A 4-Minute Tabata Workout for People Who Have No Time

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Here’s what a workout really entails for most of us: driving to the gym, looking for parking, changing into gym clothes, hopping on the treadmill, hitting the weights, stretching and finally gathering our things to head home. All in all, this can take at least an hour, if not more.

Now, a full hour of “me-time” at the fitness center is ideal of course—you should never feel bad about putting your health first and carving out that time. But in reality, it’s not always possible.

Enter tabata, a type of interval training that brings your heart rate up and gets you a workout in just 4 minutes. To do it, you repeat intervals of 20 seconds of work, trying to get as many reps as you can, followed by 10 seconds of rest for a total of 8 rounds. The best part? It can be done with any exercise moves you choose.

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I’ve put together a heart-pounding tabata workout that you can do anywhere and on any schedule. If you only have 5 minutes, you’ll only go through it once. Got 10 or 15? Repeat 2-3 times. Either way, you’ll leave a sweaty mess and ready to take on the world.

(Traditional tabata has you repeat the same exercise for 8 rounds, but we’re mixing it up. Instead, you’ll do just 2 rounds of each exercise before moving to the next one for a total of 8 rounds. This way you’ll hit all your major muscle groups in seriously, just 4 minutes!)

Check out the how-to below, and be sure to pin it for later for when you’re traveling or just having the busiest day ever.

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