By Miguel J. Ortiz
Health and wellness are on everyone’s mind. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people to make incredible changes. Sitting in front of a computer has become even more normal than before. Which is why I’m here to tell you that you can make some serious changes with just 20 minutes a day.
There’s no better time than now to take your exercise program seriously. The key is consistency. I want you to get to a point where you are exercising daily. So, for all my regular exercise fans, thank you for being consistent in your routine and keeping yourselves healthy. For my folks who don’t have a consistent regimen, lets step it up and start with this daily 20-minute workout routine. It will give you a solid foundation to build upon.
Some of you may be saying, well I have a friend that works out a lot and even they have rest days. Well yes, their routine is consistent and already planned out. I’m talking to two types of people right now. The ones who are not exercising regularly and those who want a solid 20-minute workout to keep themselves moving when they are having a busy day.
So, let’s jump right into it.
First, we are trying to establish a baseline of endurance. So, a couple key rules. No breaks, your time to rest is your transition in and out of exercise. No water until the end of the workout. All you need to start is your body, a mat and a timer. We will be performing a two-minute warmup to start. The warmup will involve 10 reps of four exercises for as many rounds as possible in two minutes with a slow pace (besides the jumping jacks). The four exercises are hamstring sweeps, quad stretches, high knee pulls and jumping jacks.
The workout will consist of the following exercises. We want to perform all movements with a consistent flow in order to assist cardiovascular function. For strength and flexibility we want to perform all movements as best as possible with a full range of motion. Also, during the strength portion, we will only be keeping time so we don’t need to worry about rushing through reps. Consistency and tempo control are the goals. You will do these four movements, for one minute each for 4 rounds (16 minutes total).
- Prisoner squats
- Push up to alternating full plank rotation
- Glute raise marches
- Alternating lunges
For the two-minute cool down, we are going to perform some of the exercises from the warmup. The difference is that we will do them slower and hold the stretch for a couple seconds longer to let the body know we are slowing down. Have fun progressing your workout as you get stronger and more consistent. The cool down exercises are hamstring sweeps, quad stretches, high knee pulls and alternating rear deltoid/arm cross over stretch.
Editor’s Note: Videos on how to perform the exercises mentioned can be found on YouTube.
Miguel J. Ortiz is a personal trainer in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a member of the National Personal Trainer Institute and a Certified Nutritional Consultant with more than a decade of professional experience. He can be found on Instagram at @migueljortiz.
