When Paul and Laura Miller of St. Louis first read in Newsweek about a 20-minute, once-a-week fitness regimen, they were skeptical. The 2001 article, which described a safe way to lift weight in super-slow motion, seemed too good to be true.

But University of Florida Medical School research found the regimen improved strength, bone density and overall functionality in  people of all ages and fitness levels. Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes was a fan. So was trailblazing broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. Both trained at InForm Fitness, a New York City studio founded by fitness guru Adam Zickerman.

“I hate to exercise,” Walters admitted on The View, after demonstrating the techniques to viewers in 2002. “But for 20 minutes, I can do anything.”

Intrigued, the Millers traveled to New York to experience the workout firsthand. Soon they were hooked.

Later that year, they opened 20 Minutes to Fitness in Clayton, the first studio of its kind in our region. Staffed by physical therapists and other health and fitness professionals, it offered St. Louisans a safe, efficient way to build muscle with just one 20-minute workout a week.

Virginia Phillips and her husband, Al Roach, learned about 20 Minutes to Fitness a year later.  While on a business trip from Sarasota to St. Louis, they met the Millers on the suggestion of a friend—who was also a client of 20 Minutes to Fitness. Given Phillips’ interest in fitness and Roach’s background in franchising, the friend thought they might like to learn more about the 20 Minutes to Fitness approach.

Intrigued by what they learned, Phillips and Roach returned to Florida and conducted further research on “slow cadence” training techniques. In 2005, they received the rights to open a 20 Minutes to Fitness studio in Sarasota. Five years later, a second studio in downtown Sarasota opened, followed by a studio in Tampa in 2017.

20 Minutes to Fitness today has locations in Chesterfield and Clayton, Missouri, along with Tampa and Sarasota, where Dick Smothers of Smothers Brothers-fame trained, once claiming the workout helped him get in “THE BEST SHAPE OF (HIS) LIFE.”

Betty Cuniberti, a  former Post-Dispatch columnist and breast cancer-survivor, was an early convert. Writing about her experience, she effused over the workout’s many benefits, concluding, “I never dreamed at age 55, I’d hit a golf ball so far or wear a skirt so short.”

Since its founding, 20 Minutes to Fitness has trained countless doctors, a former Olympic ice dancer, high school football players, grandmothers seeking to build bone density, busy corporate executives, avid cyclists, father-daughter duos and thousands of ordinary people just trying to live their fittest and best lives.

All say they appreciate the one-on-one, by-appointment-only training. They like the fact that it requires no memberships or long-term commitments. Most importantly, they love the results.

20 Minutes to Fitness has now been open for more than 21 years, and we still meet people who are skeptical of a 20-minute, once-a-week workout. We understand. We suggest they do the same thing we did:  just try it. The first workout, along with a health screening and consultation, is always free.