Time – there's never enough of it. Especially as a parent. But one interesting paradox is that spending a little bit of time working out can give you a lot of time back.
Not just in terms of longevity – we all know that exercise can actually add years to your life – but in terms of energy, too. You know the feeling of being much more productive after you’ve got a good workout in. Science shows that regular exercise improves mood, improves energy levels and, quite frankly, gives you a bit of joie de vivre.
That being said, it’s not always possible to make it to the gym for the perfect 60-minute session every day.
That’s where sessions like this come in. Having workouts like this – real energy-givers – in your back pocket can come in incredibly handy.
You can do this anywhere. It takes just 20 minutes, although you can go shorter if you want. By the end, your full body will be smoked, the endorphins will be up and you’ll be ready to crack on with the rest of your day in fifth gear.
The Workout
It’s simple.
What to read next
- Start a running clock.
- On the first minute, perform 10 push-ups before resting for the remainder of the minute.
- At the beginning of the next minute, perform 20 squats before resting for the remainder of that minute.
- Repeat in this fashion, working backwards and forwards, alternating between push-ups and squats for 20 minutes.
By the end, you will have completed 100 push-ups and 200 squats.
How to Progress It
Once you can comfortably get through all 20 minutes, performing all of the reps unbroken, you’re going to up the rep count for each minute.
That could mean going to 12 or 15 push-ups, or going up to 25 squats.
Keep increasing in this manner to continue seeing good gains.
The Takeaway
Are you going to win a Mr Olympia trophy using this workout?
All signs point to no.
But what you are going to do is get a longevity-boosting, energy-giving workout that you otherwise might have been tempted to skip – and help you show up better for those around you, for longer.
If there’s one thing Kori Sampson knows, it’s how to optimise your body composition for performance. To tap into his knowledge as an elite athlete and coach, we asked him to create a 4-week plan to help you move faster, recover quicker and keep pushing when the fatigue sets in – all while improving your muscle-to-fat ratio.
Ready to build muscle, burn fat and come out the other side looking, feeling and performing better? Click here to get 14 days of free access to the plan via the Men’s Health app.
With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.
