There’s a misconception that you need a lot of time and equipment for a great workout, including effective conditioning workouts. Time is an issue for most people and is often used as an excuse for not getting any work in.
Brain: “Your usual workout lasts one hour, but you must be showered and dressed for our date in 70 minutes.”
You: “But I skipped my gym workout yesterday and feel terrible.”
Brain: “I don’t care. I’m ready to eat and hang out.”
You: “Okay, you win. But tomorrow we will train.”
Rather than let your brain win this and other workout debates, be creative instead, think outside your workout box of straight sets and supersets, and enter the world of circuits and complexes when facing time and equipment issues.
So, refer to this article the next time your internal voice tries to talk you out of a workout.
The Benefits Of Using Complexes and Circuits When Time is Short
Make no mistake: When time is short and the desire to work out is high, these workouts will be high-intensity.
Burns Fat
Complexes and circuits trigger a high degree of muscle and metabolic action, which results in improved fat-burning potential due to the reduced rest periods, increased time under tension, and the increased need to suck in some air.
You Don’t Need Much Equipment
Your usual workouts probably involve barbells, dumbbells, gym machine bands, and resistance bands. The nature of short, sharp, and intense workouts is you need to limit equipment to minimize transition time. These 15-minute workouts will encourage you to pick your poison.
Improved Conditioning
Following on from above, circuits and complexes are challenging and intense, and your muscles and lungs will be begging for mercy in a good way. These 15-minute workouts can be miserable, but on the flip side, you’ll improve your conditioning and mental toughness.
How To: Three 15-Minute Conditioning Workouts
These three 15-minute workouts will keep you on track when time is an issue or when you need to burn unwanted fat and improve your conditioning. The best thing about 15-minute workouts is that they are intense by nature. With this intensity, you’ll likely boost your conditioning and endurance.
But let’s be clear: These workouts are not designed to build muscle but will help you show your hard-earned muscle. Have you got it? Good, let’s train.
Any workout can be slapped together to tire you, but not every workout will improve you. You’ll get both here because these three workouts will tire and improve you. Giving you workouts is excellent, but before getting started, I’ll give you the template so you can build your own.
1A. Power/Ballistic Exercise
1B. Squat (Knee Dominant)
1C. Push Exercise
1D. Hinge (Hip Dominant)
1E. Pull Exercise
Note: The order can be manipulated to allow for better workout flow
Before performing these 15-minute workouts, complete this quick and effective warm-up tri-set.
1A. Spiderman with rotation of six reps on each side
1B. Yoga push-ups, six to eight reps
1C. Side Plank with three to five deep breaths on each side.
There are two ways to do these workouts. You are using a work rest period of 30 seconds of work or 30 seconds of rest or reps between six to ten reps ( 6 reps = heavier weight, ten reps = moderate weight). You’ll complete your chosen reps and rest the rest of the minute before moving on to the next exercise.
