The Memorial Day long weekend is right around the corner and, for many of us, that means hitting the road with friends and family. Why not have a blast doing quick, bodyweight workouts during your trips! In thinking of what types of workouts would serve you best, we invited Trainer Siphiwe Baleka to tell his story about fitness on-the-road with our new Active Trucker programs (Phase I & Phase II) in Workout Trainer.

Average weight loss in the first four weeks = 8.17 lbs

We’re thrilled to see the impact of the Active Trucker programs already! Moreover, at the 37th Annual Sports Emmys in New York City, the award for Outstanding Short Feature went to Fox Sports for the video Changing Lanes: The Siphiwe Baleka Story. What an inspiration. Skimble’s Verified Trainer Siphiwe gives us the scoop with inspirational testimonials below:

What’s your obstacle?

“I just don’t have the time.”

“I’m not motivated.”

“I’m not sure where to begin…”

 

I hear this all the time from drivers explaining why they don’t exercise. When I started as a long haul truck driver back in 2008, I experienced life on the road and just how challenging it is to make exercise a daily part of that trucker’s lifestyle. In fact, in the first two months of my driving career, I gained 15 lbs.! That’s 10.7% of my bodyweight! I knew I was headed for trouble and that’s when I made the commitment to take care of myself and exercise while on the road.

After experimenting with every kind of fitness equipment and exercise program, I realized that there was a fitness and nutrition program for everyone in America except a plan designed specifically for long haul truck drivers and their unique environment. So I decided to create such a program and over the next three years of my driving career, I did just that. In 2012, transportation carrier Prime Inc. was the first to implement my Driver Health and Fitness 13 Week program. The results were phenomenal. Almost four years later, hundreds of drivers have completed the program and the average weight loss in thirteen weeks is 19 lbs. Some drivers have lost thirty, forty, fifty, even sixty pounds in thirteen weeks without skipping meals. My program was out-performing weight watchers and I started getting a LOT of media attention.

When it comes to the exercise part of my program, the key to it is “getting it in where you can fit it in” and “spiking your metabolism.” As a truck driver, our schedule is always changing and we don’t always know “when” we are going to have the opportunity to exercise. Moreover, we may not be able to get to a gym or have thirty, forty, or sixty minutes or more to exercise. As a result, I realized that to stay consistent and get maximum results, I had to “bring the gym to the truck.” Each workout had to be no more than about 15 minutes, not require any equipment, and be able to be completed anywhere, anytime – right on the side of the truck, at a rest stop, or in a shower room. Most importantly, each workout had to be vigorous – the intensity had to be high enough to have a boosting effect on my metabolism. Within those fifteen minutes of exercise, I had to huff and puff to the extent that I had trouble finishing a sentence! That’s called “spiking your metabolism”  🙂

In order to help not just my clients, but truck drivers everywhere, I partnered with my favorite exercise app, Skimble Workout Trainer, to provide 8 weeks of structured workouts that anyone can do. These are the same workouts and same exercises that my clients used. Each day you get a new workout, you push the “play” button, follow the workout to the best of your ability, and that’s it! In Active Trucker Phase I, the workouts start with walking and build in successive exercise and each workout progresses for the next twenty-eight days. In Active Trucker Phase II, the structure of the workouts change in order to maximize both fat burning and strength building.

Now all of my clients use the Active Trucker Phase I and Phase II programs on Skimble. Their average weight loss is 1.64 lbs. per week. Many clients average more than two pounds of weight loss per week, with one driver averaging 7.13 lbs. of weight loss per week! More than 25% of the drivers have lost more than 7% of their body weight, a benchmark for reducing the risk for metabolic syndrome.

Geoffrey Bruner, who used the Active Trucker Phase 1 and Phase 2 program while completing Prime’s Driver Health and Fitness 13 Week program started at 255 lbs. and  finished at 204.2 lbs., losing 50.8 lbs. and 19.9 % of his body weight. According to Bruner,

“The first phase starts you off easy and builds you up so that in the second phase you know what to do and have a lot of stamina. The only thing people need to complete your program is some dedication and a little sweat. For the people who want to lose weight, make sure you are ready and have the mindset. Hearing about the program and thinking it’s a good idea isn’t enough. Make sure you are mentally prepared and then start shredding the pounds.”  

It’s clear that Active Trucker Phase I and Phase II programs are very effective in getting truck drivers to start exercising and burn fat quickly with the average weight loss in the first four weeks at 8.17 lbs. Each workout is approximately 15 minutes and it shows the driver in real-time exactly what to do, how to do it, and how long to do it. You go from just walking to the most metabolically efficient bodyweight exercises that anyone of any fitness level can do. The app also tracks your workouts, gives you points for each workout, and allows you to connect with others and cheer them on.

There’s an obesity epidemic in America and trucking is the occupation with the highest rate of obesity. We need an Active Trucker movement and Skimble’s Workout Trainer app is helping to develop this movement. Read more here.

What are you waiting for? The Skimble’s Workout Trainer program is available in the Android app store and the Apple app store. Active Trucker Phase 1 and Active Trucker Phase 2 are $29.99 each.

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