15-Minute, Time-Based Workout from Home

Today, I am going to take you through a quick 15-minute workout that you can do anywhere, anytime. All you might need is a set of weights, but, honestly, weights aren't super necessary either. 

Like I said you can do this anywhere. I am in my house, and I don't even have shoes on. We're just doing this in socks. So let's get to it.

Format

The format is time-based. We're going to do an exercise for 45 seconds then rest for 15. That'll make it an even minute and we're going to do four exercises total. That gives us four minutes per round. And we're going to do three rounds with a one-minute rest in between each round.

Exercise No. 1: Lunge + bicep curl. 

Exercise number one that we will do for 45 seconds is going to be a lunge and a bicep curl. So I'm going to do a rear lunge.

And as I lunge back I'm going to bring those weights up for a bicep curl, and I'm going to switch legs and do another bicep curl. Repeat this for 45 seconds.

A couple of things to look for: If you're doing a rear lunge or if you're doing a forward lunge, when you go down, try to make two 90-degree angles with both knees and try to keep the lower leg completely perpendicular with the floor straight up and down.

Don't let those weights bring your shoulder blades forward. We want to stay nice and upright and chest lifted.

Once you've done that for 45 seconds, you will rest for 15 seconds and then you'll go straight into exercise number two.

Exercise No. 2: Squat + shoulder press. 

Exercise number two is going to be a squat plus shoulder press, otherwise known as a thruster.

What does that look like? My feet are a little wider than hip-width, shoulder-width apart, and the weights are stacked on my shoulder. You can do this with or without weights.

Squat down until your femurs are parallel or past, and then go up and do a shoulder press. With the shoulder press, you can have your palms facing each other or you can bring them out and have your palms facing forward for your shoulder press.

Another way to increase the intensity of these is to use the momentum of that squat to really press up your weights.

All right. 45 seconds of those. As you can tell, they're tough. I'm getting a little winded myself. It could be because we're into the third trimester here, so everything winds me a little bit more than normal.

Exercise No. 3: Straight-leg deadlift. 

All right. Third exercise. So rest for 15 seconds, and then go into your third exercise. That is going to be a straight-leg deadlift.

So the weights just trace your shins. Bring them down as far as your hamstrings will let you go and bring it up. Remember we want to keep the chest proud, shoulder blades tucked, like you're trying to squeeze a pencil in between your shoulder blades. 

Exhale on the way up and just keep repeating that motion. We want to keep our spine in neutral. So we're not trying to look up. Don't look up. Try and keep that spine perfectly in alignment. Again shoulders tucked back.

There can be a slight bend in your knees. I do a slight bend because in straight leg I don't want to lock my knees out. So a slight bend, shoulders back, and just trace those shins. As far as your hamstrings will let you. If that's right here, that's okay. And if that's all the way down here, that's cool too. So you just do these for 45 seconds.

Options without the weights? You can just do what I like to call waiter bows. One hand on your lower back, one hand on your stomach.

It looks like a bow, but you're really getting that stretch in your hamstrings and contracting it, stretching your hamstrings, and contracting it.

Notice I'm pushing my butt back like I'm trying to close the door with my butt instead of just leaning forward. I'm pushing back. Okay. So 45 seconds of those, and that takes us to our final exercise.

Exercise No. 4:  Push-ups + side plank.

You will start in a push-up position. From here, I'm going to go down for a push-up, come up, and as I come up, I'm going to go into a side plank.

Come back down, another push-up, and side plank on the other side. And just repeat those for 45 seconds. Like I said, option one is on your knees, still trying to keep that body in a nice straight line. Option two is you can go up on your toes and it's going to make it a little more difficult.

Put all of those exercises together. 45 seconds of each, and then once you're done with the four exercises. Rest for a minute. Repeat all four again. Rest for a minute. Repeat all four again.

And you'll have a nice 15-minute circuit. This one's nice because it's time-based, so you can continue and do it and just try to beat your number from last time.

So if I know that I do 10 lunge and bicep curls one week, the next time I try to do it, maybe I'll go for 12. Same with the thrusters. Maybe I get eight in 45 seconds. Next week I'll try to make that nine.

You can always challenge yourself from week to week if you do this multiple times. 

Access Wellness University & Certified Health Coaches