One of the biggest reasons why people say they don’t exercise is because they don’t have time. Of course, we all have the same amount of time, and there are plenty of really busy people who work out despite having many other things to do. I trained for and ran the SF Marathon while doing Ridejoy, and have written about the benefits of physical activity for entrepreneurs.
But I also understand that the best way to build a new habit is to make something dead simple — so you can put all your mental resources in pushing yourself during the workout, rather than in thinking of what you should do. So I’ve compiled six workouts you can do any time. No more excuses about not having the time or equipment to workout.
Here’s the deal with these workouts:
- They’re short. Including warmup and cooldown, they should take less than 30 mins.
- They’re (almost) equipment free: You just need a small clean(ish) space on the floor to do these workouts
- They’re total body. You burn more calories when you work your whole body at once, and I think it’s a more satisfying experience.
- They incorporate strength training with cardio. Unlike spending 45 mins on elliptical or just doing pushups, these workouts train across your systems.
- They’ve got variety: our brains our novelty-seeking instruments and there’s lots of variety in these workouts to keep you engaged.
- They work for all levels.. These workouts are scalable, which doesn’t mean that they can handle ten thousand requests per second, but that they can be made harder or easier depending on how fit you are.
- They’re tested. I ran through these workouts earlier this year during Wellness Month at Percolate. We had about a dozen people at every workout, and the program got rave reviews, including from co-founder James Gross:
The Program
Each of my workouts were organized in a similar way – there was a brief warmup phase that typically involved jogging in place, some arm circles and whatever else you might need. I don’t think it’s critical to spend a massive amount of time warming up if you aren’t going do lift super heavy weights or do something that requires massive strain.
Then we would do the light workout, which took about 3 minutes (and also sort of acts like an additional “warm up”)
Finally, we would complete the heavy workout, which was the key piece of the program. This would take up to 10 minutes and was meant to be especially challenging, pushing both the muscular and aerobic capacities.
Minutes 0-5: Warm Up
Minutes 6-10: Light Workout
Minutes 11-25: Heavy Workout
Minutes 26-30: Cool down / Stretch
The Workouts
Because I work in tech, I’ve decided to give each of these workouts a internet/computer related name.
Workout 1: Port 80
Light Segment: go all-out for 30 seconds on each movement
- Jumping Jacks
- Mountain Climbers
- Rest (break)
- High Knees (running in place)
- Plank
Heavy Segment: Two rounds of Tabata – 8 rounds of 20 seconds going all out, 10 seconds rest.
Tabata 1: Rotate through all exercises 2x
- Lunges
- Pushup Rotation
- Speed Skater
- Plank to Pushups
2 mins rest
Tabata 2: Switch between these two exercises 4x
- Burpees
- Jump rope
Workout 2: Pull Request
Light Segment: go all-out for 30 seconds on each movement
- Shoulder Taps in Push-Up Position
- Air Squats
- Rest (Break)
- Punches (Shadow Boxing)
- Wall Sit
Heavy Segment: two rounds of the Tabata protocol
Tabata 1: Rotate through all exercises 2x
- Fast Feet (Step forward / back in a 1-2, 3-4 pattern)
- Dancing Crab (On all fours with torso facing up, touch left hand to right toe, then alternate)
- Knees (Pulling both arms down and thrusting a single knee up, then alternate)
- Spiderman Pushups (bring one knee up to your side as you dip into the pushup, bring it back as you push up, alternate)
2 mins rest
Tabata 2: Rotate through the exercises 4x
- Deep squat to high jump
- Mountain Climbers
Workout 3: Migration
Light Segment: go all-out for 30 seconds on each movement
- Jab, Jab-Cross, Jab-Cross-Hook
- Slips
- Rest
- Jab-Cross-Slip
- Jump Rope (if no actual jump rope, you can imagine one)
Heavy Segment: 7 rounds of Crazy One Minute Cardio (1 min on, 20s rest
- Burpee
- Tuck Jump
- 4 Jumping Lunges (Switching)
- 4 Mountain Climbers
Workout 4: End Point
Light Segment: go all-out for 30 seconds on each movement
- High knees
- Squat hold
- Break
- Shoulder taps
- Plank
Heavy Segment: Another Tabata Protocol. (8x 1min on, 20s off). You’ll repeat the exercises 2x, then rest 2 mins, then do the whole thing again.
- Burpee no push-up
- Jump forward – jump back
- Push up one knee in, push-up other knee in
- 4 jumping jacks
Workout 5: Virtual Machine
Light Segment: 8 rounds of the following
- 10 Jumping Jacks
- 10 Punches
Heavy Segment: I nicknamed this adorable portion the “300 Routine”. Complete 3 rounds of the following:
- 20 Mountain Climbers (both legs = 1 rep)
- 20 High Knees (both knees = 1 rep)
- 20 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1 rep)
- 20 Squat Jumps
- 2x 10 Side Plank Crunches
Workout 6: Client Server
Light Workout: go all-out for 30 seconds on each movement
- 30s knees
- 30s 1-2, 3-4
- 30s break
- 30s pushup with rotation
- 30s imaginary ball throws
Heavy Segment: Ideally this is done with a partner, but you can do it alone if you need to:
- Step 1: Set a timer for 45 seconds and do as many burpees as you can (with no pushup)
- Step 2: 10 rounds of burpees for 30 seconds. Cheer on and count for your partner – they must not go below the number they set in the 45 second timer. If you’re doing it by yourself, same thing, but don’t rest for more than 30 seconds between sets.