The #20x20Challenge is off and running, and juuuuuust this morning, we hit 12,000 check-ins on Instagram! If you want some REAL #fitspo, check all these amazing women out right here.
Many of the gals are training with the free workouts that I sent out along with the challenge and others are doing their own thing. The key is that all workouts need to be 20 minutes, no more and no less.
Why? Because the all-time #1 reason people give for not being able to exercise regularly is “NO TIME.” Great, but also 20 minutes is actually 1.4% of your day, so I dunno, I might belive if Obama used the no-time excuse but for 99.99% of the population, you can find 20 minutes in your day.
Plus, because when your workout is shorter, you are more likely to push the intensity a bit. And we know that intensity trumps duration every time when it comes to generating body change.
And so, I thought I’d share with you 3 of the workouts that I have been doing lately. All short, all intense and all focused on mostly weight training.
1) Shoulders-for-Days in Only 20 Minutes
As you know, I love training delts, and this workout is actually one of the featured workouts in the #20x20Challenge, a pair of upper body circuits with a focus on shoulders.
Equipment needed: 1 heavy and 1 medium set of dumbbells, a bench.
If you’re interested in my full workout programs, check out Lean Building HERE
2) Hill Sprints
These might be the most vomilicious of them all—in fact, my bro Connor actually did puke after the last time we did them, during our family vacation in Salt Lake City last month, sorry, Bean!—but there is something sooooo satisfying about incline sprints:
Plus, sprints are one of the best exercises for abs!
I like doing these outside, but of course you can do them on the treadmill too (see workout #3). But if you don’t have a gym membership and you have limited equipment at home, this is a great outdoor workout.
Find a stretch of at least 50 yards of incline—can be on the street or a grassy hill, just watch out for divots and uneven terrain so as to not roll your ankle. The incline itself doesn’t matter. But if it’s a steeper incline, then shorter sprints are recommended, and if the hill isn’t as steep, you can get away with sprinting a little longer. It might take some trial and error to figure out.
Start with a warm-up of some dynamic stretching, light jogging, etc., like this sample track warm-up here. This should take 5-10 minutes, but in the interest of not pulling a hamstring, please make sure you are sufficiently warmed up for intense activity.
Then, perform 1-2 sprints at 50% intensity. It should feel like you are holding back, but also going faster than what’s comfy. Take as much time as you need to to recover in between sprints. I normally take 2-3 minutes between each.
Then, when you’re ready, sprint as hard as you can for 50 yards or about 30-40 seconds. Rest at the top, and then slowly make your way back down the hill. Don’t start your next sprint until you feel like you can push with the same intensity again.
The key here is intensity, so taking as much rest as you need will facilitate that. Don’t rush through this.
Complete 6 full-out sprints.
You can add one additional sprint every week (assuming you do this once a week) until you reach 12 sprints. At that point, your intensity will probably be compromised and the workout will be over.
Be sure to cool-down, do some static stretches for the lower body and fuel your body properly in the following hours.
3) #treadLIFT BURN Workout for the Legs
Over 2500 women have downloaded the 36-week #treadLIFT program, and I could not be more impressed with amazing results these gals are sending in! The feedback has been awesome. All workouts are 30 minutes or less, and require access to a treadmill and a set of dumbbell, that’s it!
If you have not grabbed the 36 workouts, you can do that right here.
There are 3 types of workouts: BURN (more fat loss), BUILD (more muscle building), and BOOST (more cardio endurance). And today I wanted to give you a sampling of my personal fav, the BUILD workouts, designed to generate lean, strong legs.
Each BUILD workout begins with a 10-minute “primer” on the treadmill. This helps you warm up and also helps the body start to release some of its fat stores for use during training.
Then, you move into a 20-min “Sweet Sixteen,” which is 4 exercises, circuited 4 times total (= 16, get it?), 10 reps each exercise. This should take you around 20 minutes, give or take a minute or two. If you are finishing in less than 15 minutes, increase your weight, if you are finishing in 25 minutes or more, decrease your weight.
In your BUILD workouts you will need, ideally, 2 sets of dumbbells—one heavier and one lighter. You will be doing your treadmill and weight portions separately, so no need to bring dumbbells over to the treadmill.
Start with your 10-minute treadmill segment:
Then, you do a “sweet sixteen” for the legs, rest-based training style (RBT), which means you rest whenever you need to. In fact, the more you rest, the harder you’ll be able to push, so listen to your body, be safe, take your rest when you need to, and do your best:
If you want to access the other 35 workouts and have a solution for your training for the next 36 weeks, enroll in #treadLIFT now.
There you have it! Some fast, intense workouts to get in and out of the gym (or your house) with minimal equipment and great results.
Try one and let me know what you think!
