WORKOUT

Focus & Ben­e­fits: We’ve got a short and sweet body­weight car­dio work­out for you today with a fun AMRAP (as many rounds as pos­si­ble) for­mat. AMRAP-style work­outs are fre­quent­ly used with strength train­ing, but can also be effec­tive for improv­ing car­dio­vas­cu­lar endurance — the goal of today’s work­out. Through­out our 3‑minute work­ing blocks you’ll have the abil­i­ty to work at your own pace, rest­ing as much or as lit­tle as you need. Exer­cis­es are a blend of high and low-impact, with mod­i­fi­ca­tions offered through­out. If you’re ready for a scal­able, no-equip­ment car­dio work­out in 30 min­utes or less, press play!

Equip­ment: None.

Tips & Help­ful Infor­ma­tion: If you’re not famil­iar with an AMRAP for­mat, let me explain how this works in this par­tic­u­lar work­out. We’ll com­plete 4 dif­fer­ent AMRAP blocks, each 3 min­utes long with 3 exer­cis­es. For each exer­cise with­in the block, there is a des­ig­nat­ed num­ber of rep­e­ti­tions to com­plete before mov­ing to the next exer­cise. Con­tin­u­ous­ly work your way through the list for as many rounds as pos­si­ble, rest­ing when/​if need­ed. The beau­ty of this work­out style is that it’s both effi­cient and adapt­able. You choose your pace, inten­si­ty, and amount of rest.

Keep in mind, this is not a HIIT (high inten­si­ty inter­val train­ing) work­out. Instead of short bursts of max­i­mal out­put, we’re aim­ing for longer dura­tion with mod­er­ate-inten­si­ty out­put. This allows us to hold an ele­vat­ed heart rate for longer peri­ods, thus result­ing in greater car­dio­vas­cu­lar endurance. This is great cross train­ing for endurance ath­letes, or can make a great steady-state car­dio day in between strength workouts.

Dif­fi­cul­ty & Mod­i­fi­ca­tions Explained: This work­out is rat­ed a lev­el 3 of 5 dif­fi­cul­ty because the for­mat and exer­cise selec­tions cater to mul­ti­ple dif­fer­ent fit­ness lev­els. There are many ways to mod­i­fy to make this rou­tine com­plete­ly low-impact; on the flip side, there are many ways to add pro­gres­sions and inten­si­ty to move this more into the lev­el 4 category.

Clos­ing Note: 3‑minute work­ing blocks of car­dio may sound long and intim­i­dat­ing if you’re not used to them but, I assure you, you can do this. Try some­thing new today, test your bound­aries. You might sur­prise your­self and have fun, while build­ing that confidence!

Did you like doing the AMRAP for­mat with car­dio? Let me know in the comments!

WORK­OUT OUTLINE

Warmup (4:00) — 30 sec each
Hip In and Outs
Tor­so Rotation
Over­head Cross Reach
Ham­string Curl + Row
Heel Scoops, alt.
Squat to Sin­gle Leg Balance
Box­er Shuf­fle ​“Jump Rope”
Jump­ing Jacks

Work­out (16:00) — 4 AMRAP Rounds of 3 min­utes each, 1 minute rest between each full AMRAP circuit.

AMRAP 1 (3:00)
Lat­er­al Shuf­fle (8)
Squat Take­offs (8)
Scis­sor Jumps (8)

AMRAP 2 (3:00)
Jump Rope/​Mini Jumps (16)
Sumo Floor to Ceil­ing Reach (8)
Rev. Lunge + Knee Dri­ve (8 total / 4 each side)

WATER BREAK

AMRAP 3 (3:00)
Skater (10 total)
Front to Back Run­ner (10 total / 5 each side)
Over­head Jacks (10 total, alt.)

AMRAP 4 (3:00)
Alt. Front Kick (8 total / 4 each side)
Drop Squat (8)
Lat­er­al High Knees (8 total)

WATER BREAK

Cooldown (4:00) — 30 Sec Each
Stand­ing Calf Stretch – R
Stand­ing SL Ham­string Stretch – L
Stand­ing Calf Stretch – L
Stand­ing Ham­string Stretch – R
Quad Stretch – R
Quad Stretch – L
Sumo Squat Stretch
Straight Leg Stretch W/ Twist