Three years I don't miss a single week of workout: great that it creates long term benefits, but the short term ones are already incredible: I'm better at parenting (I can carry my daughter for hours without any side effect for example), more able to focus at work, sleep quality is better, stress level much lower, and I look better. All this for 40 minutes a day 5 days per week. The best deal of my life. My routine is monday,wednesday,friday: 15 min cardio + bench press and squat (using a power cage, high volume for both exercise). Tuesday,thursday: 20 min high intensity interval training + chinups or pullups or over the head press depending on the day. Hint: the time I use for the exercises is small compared to the amount of sets I try to do per session because I took the extreme way of an home office that has an included gym. Pic: http://antirez.com/misc/office.jpg Hint2: don't train to failure.
Regarding hint 2, it depends on what you're aiming for and also personal style. Training to failure while rotating muscle groups on a 3-day cycle is a superb way to see results and increase strength quickly. It is also a much more rewarding way to train for some of us than to avoid pushing it.
Agreed, with a solid regime there will be an initial cost (DOMS and fatigue) but that only lasts for a week or so, then the benefits start to rack up very soon after. The best part is the order- the very first thing you earn is feeling better, which is the most important benefit to me!
FWIW, I'm on the "stronglifts" program, plus chunks of 30-min medium-high intensity cardio where I can fit it.
