Five, ten minute workouts you can do at home

One of the biggest issues people have when it comes to being a bit fitter and healthier is finding time to hit the gym. Although the gym is often a great environment to exercise and provides us with a variety of equipment to keep training varied and interesting, there is no reason why we can’t at least get the benefits of exercise in a much shorter period, even without the need for very specialist equipment; with a little bit of imagination, by taking well know high-intensity interval training (HIIT) principles and callisthenic (bodyweight) movements to create varied and effective training sessions, that can be done in no time at all.

Tabata ‘Anything’

The Tabata principle is a high-intensity workout that involves 20 seconds maximum effort work with 10 seconds rest repeated 8 times, totalling four minutes. If you're really brave, rest for two minutes and repeat... this hurts, but in a good way!

Perform this with burpees, then bodyweight squats, mountain climbers and jumping lunges to start, and repeat these exercise again to make up your 8 rounds! To progress this workout you can swap in more burpees and mountain climbers for bodyweight squats and jumping lunges as they are a lot more demanding.

This can be performed with any exercise, or a variety of exercises, including the use of conventional cardio equipment where max effort can be obtained quickly, so works well with rowing machines and spin/watt bikes for example. It can also be combined with other movements where output can be regulated easily as fatigue kicks in, such as battle ropes and prowler pushes and pulls. Tabata uses up a lot of energy so it is important to keep your glycogen levels high. These types of carb supplements will help.

Bodyweight blast

This workout should be both a decent cardiovascular workout, improve muscular endurance and even build a bit of muscle, so is a good all round workout. Start with as many reps as you can do in one minute. If you hit failure before one minute up, take a few breaths and keep going until you fail again, and repeat until your minute is up. Take 1-minute rest between exercises. It is important to focus on good technique, controlling the negative (around 3-4 seconds) with an explosive positive part of the exercise.

Press-ups: When you can do these for one minute straight, you can progress these by pausing at the bottom and then exploding up and incorporating things like clap press-ups or, when you get really advanced, single arm press-ups!

Glute bridges: start these with both feet on the floor, then when they become easier they can be made more challenging by placing the feet on a small stool or box and incorporating single leg bridges.

Narrow press-ups: Switch the focus from the chest to the triceps by bringing the hands closer together just narrower than shoulder width, as you progress you can work towards performing a press-up with the hands touching.

Squats: Once squatting to a decent depth (around parallel) can be sustained for one minute comfortably, then you can progress the exercise by incorporating jump squats.

Pyramid Sprints

This is a great workout to perform on a local park or any green space near your home office. This one is simple: simply sprint as fast as you can for 5 seconds, then walk back to the start position recovering as you go, then sprint for 10 seconds, walk to the start, then sprint for 15 seconds and return to the start to begin the pyramid again until you have completed 3 rounds.

To make this more challenging you can choose to jog back to the start, reducing recovery time, or take some cones/markers with you to set the bench mark for each sprint so you can try and match it or better it in the following rounds. If timing each sprint is an issue, then you can also do this between lines of a football or rugby pitch, working from the goal/try line through the different marks and returning each time (22m line/18yard box, half way line, and opposite goal/try line), doing this twice through is a pretty brutal, high intensity cardio workout that can be done in minutes. Again high energy will need a high intake of carbs. Take a look here.

Core blast

Training the muscles of the core is not just important for having the perfect six-pack, but is also important for those who maybe spend a long time sitting down in postures that might cause back pain. Training the core muscles can help with promoting a better posture and help reduce pain for those who already suffer from back pain when performed daily. In this ‘core blast’, perform each exercise for 45-60 seconds and rest for 30 seconds between exercises, repeating each exercise twice.

• Ab Crunches
• Planks
• Leg raises
• Lower Back extensions
• Kneeling opposite arm and leg raise

Kettlebell Blitz

For our final 10 minute workout, we need to purchase a piece of fitness equipment; but as far as versatile fitness equipment goes, a kettlebell is cheap, easy to store and versatile for full body conditioning workouts. As with all exercise equipment (and exercises outlined in this article), remember to focus on correct technique development or ask trained professionals for instruction before fully implementing these workouts to ensure that you are fully protected against injury.

• Two handed kettlebell swings: 2 sets 20 repetitions, 30 seconds rest between sets.
• 1 minute rest
• Kettlebell Goblet Squats: 2 sets 20 repetitions, 30 seconds rest between sets.
• 1 minute rest
• Kettlebell bent-over rows: 2 sets 10-15 repetitions, 30 seconds between sets.
• 1 minute rest
• High pulls: 2 sets 10-15 repetitions, 30 seconds between sets.
• 1 minute rest
• Strict press: 2 sets as many repetitions as possible.
• Recover!

As always Team CSN are here to help, call or email us today and we can give you professional, unbiased advice on all your nutrition and supplement needs.