One of the most common excuses people make when it comes to fitness is a lack of time. Between work, family and life admin, it’s easy to feel like you need an hour or more to train properly.
Here’s the truth: you don’t need long to get a great workout in. Even with just 20 minutes, you can get in a highly effective workout that boosts your health, fitness and mood. The reality is a lot of people waste much of their workout time on their phone, or chatting.
With focus, you can transform your workouts.
It’s not about the time you have – it’s about how you use it. With the right approach, a short workout can be every bit as beneficial as a longer one. Here are some powerful 20-minute options you can try, each with its own unique benefits.
1. A Full Body Stretch
Not every workout needs to be about lifting heavy weights or smashing a sweaty session. A dedicated stretch routine can transform the way your body feels and moves. Spending 20 minutes on mobility and flexibility helps to:
Improve posture
Reduce the risk of injuries
Keep muscles and connective tissues healthy
If you’ve been sat at a desk all day, a stretch session is one of the best ways to reset your body and feel energised again.
Try this one - you can do it in the gym, or at home…
2. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
If you want maximum results in minimum time, HIIT is hard to beat. Short bursts of all-out effort followed by brief recovery periods push your body to its limits. Benefits include:
Huge calorie burn in a short time
Improved VO₂ max (your body’s ability to use oxygen)
A powerful mood boost thanks to endorphins
Training your heart rate to respond quickly and efficiently
A classic 20-minute HIIT workout could be 40 seconds of effort followed by 20 seconds of rest, repeated across exercises like burpees, sprints, or kettlebell swings.
Following this pattern is easy, effective and gets you done in 20 minutes with plenty of benefits.
3. The 20-Minute Steady State Run
Sometimes keeping things simple works best. Heading out for a 20-minute steady run gives you:
A great cardio workout
A chance to clear your head and de-stress
A convenient, time-efficient session you can do anywhere
Even short runs contribute to long-term cardiovascular health and can lift your mood for the rest of the day. If you’re a good runner and the idea of 20 minutes hardly feels worth it, you’ve got a couple of options to make it more of a challenge…
Get up a few hills - inclines humble even the best runners!
Increase the speed - nobody can sprint for 20 minutes, so get the burners on if you don’t have long!
4. Strength Training Supersets
Strength training doesn’t have to take forever. By pairing exercises back-to-back (supersets), you keep the intensity high and the rest periods low. For example:
Superset option: Kettlebell swings → Push-ups
Single-exercise blast: 20 minutes of bodyweight squats with minimal rest
The result? A total body strength workout that builds muscle, burns calories and ramps up your heart rate – all in less time than it takes to scroll Instagram.
Here’s an example of a really simple kettlebell swing and push up superset. Just do these two exercises back to back for 20 minutes, with a 30 second rest between sets - you’ll soon learn how hard you can train in 20 minutes if you’re focused!
5. Try an EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute)
An EMOM is a clever way to structure a short workout. At the start of every minute, you perform a set number of reps of a given exercise (say, 8 kettlebell swings). Once you’ve completed the reps, you rest for the remainder of the minute. Then, when the next minute starts, you go again.
In just 20 minutes, you’ll complete 20 sets of work, balancing intensity with planned recovery. EMOMs are brilliant for strength, cardio, or a mix of both.
If you take an exercise such as squats, deadlifts, cleans, etc, you can make this workout a SERIOUS one!
The Benefit of a 20 minute workout
You don’t need an hour in the gym to train effectively. With just 20 minutes, you can stretch, sweat, build strength and improve your fitness in ways that add up over time. The key is to stay consistent and make every minute count.
So next time you’re short on time, don’t skip your workout – just keep it short, sharp and focused.
Are you ready to start your transformation? At AdMac Fitness, we’ll guide you every step of the way!
AdMac Fitness has been helping the people of East London transform their health and fitness for nearly a decade.
We help people using tried and tested fitness approaches. Our expert team of personal trainers, based in both Bow and South Woodford can help you get a grip of your health forever. With our guidance and experience, you can relax knowing that your fitness journey is going to be guided by some of the best personal trainers in East London.
For more information on who we are, what we do and how we can help you achieve your health and fitness goals, contact us on… 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Our locations are…
AdMac Fitness: Arch 457 Robeson St, London E3 4JA
AdMac Fitness South Woodford: Unit 4 Marlborough Business Centre, 96 George Lane, South Woodford, London, E18 1AD