When I first created 12 Minute Athlete, it began out of my own desire for a simple, minimal equipment workout program that focused on gaining strength and skills rather than solely on appearance.
I knew that if I was looking for something like that, there must be others interested in a similar approach as well.
Yet I will never stop feeling grateful and stoked out of my mind when I hear your guys’ stories about how 12 Minute Athlete has changed your view on health and fitness and had a positive effect on your life. And when I received an email from Jasper, a 28-year-old teacher, student, and photographer (check out his impressive Instagram account!) now living in Hobart, Tasmania, with the subject line, “How 12 Minute Athlete helped me survive the Gobi desert” I was pretty floored.
Jasper went on to say:
“For three years I was a teacher at a small university in China (I am originally from Australia and have just returned), located in a town in the Gobi desert, about 100km (62 of your miles) from the Mongolian border. To say that it was an adventure is putting it somewhat mildly. I had found by this point that exercise was an excellent way to deal with the stress of living in a very different culture, but found that I really hated long, slow cardio. Eventually I stumbled across your site.
For last year and a half or so, I would do one of your workouts in my tiny apartment before I started my morning classes. It really changed how I looked at working out and fitness in general, and really helped me deal with the frustrations of living in rural China and made me appreciate its benefits even more. There was a fitness park with parallel bars and pull up bars on the university campus and I made full use of it. I even managed to ship a couple of kettlebells out here (shipping in China is actually really affordable).
It was really great to go into my first classes of the day at 7:30 AM and be full of energy while my students were still half-asleep. It kept me in shape through the long, cold and dark winters, where temperatures are often below -20 degrees (-4 in Fahrenheit! haha). I also travelled a lot, and while that usually involved a lot of hiking and general backpacking, your website was a great resource for the days when I had a really long bus or train ride.
I like the inclusive nature of your site, and I like the way you detail your progress as well; ultimately it creates a better dialogue with your readers. There’s a lot of posturing on fitness blogs/sites and the absence of that kind of thing on your site is very refreshing.”
Check out Jasper’s story on his extensive travels and how he fits in exercise no matter where he’s at in the world:
Read more
