In our book, Choose More, Lose More for Life, 9-Minute Missions work in conjunction with promises, carb cycling, and Shredders to form our complete life transformation program. Yes, you can achieve some success by only following one or two parts of the program, but total success comes from integrating all four into your life. And you want to be totally successful, right?!
What, exactly, are 9-Minute Missions? 9-Minute Missions are workouts that shape and develop your muscles, boost your metabolism (which increases fat loss all day long!), increase brain oxygenation, and make it possible for your body to do all the activities you want and need it to do. ?And the beauty of 9-Minute Missions is that you do them first thing in morning?for only 9 minutes?five days a week! That?s all.
Here are some more exciting facts about 9-Minute Missions:
- You only need your body, a floor, and a chair. How easy is that? You can seriously do 9-Minute Missions anywhere!
- Every single workout is geared to your current fitness level. ?The only requirement is that you do as much of each workout as you can in 9 minutes. That?s all?9 minutes and you?re done.
- There are thirty exercises combined into 20 individual workouts, which means you?ll be doing a totally different 9-Minute Mission every day for an entire month. There?s no boredom with this program!
- Every workout targets one of three zones of your body?upper, core, and lower?or your entire body.
- 9-Minute Missions focus on the most fundamental movements we do every day: pushing, crunching, and squatting.
- Since your body will be doing something new every day, it won?t have a chance to adapt, which results in even stronger muscles and increased fat burning!
9-Minute Missions are divided into five different styles of missions (one for each day of the workout week), and all five develop and challenge your stamina and muscular and cardio-respiratory endurance in different ways:
- The Sprinterval Mission is all about work and rest.
- The Rapid Rounds Mission is all about short, quick circuits.
- The Enduro Mission is all about maximum repetitions.
- The Stepladder Mission is all about stepping it up.
- The Super Circuit Mission is all about pacing yourself.
Find out everything you?ll need to know about 9-Minute Missions?including instructions, graphics, and charts?in our book, Choose More, Lose More for Life. And here’s a 9-Minutes Mission, “Drop It Like It’s Hot!”, to get you started. Today!
55 Responses
I love your show so much, that I just bought your book. Starting carb cycling tomorrow and food prepped all day today for it. Now I need help. I want to do the 9-Minute Missions but I am 2 weeks post op from knee surgery. Can you recommend some exercises that I could do, to keep up with the 9-Minute Missions without re-injuring the knee. Thanks
Hi Debbie: So sorry to hear about your knee surgery! You’ll want to run any exercises by your healthcare team first and then follow their recommendations. While you’re healing, remember that a huge part of weight loss is the nutrition side of things, so take this time to get the nutrition part of carb cycling down, and then add in the exercises as you can. We want to keep that knee safe!
Hi Debbie: You’ll want to run any exercises past your healthcare team first while you’re healing and then follow their recommendations. But in the meantime, you can work on the nutrition side of carb cycling, since good nutrition is a huge part of weight loss, and then add in the exercises as you can. You can do this!
Hi! I am on my second month of Turbo Cycle – reading the book and having success! I workout with a trainer, 2-3 times a week for resistance training which I love! I want to add in the 9 minute missions (coordinating with my PT Plan for upper/lower, etc.) I just want to make a quick recommendation! It would be awesome if Chris and Heidi made a deck of cards or something with the missions on them! I am copying the exercises from the book onto index cards myself and I would love to have color pictures of the exercises to refresh my memory as to what I am doing! (i.e. I don’t want to turn back and forth in the book when I’m supposed to be working out) Thanks SO much for your program!! Have been loving it so far!!!
I’ll pass this suggestion along, and thank you for your comment. You can do this! 🙂
How do I get the 9 minute workout. I need to start off with something small. I want to be happy again. Thank you MLG
Hi Michele: There are a few 9-Minute Missions videos on Chris’ YouTube channel, and you can get the complete program in their book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” It’s an awesome program!
I’ve started my 9 minutes workout today. .I didn’t stopped for a second. When I finished I was felling some pain in my foot and it took me more then 10 mins to get my heart rate normal. ..is it okey? will this little pain will go away?
Hi Redoan: If you’re new to exercising in this way, you might want to slow down a bit. It’s very much okay to rest for a few seconds, and then begin again. As for your foot pain, it’s so hard to tell what’s going on there. Make sure you have good workout shoes that will support you as you’re working out, and if the pain continues, I’d discuss this with your healthcare team. We wish you the best!
