Show HN: 1 min workouts for people who sit all day
122 melvinzammit 62 5/24/2025, 8:41:41 PM shortreps.com ↗
I am a software developer and in the last few months after recently becoming a father I was barely finding time for a proper workout. Recently I was reading about new research on Snack Exercises and how beneficial mini workouts of less than 2mins every so often, during the day are to our body. So, I decided to build an iOS App for me and others to help with this. The app generates a list of exercises that I need to tick to complete daily or loose my streak. The algorithm takes into account muscle groups and balancing the exercises to hit most main muscles. I also stayed going through all exercises and adding a couple of alternative exercises in case I don't feel like the recommended exercise. Since I'm not a trainer I commissioned professional exercise posture video guides and animations by an exercise expert which I attached to each exercise.
I uploaded the app on the app store for free and no ads. If this is something that interests you, I want to hear how you balance a long day on your desk vs exercise.
I’m going to try it out this week and give feedback.
Some immediate feedback if it helps - the “Your List Expires at Midnight” screen is pretty confusing. I think I understand what you’re saying on this screen. But the presentation of the icons really threw me off, I’m not sure what they’re trying to convey.
Nonetheless I’m really excited to give it a try. If there’s a particular place where you’d like feedback, let me know.
OP wrote an app to solve their own problem and made it available for free for others to use if they find it helpful. It should shock no one and certainly should not trigger any judgement or attacks from anyone that they chose to write the app for the platform which they themselves use.
If OP made the app cross-compatible it wouldn’t look as nice on iOS, or he’d have to essentially make two separate frontends. You could argue for either option but it’s not “no excuse”.
If there's one thing I've learned from a few decades on the internet it's that the only way to avoid entitled whining is to never, ever release anything, especially not for free.
But I could not help but be reminded of this hilarious Ben Stiller scene:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9y5K3KsuQ_M
Looks great btw!
Do things that actually make a difference, which means heavy barbell training. Anything else is generally subpar and inefficient, the main issue being no meaningful progression can be made after the first few weeks.
Heavy compound barbell training (squat, press, bench, deadlift) can be progressed and adapted to for decades. It's also an extremely efficient use of time.
In the vein of atomic habits, reducing a task to its minimal effective dose is great for starting new habits.
For people that sit all day, a 1min exercise snack makes a lot of sense. After that becomes easy and routine then gradually increasing the duration and difficulty up until a typical 30-45 min workout 2-4x a week is a great end goal.
Anyway, I haven't tried the app since I'm not really the target audience, but if it doesn't already, I do think that allowing users to put in a list of all their available equipment for the AI to factor in when recommending workouts would be great. Maybe even let it recommend equipment that aligns with the user's fitness goals and space/budget constraints (possibly as an opt-in feature), and slap on an Amazon referral code. A single 1RM deadlift or a couple bench press reps every now and then would do someone who would otherwise be sedentary much more good than grinding out a bunch of pushups or jumping jacks or whatever.
Of course, integrating potentially dangerous equipment and movements also makes proper form and safety guidance that much more critical, so it isn't something that I'd want to rush without proper testing. It'd be cool if it could watch you on video and give AI-generated real-time feedback, or at least provide recommended resources to find a personal trainer if you need one.
HIIT burpees is the most brutal thing I've found so far that fits in a 5 minute break.
Since the term AI seems to be used synonymously with transformer-based generative stuff, and seems to appear in almost every software-related content these days, that’s just where my mind goes.
Disclaimer: just a regular viewer of the channel.
Amazing work OP! I will give it a go. I do easy exercises during pomodoro breaks, maybe this app will come in handy.
I'd like to see some of the videos without having to install the app.
Very very minor spelling feedback. "Lose" not "Loose".
Unfortunately it isn't proper etiquette at work
This "you can work out in 1 minute" is just another version of the 80's/90's "crunch your abs /air box / step your way to this beach body!" crap.
The studies are bunk - done on college-age people whose bodies are already in pretty good fitness.
Exercise is work.
It's hard.
It's supposed to be.
There are no shortcuts.
You need to get lots of low intensity exercise, a moderate amount of...well...moderate intensity, and a bit of very high intensity exercise. Ideally in that order - establish a "base" over weeks if not months before you dip much into the latter two.