Do 5-Minute Workouts Work?

Everyone wants to know how to lose weight fast, but the key to successful and healthy weight loss is gradual progression (cue the frustrated groans). Those groans are actually just a reaction to common misconceptions about gradual weight loss. Pacing yourself when it comes to fitness doesn’t mean months of denying yourself all forms of sugar and carbohydrates, or spending hours on the elliptical with minimal results.

Most people who’ve had those experiences have experienced them because they were going about weight loss the wrong way. Pacing yourself means taking the time to get to know what your body needs so you can become healthier and more confident in your ability to stay healthy, every day. 

We've put together a list of five-minute workout routines to help you get started on your fitness journey. Really, just five minutes! We promise.

Why Five Minute Workout Routines?

A common frustration for many people who are just starting out on their weight loss journey is feeling insecure at the gym. They see the woman deadlifting 60 pounds or the guy running 12 miles in one workout session, feel insecure, and give up. But what these fitness seekers don’t see is that the same woman started out lifting five pounds, and that same man used to struggle to finish a mile.

Everyone started in the same spot you’re in now. Incorporating five-minute workouts into your daily routine, can help get your body in shape and your mindset in a confident place so when you walk into the gym for the first time, all you see is the progress that lies ahead.

Are Short Workout Routines Effective?

If you're doubting that a five-minute workout routine can actually be effective, we get it. We did, too! But they're not just a fitness myth. There is a type of training developed by Izumi Tabata, former researcher at the National Institute for Health and Nutrition and current professor and researcher at Ritsumeikan University’s Faculty of Sport and Health Science that's designed to be super short and super effective. Tabata training is focused on the belief that a workout should not be based on the amount of time devoted to exercising. Instead, a workout should be based on what the exercise does for your body after the workout is over. 

It’s not how long you spend exercising, it’s the type of exercise you perform and how many calories your body continues to burn once the exercise is over.

Studies on Tabata show that short duration, high intensity interval training (HIIT), results in a prolonged calorie burn because this type of training causes your body to take longer to return to its rest state. A five-minute Tabata, or HIIT workout can result in the same benefits as running 30 minutes on the treadmill. Incorporating these five-minute workouts during commercial breaks of your favorite television show, while waiting for your dinner to bake in the oven, or in the break room during lunch can place you on the fast track to your fitness goals.

The Workout Routines

Choose one to three of these workout routines to perform, one to five times per week (depending on your experience level).

Five-Minute Burpee Workout

Set a timer on your phone for four minutes and keep watch. Perform burpees for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat this pattern until your five minutes are up.

Jumping Jacks

Set a timer for five minutes. Perform jumping jacks for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds, repeat this for four minutes. You can also try switching up the type of jumping jacks you perform. Instead of performing traditional jumping jacks for every set, try switching from traditional jumping jacks to seal jumping jacks to plank jacks.

Squats, Push-ups, Plank

Set a timer for five minutes. Squat for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Do push-ups for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Plank for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat this progression for five minutes.

Kettlebell Workout

Swing a kettlebell for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Repeat these movements for four minutes. Here's how to do a kettlebell swing.

Sprinting

Sprint for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds and repeat eight times. This one works on a dreadmill (oops, we mean treadmill) or outside. You can even try these intervals with any cardio: up your speed for 20 seconds and slow back to normal for 10.

Jump rope

Jump for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.

Rock Your Core Strength Workout

Who said you need weights to strength train? These Rock Your Core: Circuit Workout moves from POPSUGAR Fitness use your balance and your body weight to strengthen and tone your core. This no excuse, simple workout will engage all of your core from your abs to your glutes and even your shoulders and hamstrings to build muscle mass. The full circuit we've put together should take you about 20 minutes.

The more lean muscle tissue your body builds, the higher your basal metabolic rate, which is one of the best ways to burn more fat throughout the day. And, not to mention, you'll feel so much stronger!

The Bird Dog

Source: POPSUGAR Studios

This move works your abs and back simultaneously, and even a little bit of inner thigh and arm strength!

1. Start out on all fours with your hands right under your shoulders and your knees right beneath your hips. Pull your abs up toward your spine as your bring your left knee and right elbow together to meet beneath your torso.
2. Keeping your torso stable, straighten your right arm and left leg. Reaching through your left heel toward the back of the room to engage the muscles on the back of the leg and your butt.
3. This completes one rep. After completing 10 to 15 reps, switch sides.

Alternating Side Lunge

Source: POPSUGAR Studios

The lateral movement of this exercise is an awesome way to engage the glutes and inner thighs.

