Are you still confined to home for your workouts? You are not alone! Being stuck at home can make maintaining your fitness very challenging. Not least, because you won't have access to a gym and all the equipment gyms have to offer.

The good news is that, with nothing more than a few yards of space, an interval timer, and your body weight, you can have a great workout without leaving your home.

This timed workout takes 25 minutes. Add in a five-minute warm-up and a ten-minute cool-down, and you've got the perfect cardio and endurance workout in 40 minutes.

Using a Gymboss timer, do ten rounds of the following exercises, starting each new round every 2 ½ minutes. Set your interval timer for one interval every 2 ½ minutes for 10 rounds so you can focus on the workout and not spend time looking at your watch. (We recommend setting the alarm for a 5 seconds alarm at high beep.)

1. 5 x Burpees (no push-up)
2. 10 x Push-ups
3. 15 x Speed squats
4. 20 x Hillclimbers (ten per leg)
5. Jump rope until the next 2 ½ minute-mark (or high knees if you do not have a jump rope)

 

Exercise descriptions

Burpees (no push-up)

This version of burpees works mainly your legs and core and will also increase your heart and breathing rate. Don't worry that we've omitted the push-up – that's your next exercise!

1. Stand with your feet together, hands by your sides.
2. Squat down and place your hands flat on the floor in front of your feet.
3. Jump your feet back and into the push-up position.
4. Jump your feet back up to your hands, and leap up and into the air.
5. Land on slightly bent knees and repeat.
6. Make this exercise easier by omitting the jump.

 

Push-ups

Pump up your chest, shoulders, and arms with the most popular bodyweight exercise on the planet. Push-ups also provide your core with an indirect workout.

1. Adopt the push-up position with your hands roughly shoulder-width apart.
2. Keeping your body straight, bend your arms, and lower your chest to the floor.
3. Push yourself back up and repeat.
4. Drop to your knees if you cannot do full push-ups.

 

Speed squats

For this exercise, pump out your squats as fast as you can to not only work your legs but also maintain your heart and breathing rate. Use your arms for extra momentum if required.

1. Stand with your feet roughly shoulder-width apart.
2. Bend your legs and squat down as fast as you can. Stand up quickly but without jumping.
3. Pump out your remaining reps as fast as possible.
4. Make this exercise more manageable by working at a slower pace.

 

Hillclimbers (also called mountainclimbers)

This leg and core exercise will also maintain your already elevated heart rate. Pump your legs as fast as you can like you are sprinting up a steep hill.

1. Adopt the push-up position with your arms and legs straight.
2. Bend one leg and pull your knee into your chest.
3. Drive that leg back and jump the other one into your chest.
4. Pump your legs as fast as you can until you have done 20 reps – ten on each leg.

 

Jump rope

Treat this final exercise as an active recovery. Go at a comfortable pace, but not so slow your breathing and heart rate start to return to normal. You should finish this exercise recovered just enough to charge through another circuit.

1. Skip either with your feet together, using a heel-toe action, or running on the spot.
2. Can't skip without tripping? Do jump jacks or jog on the spot instead.
3. Continue until the next 2 ½-minute point.

 

Modifications for beginners

Make this work out more manageable by doing the easiest version of the exercises listed. Alternatively, you can do fewer laps, e.g., eight or six. Just reprogram your Gymboss interval timer accordingly.

Remember, too, that it's up to you how hard you work. The faster you get through the first four exercises, the longer you have to skip between laps. If you complete the exercises a little slower, you won't have to skip for as long.

For a harder workout, pick up the pace and crank out as many reps as you can, jump rope faster, and consider doing more laps – 12 or even 15.

 

Wrap-up

Home confinement does not have to mean losing your hard-won fitness. Nor does it mean you are going to gain weight. Using very little equipment and a Gymboss timer, you can work out at home and achieve the same results as going to the gym. Set aside an hour per day for exercise to keep your body fit, your mind active, and boost that all-important immunity too. Exercise is good for every aspect of your health – physical AND mental.