Hello Friends! I’ve had the privilege of working in gyms and fitness centers for a long time. No matter where I work or what my official job title is, there is one common factor members and clients cite when I ask for them to identify their biggest workout struggle. Time. Everyone feels like they don’t have enough, so let’s talk about ways to do a lot with just a little.

One hundred and fifty minutes a week sounds like a bunch. But we’re gonna chop it up cause ain’t nobody want to spend that long on one workout. There is evidence to support that both the cardiovascular and muscular systems will benefit from only two workouts per week, assuming that intensity or volume (respectively) is high enough.

This means if you are sufficiently strapped and can only get two workouts per week in, you can. Two 75 minute sessions. Start with 20 minutes of cardio at the highest intensity you can sustain for that amount of time. The move over to strength training. Ideally, these two days will be separated by at least 48 hours so you can do 4 sets of 8-10 reps total body exercises. End the session with 5 minutes of stretching. Boom, done.

Seventy five minutes is still a good chunk of time, though. So, let’s cut that 150 into three. Division tells me that’s 50 minute workouts. Day one in your routine is a full body lift in a circuit. Four loops through and you’ll elevate your heart rate, get a decent amount of strength work done, and probably still have time to stretch.

Days 2 and 3 will start with 20 minutes of cardio of your choice. Again, at a pretty decent intensity. Then shift to 30 minutes of strength work. One day you’ll focus on upper body and one day will be a lower body day. This is nice because if you need to run back to back days due to schedule demands, you can still get everything done with enough rest.

Let’s split it up a bit more, though. Four sessions at 35 minutes each actually gives a total of 140 minutes, so you can add a few minutes in somewhere. Two sessions will be 30 minutes of cardio with 5 of stretching. Two sessions will be full body strength. Honestly, this one is the easiest and most straightforward and it still leaves three days per week of recovery time.

But just for arguments sake, what would 5 workouts per week look like? I’d rock three days of 20-25 minutes cardio with five minutes of stretching. The other two days would be full body strength workouts.

All of this is to say that you can really do a lot with what works out to a little bit of time. Which of these looks the most promising for your schedule?

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