Ten Minutes Is Still Something

April 21, 2026

Yesterday was a lot. I won't get into all of it, but my body knew. This morning I had a choice: skip entirely, or do something.

I did something.

The workout

10 minutes. Indoor. 25 lb dumbbells.

• Squats: 3 reps
• Lunges: 3 reps
• Overhead press: 5 reps
• Sit-ups: 10 reps

That's it. No intervals. No FTP work. No kilometers logged on the bike. Just a short circuit on the floor of my house before the day started.

I want to be clear about something: this is the floor. The minimum I'll let myself get away with. I set that threshold intentionally, because without one, the answer becomes zero, and zero compounds fast.

Why I'm telling you this

Most training posts show the good days. The long rides, the power PRs, the structured intervals that go exactly as planned. I said from the start I'd share the honest weeks, including the days I barely move.

This is one of those days.

Four months out from TheBayRide, I'm not where I want to be fitness-wise. My FTP sits at 216W, which puts me at 2.27 W/kg (watts per kilogram, a standard way to measure cycling fitness relative to body weight). My peak was 295W in July 2022. That gap doesn't close on its own.

But it also doesn't close if I crater from exhaustion and stop moving entirely.

The logic of the minimum

There's a version of training advice that says rest days are sacred, and I believe that. But there's a difference between a planned rest day and an unplanned skip. Today wasn't a rest day on my calendar. It was a hard morning after a hard day.

So I chose the floor: 10 minutes, light weights, low reps, done before my coffee got cold.

That's not a training breakthrough. It's just not a zero.

If you're building toward 135 miles around the Bay on August 29th, you're going to have days like this too. Work piles up. Life doesn't pause for your training block. What matters is what your floor is, and whether you can stay above it.

Mine is apparently three squats and some sit-ups with a 25 lb dumbbell.

I'll take it.

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Full training log and ride details at TheBayRide.com