Got 12 minutes? Good. You’ve got a workout.
I’m busy. You’re busy. We’re all busy.
No wonder the word “work” shows up only 823701 times in the Top 40 songs.
As hardworking people, we have priorities, and sometimes fitness falls down the list. Let’s face it– sleeping, eating, socializing, and making a little extra pocket cash (#college) are important.
However, if you’re on this website, chances are that you are at least slightly interested in staying fit despite your uncomfortably full schedule. As much as you might want to be a gym rat and spend hours getting your sweat on, sometimes that’s just not feasible.
This is where Krysta Stryker from The 12 Minute Athlete can save your time-crunched ass (which looks great, by the way 😉 ).
The 12 Minute Athlete posts new workouts, recipes, and exercise tips every day. Although Krysta shares several workouts of various formats and durations, her classic 12 minute HIIT workout goes like this:
Six high-intensity exercises. 30 seconds of work. 10 seconds of rest. 3 rounds.
Many of her workouts require no equipment except a timer (pro tip: you can get a free Gymboss timer app), but some of them use parallel bars, pull-up bars, a kettlebell, a sandbag, a jump rope, a medicine ball, and sometimes even a punching bag.
This means that you can take these quick workouts anywhere. The gym, your dorm room, the park, and maybe even your closet if you’re #blessed with a lot of space.
Via “420 Rep Full Body Sandbag Workout” on The 12 Minute Athlete blog
Don’t let the idea of “only 12 minutes” fool you. Krysta’s exercises are no joke. (Read more about HIIT training here and here). The lady will throw burpees, pull-ups, burpees, pistol squats, and more burpees at you. While ensuring proper form and modifications as needed, your job is to go HARD for every interval of work. If you do that, you will be on the floor by the end.
Krysta records her reps for each exercise in the workout of the day, and I have yet to beat or even match her reps. She kills it…see for yourself below.
Screenshotted from The 12 Minute Athlete Blog
provides demonstrations of all the exercises you need to know for Krysta’s workouts. But you don’t even need to stick to her exercises if you don’t want to. I personally love to use the 12 minute workout as a template for the exercises I want to do that day. Like this…
And if you have a little more than 12 minutes, but less than 20 minutes to work out, try doing 4 rounds for a 16 minute workout! Just remember to do a quick warm up and cool down to be kind to your body.
The best part about Krysta is that she promotes #noexcuses when it comes to working out, but she also promotes balance, rest, and listening to your body.
Via “Why You Might Be Overtraining” on The 12 Minute Athlete Blog
Her motto is “Unlock Your Potential,” which she encourages through skill practice, quick and effective workouts, and the mindset that anyone can be an athlete (holla at ya girls who don’t have hand-eye coordination *raises hand*).
So go out there and be badass in just 12 minutes today. Better yet, post your moves with #fituniversity and make a shoutout to !
P.S.. Krysta has a monthly 100 burpee challenge.
