The 15-Minute Workout You Can Do Anywhere
(Photo: Monte Isom)
"Conditioning isn’t about how many push-ups you can do,” says Orlando-based SWAT commander andfitness trainer Tom Stroup.”It’s about preparing for everything else you do in life.”
In his line of work that means anything from rappelling down office buildings to bailing out of speeding boats. For us civilians, being conditioned means we can lug a 70-pound backpack all day or skin up that powdery slope — and have energy left over when we’re finished. Stroup’s SWAT workout builds cardiovascular and muscular strength in one intense 15-minute routine. Interval workouts burn calories faster than your average cardio workout, and the high reps tone muscles and abs
Related: 30 Workouts that Take 10 Minutes (or Less)
The Circuit
(Photo: Monte Isom)
Start with 70 jumping jacks to get your heart rate up and your body warm. Then run through the following series of exercises once, ideally resting only a few seconds between sets. Adjust the intensity and number of circuits based on how you feel.
1. AB Bicycles: 25 reps
2. Boxers: 30 reps
3. AB Bicycles: 25 reps
4. Push-ups: 30 reps
5. AB Bicycles: 25 reps
6. Side Leaps: 30 reps
7. AB bicycles: 25 reps
8. SWAT Push-ups: 20 reps
9. AB Bicycles: 25 reps
10. Mountain Climbers: 50 reps
11. AB Bicycles: 25 reps
Related: 10 Signs You Need to Switch Up Your Workout Routine
Abdominal Bicycles
(Photo: Monte Isom)
Lie on your back in a sit-up position, with your hands behind your head. Raise your legs off the ground and bring your left knee to your right elbow while extending your right leg straight out. Change sides and repeat.
Muscles worked: Abs, obliques, and hip flexors
Related: The 10 Moves You Need to Get a Rock-Solid Core
Related: 10 Myths About Six-Pack Abs
Boxers
(Photo: Monte Isom)
Assume a boxer’s stance, knees bent with fists in front of your face and elbows bent. Shifting weight to your right leg, rise and lift your left knee to your right elbow. Squat and repeat with your right knee/left elbow, for 30 reps on each side.
Muscles worked: Abs, obliques, hip flexors, quads, calves, and hamstrings
Side Leaps
(Photo: Monte Isom)
With legs together, jump from side to side, high and far enough to clear a basketball. Squat on the landing and push off hard in the opposite direction for 30 leaps to each side.
Muscles worked: Inner and outer quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves
SWAT Push-Ups
(Photo: Monte Isom)
From a standing position, drop to a push-up plank position, scissor your legs out and in, do a push-up, rise to standing, and repeat 20 times. (Do 100 of these in less than 10 minutes and you’re an honorary SWAT commando.)
Muscles worked: Complete upper and lower body, abs, and obliques
Mountain Climbers
(Photo: Monte Isom)
In a push-up position, keeping your back flat, pump your legs as if running in place. Try not to brush the ground with your toes as they come forward. Do 50 right-left reps.
Muscles worked: Calves, quads, glutes, back, chest, triceps, abs, and shoulders
By Dave Herndon
More from Men’s Journal:
