Can you get a good workout in 5 minutes? Yes!
It may take all of 10 minutes to get the physique you need to land the cover of a bodybuilding magazine, but you can get a good quick, intense workout in 5 minutes or less.
The name of the game is to pick an exercise or two that targets several muscle groups at once. Some of the best exercises to choose from are push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and cleans with overhead presses.
The goal is to do as many repetitions of that one or two exercises in 3-5 minutes.
If you are doing push-ups – do as many as you can in 5 minutes. If its pull-ups, squats or presses…the goal is to do as many as you can in 5 minutes.
I doubt you can do push-ups continually for 5 minutes, so you are going to have to break it down into multiple sets. Whether you perform 5 or 9 sets in that time frame is dependent on you and your current fitness level.
The key is the rest break in-between sets. You can rest for 10, 15 or 20 seconds…it depends on your level of fitness, but try and keep the rest period the same. Don’t forget you only have 5 minutes, so you can’t rest for a whole minute, the goal is to do as many reps as possible in those 5 minutes.
Do it one of two ways
One way is to do a progression of sets…the first set you might do 12 reps…the next set…9 then 6 reps and so on. You keep dropping the number of reps for each set you do. Believe me this is a good little workout when done properly. You’re trying to get as many reps out in that short time frame, which means you want to keep your rest time to a minimum, but keep the rest period the same.
The other option is to pick a target number of reps for each set.
You can perform sets of 5, 7 or 15 repetitions per set, it doesn’t matter you pick it based on your level of fitness. The key is to do the same number of reps each time. Again you want to keep the rest period constant (10, 15 or 20 seconds is fine). If you are doing 7 repetitions per set, the first set may seem easy, especially if you’re able to pop out 15 push-ups or pull-ups at any given time. But by the time you get to the 4th or 5th set you may find seven repetitions quite difficult.
FYI…the way you stimulate or change the density of your muscles is by stressing them. If it’s easy…the muscles don’t have to CHANGE (become stronger or firmer) if they can already do the task you are asking them to do. When you stress the muscle it must adapt and become stronger or firmer in order to meet the task it is being forced to take on.
This is a simple and quick workout that is great for variety, lack of time (mom’s with kids and jobs…this is a great quick workout) and probably most often helpful for those who train at home.
You can do this workout, in a gym. You might do a 5 minute workout on a squat rack…then spend another 5 minutes on pull-ups, lat pull-downs or seated rowing exercises. Followed by a 5 minute workout of bench press or push-ups, then finish off by doing some clean and overhead presses.
Grabbing a kettle ball and do one or two exercises for 5 minutes is another way of incorporating the 5 minute workout.
A great game to motivate yourself is to always try and do at least one more rep than you did the workout before. It gives you something to shot for.
Don’t forget to make sure you train your body equally. If you are doing push-ups, you need to also do pull-ups otherwise you are creating muscle imbalance and making your body more vulnerable to upper back and neck pain. Therefore, Do Not only do push-ups which only target half your upper body.
Push-ups target your chest, shoulders and triceps…half your upper body!
Pull-ups target your back, biceps and forearms…the other half of your upper body.
You don’t want to train only half your upper body because you can’t do pull-ups.
My favorite way to workout at home is to do as many push-ups and pull-ups in those five minutes. If you can’t do pull-ups you should incorporate modified pull-ups to your workout, but the goal should be to get a complete and balanced workout.
If you haven’t tried this workout, give it a try. You’ll be surprised how good of shape you can get into in less than 10 minutes a day! Remember in the military…all they do to get is shape are push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups and a lot of running.
Also, it’s not how long you workout, but rather how intense is your workout? The more intense the workout – the greater surge of testosterone. Simply walking may release some testosterone and growth hormones, but the more intense the workout the more growth hormones and testosterone are released. This is important because it’s that testosterone that helps us add lean muscle to our body for both men and women. It also helps raise our libido.
Don’t forget, exercise doesn’t guarantee good health. If you are struggling with various health conditions (hypoglycemia, thyroid difficulties, hormonal imbalances, adrenal fatigue, etc…) your workout routine needs to take those conditions into consideration. Otherwise all your time, energy and effort may not be giving you the results you are hoping for. If that’s the case, you may want a second opinion to make sure you are getting the most from all your hard work.
