9 Quickie Workouts

Finding time for workouts is a big issue nowadays with the American lifestyle causing a tight schedule, but not a tight waist.

Photo Credit: Animatrix

The art of squeezing in effective workouts simply takes being armed with just a few “bang for buck” exercises and utilizing time-efficient protocols.

My two favorite time-efficient protocols are “ladder sets” and “tabata intervals”. With both protocols I prefer to only use two non-competing exercises.

Ladder sets are performed by increasing the reps with every set. For example, lets take squats and pushups and it would look like this:

Set 1: Squats – 1 rep, Pushups – 1 rep

Set 2: Squats – 2 reps, Pushups – 2 reps

Set 3: Squats – 3 reps, Pushups – 3 reps

And so forth until you complete 10 reps of each. This example demonstrates if you were to only increase your reps by one with each successive set. For a more advanced ladder workout you increase your reps by five with each successive set.

Here’s a video demo of “Jump Squats/Pushups” Ladder Workout

Tabata intervals seem to be all the rage lately, because it’s just so dang effective. It is simply a “time under tension” protocol in which your work sets last for 20-seconds with only 10-seconds of rest between exercises. This is performed for a total of 4-minutes and requires maximum effort. This protocol, when done right, will be the tougher of the two.

Ok, so now that you have a quick rundown on what these protocols are about let’s move on to 9 Quickie Workouts to get you fit in 5 minutes or less.

Decide on which protocol you’d like to use. For simplicity’s sake use 1-rep increments for the ladder protocol and aim for completing at least 8 cumulative reps of each exercise within 5-minutes. As your conditioning gets better then aim for 10 cumulative reps within 5-minutes

3 Bodyweight Workouts

Workout 1 – Beginner

Exercise 1: Prisoner Squats

Exercise 2: Wall Slides

Workout 2 – Intermediate

Exercise 1: Alternating Lunge

Exercise 2: Staggered Hand Pushups

Workout 3 – Advanced

Exercise 1: Jump Squats

Exercise 2: Body Rows or Pullups or T-Pushups

For the Body Rows/Pullups perform these if you have the equipment or if you’re outdoors you can use the monkey bars on a playground set – get creative.

3 Fitness Band Workouts

Workout 1 – Beginner

Exercise 1: Front Squats

Exercise 2: Rows

Workout 2 – Intermediate

Exercise 1: Squat to Row

Exercise 2: Overhead/Shoulder Press

Workout 3 – Advanced

Exercise 1: Reverse Lunge with Row

Exercise 2: Forward Lunge with Chest Press

3 Dumbbell (DB)/Kettlebell (KB) Workouts

Workout 1 – Beginner

Exercise 1: DB/KB Sumo Deadlift

Exercise 2: DB/KB Swings

Workout 2 – Intermediate

Exercise 1: DB Squat to Press

Exercise 2: DB/KB Bent Over Row

Workout 3 – Advanced

Exercise 1: DB/KB Swings

Exercise 2: DB/KB Renegade Rows

Workout Tips

Always perform a brief warm-up.
Perform your reps as fast as possible WITH good form. I can’t emphasize the importance of maintaining solid form. If you can’t complete good reps any longer then you either need to take a longer break, modify the exercise to lessen the resistance, or simply terminate your workout.
Always keep abs tight with each exercise. Simplest way to engage them is to pretend someone was about to punch you in the stomach.
Breathe! And breathe deeply!
Cool down with static stretching.

That’s all for today’s post, and now you have an excuse for a quickie