentena, uma opção inteligente para manter a saúde física e mental

That's exactly what I was searching for! Even tho the book is small there is lots of knowledge behind it, believe me. "If you can't explain it simply, you don't know it well enough". Simple and effective!