I am almost finished with my first week of the carb cycling progam and so far so good. I have a question about scheduling. I’m traveling one morning, so I won’t be able to do my 9 minute mission first thing in the morning. Should I skip it that day and do it on Saturday, or should I do it at night? Please advise.
Hi Joe: Great question! You can do it any time during the day if you can’t do it in the morning. Safe travels!
Hi, Ive been watching your show and checking out your website. I weigh 194 lbs and am 5’6″. I need to lose about 60 lbs. My problem is I have bad knees and a bad back. I have joined clubs with personal trainers and eventually give up because the pain becomes so unbearable I can barely move around to do daily activities, like walking. What can i do to really rev up my metabolism with little strain to my knees and back. Running, jumping, squatting, lunges, sit ups, bending too much are all things I need to avoid.
Need help, without the excercise, the strictest of diets just aren’t enough to lose anything.
Hi Tina: I know this can be so frustrating! I’d recommend you chat with your healthcare team about what exercises you can do, and then follow their recommendations. That, with an awesome nutrition program, can help you reach your goals!
Dear Team Powell,
I would like to clarify – according to Chris & Heidi’s first book (Choose to loose), shapers, aka resistance training, need to be done on low carb days. Does it mean that all of my additional resistance and strength training (dumbells, resistance tube) need to be done on low carb days?
Thank you in advance.
Hi Aya: The 9-Minute Missions in Chris and Heidi’s second book (“Choose More, Lose More for Life”) are an update from the Shapers in “Choose to Lose,” and they’re done first thing in the morning Monday-Friday on both low and high carbs days. If you’re doing your own strength/resistance training program, that is totally okay, just be sure to not work the same muscle groups two days in a row. Your muscles need a bit of time to recover and get stronger before you work them out again. Hope that helps!
I love the book and have been carb cycling for about 2 weeks! I find that I have trouble with the 9 minute missions as soon as I wake up in the morning. I think my body just needs a bit of time to get up and moving, so I’m thinking of having breakfast first, to stay in the 30 minute window, and then start the 9 minute mission. I just think I’ll be able to push myself a lot harder. Is this ok, or should I stick with it as soon as I wake up? Thanks!!
If this works better for you, then go for it! The main thing is to do your 9-Minute Missions as soon in the morning as you can.
I have 3 months until my wedding on 11/7/2015. Im 5’4″ and I weigh 208. I have up to 5 hours available to exercise everyday. I have your book Choose To Lose and will do all of those exercises. What should I add to those workouts since I have a lot of extra time to exercise and a lot of weight to lose? I also have gym access if I need it.
Congratulations! That’s so exciting! You’ll want to do both strength training and cardio, like it talks about in the book. If you can, I’d suggest working with a certified personal trainer for awhile so you can learn how to get the most out of your workout time and how to do strength training correctly. Any program you do will need to include both strength training (like 9-Minute Missions) and cardio. Your nutrition program is really important too, so you might want to check out Chris and Heidi’s updated carb cycling program (it’s in their book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life”). This second book has 3 more carb cycles you can choose from, and you can change cycles at any time. Learn more here: https://heidipowell.net/2713. You can do this!
I am so impressed with how straight forward you are with clients. you don’t let anyone get by not giving 100%. I am needing some of that straight forwardness. I lost 50 pounds then stopped putting myself first and started eating junk again. I now need to lose 20 plus the 10 I didn’t get off before. I have been having hormonal issues and my doctor has decided I need to go on hormone therapy. We’ve tried other approaches first that didn’t work. Do you have any suggestions on what to do so I don’t gain even more weight since that appears to be a side effect of this regimen. Both myself and doctor want this to be temporary and I hope weightloss will help my symptoms. If I could have gotten through without medication I would have but after 6 months of dealing with this and only getting a few hours of sleep every night I had to try something. My exhaustion reminds me of how it was like as a mom with a newborn. I only get small chunks of sleep. Thanks for any help you can offer. Also know before I do anything or change anything I will consult my doctor. Thanks.
Hi Cindy: I’d discuss Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program (it’s in their book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life”) with your healthcare team and then follow any modifications they might recommend. The book contains their complete nutrition and exercise program, and it’s the same one they use on the show. It will teach you everything you need to know and do to achieve your own transformation! Learn all about it here: https://heidipowell.net/9060/how-to-begin-your-transformation-journey-step-by-step/. You can do this!