How To Get A Full-Body Workout In Just 10 Minutes

Why would a sports medicine physician teach fitness classes? It's a common question I hear all the time.

My belief is that being a doctor is as much about preventing illness and injury as it is about treating these problems after they happen. Across the spectrum of the human body, no drug is as effective as the medicine of exercise. For that reason, I have focused my attention on preventive health using the medicine of fitness.

In addition to my busy sports medicine practice, I have developed the world's biggest, free-standing, physician-led exercise clinic. My goal is to prescribe the medicine of exercise to my IronStrength community, thousands of people who show up and work out with me every year, and to teach doctors around the world how they can do the same.

Over the years, it's become abundantly clear to me that intensity matters—so does consistency! That's why it's essential for all of us not to let bumps in the road—like holiday travel, too many holiday commitments, or too much time with family—get in the way of our motivation or our routine!

HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is all about efficiency and intensity. It's about how hard you work and how much work you do in any given time period. It's the perfect workout for someone who has no time. These workouts are designed to hit as many muscles as possible in the simplest way possible. Many of the exercises involve multiple muscle groups and are based on functional movement—they'll train you for natural movements you do every day.

I define fitness as a combination of cardiopulmonary fitness and strength. The beauty of these HIIT workouts is that they address both components of fitness at the same time and can be done anytime, anywhere.

A 10-minute-or-less workout isn't ideal, but if you HIIT it hard (pun intended!), it can make a huge difference. Even if it's been the busiest day ever and you have no time and you have no motivation, just start exercising. Maybe you'll have to cut it short. But maybe after a couple of minutes you'll start to feel better. Maybe you'll get into it more and more as you go. Maybe your mood will brighten. And maybe, just maybe, you'll squeeze in more time than you thought, or work harder and fit more into the time you have.

Here's another tip: Choose the workout wisely! Workouts do more than just make you sweat; they can help eliminate the excuses, too. Here's a short workout that doesn't need any equipment or even very much space! It's perfect for your bedroom, a hotel room, or anywhere you have just a bit of floor space. So simple! All you have to do is tie your shoes and get it done. Heck, you don't even need shoes. Try it barefoot.

For a full-body HIIT workout in just 10 minutes, start with a three-minute warm-up of jumping jacks, pogo hops, and forward jacks. Rest for one minute. Perform these three exercises for one minute, cycling through the set two times.

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Squat as deeply as you can and place your hands on the floor. Kick back into a push-up position. Do one push-up. Bring your legs back to a squat and jump up, throwing your hands above your head. Land and repeat.