Every day, you have 24 hours at your disposal. These hours are yours to utilize as you see fit, or more accurately, as you need to get things done. However, once you subtract the time for sleep, work, commuting, meals, and spending time with your family, finding time for the gym can be a challenge.
While some people manage to rearrange their priorities to carve out two or more hours per day for training, for those with limited time, even finding just one hour can seem daunting. Thankfully, short workouts can still yield great results. Here’s how you can make the most of just 20 minutes of well-planned training.
20-Minute Workouts
20-Minute Workout for Strength
Building strength and power doesn’t necessarily require a wide array of exercises targeting various muscle groups from different angles. Instead, it demands a focused approach on fundamental movements.
This simple strategy makes it ideal for shorter workouts. Research shows that heavy weight, low volume training can lead to better strength gains compared to high volume training. Focus on lifting heavy weights for a few reps on a major lift, then allow ample time for rest and recovery.
One-Lift Workout
This concentrated workout involves concentrating all your efforts on one strength-building exercise. Select a compound barbell exercise, such as the deadlift or bench press, and dedicate your entire session to perfecting it. Despite the time constraint, take a full three minutes of rest between each set.
During this workout, it may feel like you’re spending more time resting than actually lifting, and that’s because you are. This extended rest period has been proven to enhance strength gains and aid in recovery between sets, maximizing the effectiveness of each lift. Aim to work with a challenging weight without pushing to muscle failure.
While this program can deliver results, any excessively minimalist training plan may not be suitable for prolonged use as it could lead to muscle imbalances or discrepancies due to limited exercise variety. Use this method as needed, rather than as a long-term solution.
Deadlift
- How to Do it: Position yourself in front of a barbell with your feet about shoulder-width apart and the bar almost touching your shins. Maintain a neutral spine as you grip the bar with palms facing down. Pull your shoulder blades back, chest open, and drive through your heels to stand upright. Squeeze your glutes and abs at the top position. Lower the bar in a controlled manner, reset your grip, and proceed to the next rep.
- Sets and Reps: 5 sets of 2 reps
- Rest time: Three minutes between sets
20-Minute Workout for Muscle
While muscle-building workouts often involve multiple exercises targeting each muscle group and high volume training that can take an hour or more, there are alternative ways to stimulate growth effectively.
You can achieve significant muscle gains even with low training volume by adjusting exercise intensity, reaching muscular failure, and pushing slightly beyond that point. This approach can trigger muscle growth comparable to high volume training.
Classic High-Intensity Training
Borrowing a page from traditional bodybuilding, you can enhance the effectiveness of a single high-intensity set of an exercise by incorporating intensity-boosting techniques. It’s crucial to ensure a thorough warm-up, as you’ll have only one working set that will push your muscles to their limits.
Here’s an example plan for a workout targeting chest, shoulders, and triceps. This framework can be applied to any muscle group or training split, focusing on one or two exercises per body part with a single work set utilizing intensity-boosting techniques.
Low Incline Dumbbell Press
- How to Do it: Lie on an incline bench set at a low angle, gripping the dumbbells with palms facing down. Press the dumbbells from shoulder-height to meet above your chest. Pause for three seconds in the stretched position on each rep. As you near muscular failure after 8-10 reps, eliminate the pause and continue until failure.
- Sets and Reps: 1 set of 8-10 reps, followed by as many reps as possible
- Rest time: 90 seconds before moving to the next exercise
Pec-Deck Flye
- How to Do it: Sit in a pec-deck machine, gripping the handles at shoulder-height. Squeeze your hands together in the middle, maintaining alignment of elbows with shoulders. Lower the weight for four seconds on each rep. As you approach muscular failure after 10-12 reps, decrease the lowering time and continue until failure.
- Sets and Reps: 1 set of 10-12 reps, followed by as many reps as possible
- Rest time: 90 seconds before moving to the next exercise
Lateral Raise
- How to Do it: Stand upright with dumbbells in hand, lifting them to shoulder level with a slight elbow bend and palms facing down. Hold the top position for two seconds on each rep. After reaching muscular failure, reduce the weight by 50% and continue until failure again.
- Sets and Reps: 1 set of 10-12 reps, followed by a drop set for as many reps as possible
- Rest time: 90 seconds before moving to the next exercise
Triceps Pushdown
- How to Do it: Use a high-pulley cable station with a rope handle or EZ-bar attached for triceps pushdowns. Keep elbows close to your sides and straighten your arms. After hitting muscular failure in 10-15 reps, reduce the weight by 50% and continue with more reps. Repeat this process until you’ve reached the lightest weight on the stack.
- Sets and Reps: 1 set of 10-15 reps, followed by multiple drop sets for as many reps as possible
- Rest time: No rest between drop sets
20-Minute Workout for Fat Loss
Efficient fat loss training doesn’t have to involve lengthy treadmill sessions or light, high-repetition weight lifting routines.
A quick and intense workout can help burn calories, boost metabolism, and preserve muscle mass to reveal a leaner physique.
Fat-Burning Barbell Complex
A barbell complex entails performing multiple exercises back-to-back with a single weight and piece of equipment. For instance, you can use a 75-pound barbell for five different exercises in succession without changing the weight.
Barbell complexes offer an efficient way to complete multiple sets of various movements in minimal time. Strive to perform each repetition swiftly while maintaining proper form. Despite using relatively light weights, the fast-paced nature of barbell complexes will challenge your cardiovascular system and make the weight feel heavier by the end of the session.
Deadlift
- How to Do it: Stand in front of a barbell with feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Grab the bar with a palms-down grip, keeping a neutral spine. Drive through your heels to stand upright, engaging your glutes and abs. Avoid bouncing the weight off the floor between reps.
- Sets and Reps: 5 sets of 6 reps
- Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise
Barbell Row
- How to Do it: From the top position of a deadlift, hinge at the hips and bend forward. Row the barbell to your lower abs with a palms-down grip. Maintain a neutral spine throughout the movement.
- Sets and Reps: 5 sets of 6 reps
- Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise
Hang Clean
- How to Do it: Stand with a palms-down grip on the barbell in front of your hips. Bend your knees slightly and push your glutes back. Explode upward with your legs to drive the bar to shoulder height, then catch it at the top position. Lower the bar and repeat.
- Sets and Reps: 5 sets of 6 reps
- Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise
Thruster
- How to Do it: This combines a front squat with a shoulder press. Hold the bar across your shoulders, squat down, then press the bar overhead as you stand. Lower the bar back to your shoulders and repeat. On the last rep, lower the bar behind your neck to rest on your traps.
- Sets and Reps: 5 sets of 6 reps
- Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise
Reverse Lunge
- How to Do it: Hold the bar across your upper back, step back with one leg into a lunge, keeping your torso upright. Alternate legs for a total of 3 reps per leg.
- Sets and Reps: 5 sets of 3 reps per leg
- Rest time: Rest for 60 seconds before repeating the first exercise
20-Minute Bodyweight Workout
When time is of the essence, a bodyweight workout is a convenient and effective choice.
Bodyweight exercises can be performed anywhere, anytime, eliminating the need to travel to a gym or compete for equipment.
EMOM Bodyweight Workout
Maximize your training time with an EMOM workout, where you perform a set every minute on the minute. This method allows you to incorporate more training volume within a set timeframe.
This specific bodyweight workout adds a layer of intensity by incorporating supersets, allowing for more work during each time interval. You’ll perform two exercises back-to-back and rest for the remaining minute before repeating the cycle.
T-Push-Up
- How to Do it: Start in a push-up position, lower your body, straighten your arms, then rotate at the shoulder to one side, reaching your free arm to the ceiling. Return to the push-up position and rotate to the other side after each push-up.
- Sets and Reps: 3 reps per side, totaling 12 minutes
- Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise
Reverse Lunge
- How to Do it: Step back into a lunge position, keeping your shoulders back and torso upright. Perform all reps on one leg before switching to the other leg.
- Sets and Reps: 3 reps per leg, totaling 12 minutes
- Rest time: Rest until the next minute begins, then repeat the previous exercises (Note: this is not the same as resting for one minute)
V-Up
- How to Do it: Lie flat on the ground, raise both feet and hands towards the ceiling, then lower them under control. Avoid bouncing your heels between reps.
- Sets and Reps: 10 reps, totaling five minutes
- Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise
Squat
- How to Do it: Stand with feet wider than shoulder-width apart, lower into a deep squat, and hold the bottom position for five seconds on the last rep of each set.
- Sets and Reps: 5 reps, totaling five minutes
- Rest time: Rest until the next minute begins, then repeat the previous exercise
Never Skip the Warm-Up
Even when time is limited, always prioritize a thorough warm-up. Warming up effectively can reduce the risk of injuries and enhance performance.
