The 9-Minute Strength Workout
All you need is enough floor space to lie down, a timer or a watch with a second hand, and a mat if your floor is hard.
How the nine minutes work
The nine moves below are ordinary strength exercises you’ve probably seen before. On their own, each works one group of muscles. Strung together in one-minute intervals, they add up to a complete full-body session.
They’re grouped into three sets of three. Work each exercise as hard as you can for one minute, then move straight to the next one. After all three, rest for one minute before starting the next set. That’s nine minutes of work and eleven minutes start to finish.
Do the whole circuit two or three times a week, on non-consecutive days, so your muscles recover in between. Lace up and let’s go.
Set 1 — Squat, Push-Up, Mountain Climbers
1. Bodyweight Squat
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, push your hips back like you’re sitting into a chair, lower until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor, then drive up through your hips and thighs. It works your legs and your glutes — the largest muscle group in your body.
Be careful: squats done wrong are hard on the knees. Keep your weight in your hips, not your knees. Done right, your knees move only through the first half of the rep and your hips finish it.
Challenge yourself: jump out of the bottom position back to standing.
2. Push-Up
Hands slightly wider than your shoulders, body in one straight line from head to heels. Lower your chest to just above the floor and press back up. Push-ups are a bodybuilding staple because they work the chest and shoulders so efficiently.
Modify it: drop your knees to the floor to cut the weight you’re pressing.
Challenge yourself: put your feet on a step or block.
3. Mountain Climbers
Start in a push-up position and drive one knee at a time toward your chest, fast, keeping your hips low. It builds your core, back, arms and legs at once — and gets your heart rate up.
Modify it: if it strains your wrists, put your hands on a step to shift weight off your arms.
Set 2 — Plank, Split Squat, Single-Leg Hip Raise
Rest one minute after set one, then keep going.
4. Plank
Forearms on the floor, elbows under your shoulders, body straight from head to heels. Squeeze your abs and glutes and hold. The plank trains your abdominals and lower back at the same time, along with your shoulders and legs.
Be careful: a full plank on your hands is hard on the wrists — hold it on your forearms instead.
Modify it: rest your knees on the floor.
5. Bodyweight Split Squat
Step one foot well forward, lower your back knee toward the floor, then push back up through the front leg. Switch legs halfway through the minute. It hits the quads and hamstrings one leg at a time, plus the glutes.
Be careful: if balance is an issue, work beside a wall and rest a hand on it.
Challenge yourself: jump from the bottom of the squat and switch legs mid-air. Skip the jump if it bothers your knees.
6. Single-Leg Hip Raise
Lie on your back, one knee bent with the foot flat, the other leg extended. Drive through the planted heel to lift your hips until your body is straight from shoulder to knee. Targets the glutes and abs.
Be careful: keep the planted foot flat and firm throughout.
Challenge yourself: put the planted foot on a step or bench so your hips travel further.
Set 3 — Burpee, Toe Touches, Leg Raises
One more minute of rest. Three exercises left.
7. Burpee With Push-Up
Squat, plant your hands, jump your feet back into a push-up position, do one push-up, jump your feet back in and stand. It’s the fastest way in this workout to spike your heart rate — so don’t trade form for speed.
Be careful: rushing burpees leaves you gasping in thirty seconds. Breathe in before you squat, out during the push-up.
Make it harder: from the push-up position, take the right leg out to 3 o’clock and back, the left leg to 9 o’clock and back, then push up. That’s a 3-o’clock-9-o’clock burpee.
Challenge yourself: start shooting your legs back before your hands land, and keep your back flat so your legs get their full range.
8. Single-Leg Toe Touches
Stand on one leg, hinge forward at the hip and reach toward the floor while the free leg extends behind you, then stand back up. Switch legs halfway. It tones the lower body, works the hamstrings and forces you to balance.
Be careful: stay near a wall you can grab.
Challenge yourself: put a small hop in the planted leg as you stand — that turns the move plyometric.
9. Leg Raises
Lie flat, legs straight, hands by your sides. Raise both legs toward the ceiling, then lower them slowly without letting your heels touch down. Core strength without getting off the floor.
Be careful: press your lower back into the floor and brace your abs. Move slowly and under control — that keeps the work in your core instead of your hips.
That’s the workout
Nine minutes of work, eleven start to finish, no equipment. Run it two or three times a week and add the challenge variations as the minutes start feeling short.