One of the biggest excuses for not working out is that you don't have enough time. This is not so much about being unable to find time, as much as thinking that you need to spend a lot of time on your workout, or it somehow isn't worth it.
If you have 20 or 30 minutes, then you can use that for a great workout. Maybe you won't get to every muscle group, and maybe you'll have to decide between a cardio workout or a strength workout. Still, at the end of the week if you've done four 30 minute workouts, that's a whole lot better than having tried and failed to set aside an hour or more and not have worked out at all.
So, here are 4 workouts for you to be done in a limited period of time. The two cardio workouts are just over 20 minutes in duration, and the two strength workouts could be done in 25 - 30 minutes.
Quickie Workout 1 - Cardio - 22 minutes
This is an interval workout. You could do it outside walking, running, or biking; or in the gym walking or running on a treadmill, an elliptical, or a stationary bike.
2 minutes: Start at a comfortable pace. The first 2 minutes you should be getting warm, and ready for the intervals coming up.
2 minutes: Take up the pace/intensity, so you feel like you're working somewhat hard. You should still be able to pass the 'talk test' (say 5 words out loud without getting winded), but it should feel like an effort.
2 minutes: Interval: Go as hard as you think you can hold for 2 minutes. This should feel like a hard to very hard effort.
2 minutes: Recovery: Go back to your somewhat hard pace.
Repeat the Interval/Recovery 3 more times.
2 minutes: Back to your comfortable pace to finish.
Quickie Workout 2 - Cardio - 21 minutes
This is a pyramid workout - the effort level builds to a peak and then you take it down gradually to return to your starting effort. Again, you could do this workout with any indoor cardio equipment, or running, biking, swimming etc.
3 minutes: Start at a comfortable pace.
3 minutes: Take up the intensity slightly, so you feel like you're working at a somewhat hard effort.
3 minutes: Go up to working at a hard effort.
3 minutes: Take it up to a very hard effort. This is the peak of the pyramid, you should feel like there is no way you could hold this effort for longer than 3 minutes.
3 minutes: Go back to a hard effort. This is a difficult stage because you really want to recover from your very hard stage, but try to push through.
3 minutes: Bring it back to a somewhat hard effort. You should still feel like you're working at maintaining the intensity, but your breath should come more easily, and you should feel like you could hold this pace for 20 minutes or more.
3 minutes: End at a comfortable pace, letting your breathing and heart rate drop down.
Strength Training
It's tempting when you only have limited time for your strength workouts to do either upper or lower body only. I like to split exercises between upper and lower so that you can do supersets or circuits, or you can do compound exercises which combine different muscle groups.
For the following workouts, I've indicated one for strength (8 - 10 reps), and one for endurance (15 reps). Do these workouts again with the number of reps reversed, so that you're ensuring every joint movement and muscles are being worked for both strength and endurance.
Weights are not indicated, since they're obviously going to be different for everybody. Just remember if you're aiming to complete 10 reps of an exercise, the 10th repetition should feel almost impossible, like you couldn't possibly try an 11th attempt. Your 10th repetition should ideally be a failure, or you may need an assist to complete it. If you feel like you could do more reps, then you need to go up in weight.
Quickie Workout 3 - Strength Training - About 30 minutes
Warm up before starting this, or any strength training workout. You can do any kind of cardio, and you're ready when you actually are feeling warm from the increased blood flow.
Superset - 3 sets of 10 reps:
Barbell squat: You can do this in a squat rack, or free form on the floor.
Wide overhead press: Seated or standing, barbell or dumbells.
Superset - 3 sets of 10 reps:
Lateral lunges: Holding dumbells in each hand or in front, or barbell back loaded. 10 reps each side.
Wide grip pullup: Either bodyweight, or using the assisted machine. Try to keep your body in a straight line, tailbone tucked under, and chest aiming up.
Superset - 3 sets of 10 reps
Sumo squat: Feet out wide, toes splayed out at about 45 degrees. You can weight this with a barbell, or use a heavy dumbell or kettlebell in front.
Wide grip row - Standing using cables, or seated at a row bench. Make sure your elbows are up at about shoulder height as you row back.
Quickie Workout 4 - Strength Training - About 30 minutes
Superset - 2 sets of 15 reps:
Captain chair: Knee raises in the captain's chair. To make it more challenging, try straight leg raises, or add ankle weights, or a dumbell or medicine ball between your knees.
Wide grip bench press: Flat, incline or decline bench, with a barbell, or dumbells. Keep elbows out to the sides at about shoulder height.
Circuit - 2 sets of 15 reps:
Narrow grip row: Standing using cables, or seated at a row bench. Make sure your elbows are in close to your body as you row back.
Ax chop: Either using a medicine ball, or a cable, going from low to high. Keep your shoulders back and chest open, and use your hips to swivel and complete the twist.
Roman chair side raises - Lay on your side on a Roman chair. With hands crossed over chest, drop down, then crunch up into your side. Try arms behind head or up to increase the difficulty.
Superset - 2 sets of 15 reps
Back extensions: Lying on your stomach on a mat, hands under your forehead, raise your upper body up, and lower. Make it more challenging by extending your arms, or adding leg raises as well (also knows as 'Supermans').
Narrow grip bench press: Flat, incline or decline bench, with a barbell, or dumbells. Keep elbows in close to the body.
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