Can you get in the gym and out—and get in a thorough, full-body routine in—in under 40 minutes flat? It’s not an impossible feat. But you do have to be strategic.
We’re offering up 3 total-body workouts you can cherry-pick based on how much time you have to train. Workout I requires only your body weight and takes just 10 minutes to complete. Workout II calls for some light weights and takes roughly 20 minutes. Workout III is a 35-minute routine designed for a public gym or a well-equipped home gym. You can do any of these routines and stay in shape all through the season. You can even combine them to suit your schedule.
Each workout trains the body with minimal rest, providing a time-efficient workout that leaves your body no choice but to shed some extra pounds.
Directions
Frequency: Perform Workout I as often as you like. Perform Workout II 3-5 times a week (doing it on two days back-to-back is OK, but no more), but do not perform it the day before or after you do Workout III. (For instance, you could perform II on Monday and Tuesday, take Wednesday off, then do II again on Thursday and Friday, rest Saturday, and then perform III on Sunday.) Perform Workout III 3-4 times a week, resting at least aday before repeating Workout III or II. Feel free to organize the workouts according to your schedule, but don’t train more than two days in a row (unless you’re doing Workout I again).
How to do Workout I: Perform the exercises (A through D) as a circuit, completing one set of each exercise with no rest in between. After you’ve completed the last exercise (D, the mountain climber), rest 30 seconds. That’s one circuit. Now perform two circuits back-to-back without rest in between. Rest 30 seconds, and then perform three circuits back-to-back without rest.
How to do Workout II: Perform each pair of exercises (marked A and B) as supersets, resting 45 to 60 seconds after exercise B. (So you’ll do one set of A, then immediately do one set of B, and then rest.) Follow the same procedure for the remaining two exercise pairs before repeating the fi rst pair. (So you’ll complete 1A and 1B, then 2A and 2B, and so on until you’ve performed one set for each exercise in each pair.) Repeat the process until you’ve completed three sets for each pair.
How to do Workout III: Warm up by performing one circuit of Workout I. For Workout III, perform all the exercises as straight sets, completing all the prescribed sets for an exercise before moving on. Rest 45 to 60 seconds between sets.