• Start with your feet right under your hips. Step your right foot wide to the side coming into a lunge and reach your left fingers to your right foot. Important: your right knee should not extend out past your right toes. Make sure your chest stays lifted and your weight pulls back into your heels.
• Press your weight down into your right foot to return to standing, then lunge sideways to the left to complete one rep.

Elbow Plank and Rotate

Source: POPSUGAR Studios

Planks are one of the best moves to work your whole body, and twisting just adds an extra fire to the obliques, the abdominal muscles that crisscross your core and wrap up around your waist.

• Begin in a regular elbow plank with your feet just slightly wider than hip distance.
• Twist your entire torso to the left reaching your left arm up toward the ceiling. Your pelvis will rotate, too, but try to keep it in line with your body. No sinking or lifting. 
• Return to back down to the elbow plank, and repeat the twisting motion to the right for one full rep. 

Single-Leg Bridge

Source: POPSUGAR Studios

Strengthen your glutes, lower back, and hamstrings with this powerful and simple move.

• Lie on your back, and pull your left knee into your chest, clasping your hands just below the knee. Lift your right toes up off the floor, and press your right heel down into the floor to press your pelvis and torso up toward the ceiling.  
• Gently lower your torso back to the ground and you've finished one rep. After completing 10 to 15, repeat on the other side.

Weightless Deadlift

Source: POPSUGAR Studios

This simple exercise is a weight-free version of a deadlift, working your glutes and back, kind of like a reverse crunch.

• Start with your feet hip-width apart, and place your hands lightly at the back of your head with elbows opened wide. 
• Pull your abs up and in toward your spine and keep your back flat while pressing your butt backward to bend forward, careful to stop moving when your back is almost parallel to the floor. Allow a slight bend in your knees as you hinge forward.
• Return to standing and squeeze your glutes as soon as you are upright for one rep.

Dead Bug

Source: POPSUGAR Studios

This is one of our absolute favorite moves. The name may be silly, but it engages the entirety of your core.

• Lie on your back with a your hips lifted and knees at right angles with your palms pressed into your thighs just the knees. 
• Pull your abs down toward the floor, keeping your ribs and pelvis contracted as you lengthen your right arm and leg out until they are almost parallel to the floor. 
• Return to the start, and repeat on the left side to complete one rep.

Reverse Lunge With Reach

Source: POPSUGAR Studios

This move works your body's biggest muscle groups and tests your balance by adding in the side reach.

• Stand tall with your hands at your waist and step back with your left leg into a deep lunge. Lift your left arm overhead and reach toward the right. 
• Return to standing position, and repeat this move on the other side to complete one rep. 

What are your favorite core moves? Tell us in a comment!

5 Fitness Myths You Need To Ignore

Fitness is not a series of singular truths that work for everyone. In fact, the same holds true for weight loss overall. It's not about avoiding deadly diet mistakes and signing up for the latest trendy class that everyone in Instagram's #fitfam can't seem to get enough of. It is about getting to know your body, knowing your goals, and knowing it make take a little bit longer than you expect to find out what works to get you there. This list, adapted from a Refinery 29 article, includes five commonly circulated fitness myths that we felt we needed to clear up.

Source: refinery29.com

Myth #1: Muscle weighs more than fat. A pound of feathers weighs the same as a pounds of bricks: One pound. The question is the amount of space that each requires to reach a pound. Fat has about a third of the densisty of a muscle, which is why resistance-based training is key to create the body composition you want, not just lose weight without getting healthier.

Source: refinery29.com

Myth #2: All you need is cardio. Cardio is fantastic, but so are strength and flexibility training. And to constantly challenge your body and continue improving your fitness level, you'll need to cross train.

Source: refinery29.com

Myth #3: Don't work out at night. You benefit from exercise no matter what time of day you're able to squeeze it in. Check out this 2013 National Sleep Foundation study that literally busted the myth that exercise, even at vigorous level, has a negative effect on sleep quality. If working out at night is your only option, it's much better than no workout at all.

Source: refinery29.com

Myth #4: High intensity exercise is best. True for a few. But it's not best for every body and every goal. There's a lot of research out there that supports high-intensity exercise for becoming leaner and stronger; but if that's not your goal, this isn't necessarily your workout. Variety is always best, in our opinion, the best exercise programs mix it up with a combination of high- and low- intensity training sessions.

Source: refinery29.com

Myth #5: It's not a real workout unless you're sweating and sore afterwards. No. A real workout is the one that works for your interest and your goals and makes you feel good. Whether or not wake up and can't walk down the stair. Find a workout you enjoy and get moving in a way that works for you.

Did any of these surprise you? What would you add to the list? Let us know in a comment!