This is how I throw together a quick but effective workout
You can use these principles to build your own spontaneous workouts, especially if you want to train with somebody and need a framework.
A good on-the-fly workout can get you better results than following a mediocre training program!
Meeting people while I’m on the road often leads to us working out together.
Which probably has to do with me mostly meeting people in gyms and calisthenics parks.
Since I do this for a living, I often put a workout together for us.
It is a fun challenge for me to build something that works for both of us instead of just for one person as I normally do with our gym members or for myself.
After checking for any health limitations they might have I also ask what kind of training they normally do.
I love the opportunity to show the other person something they are not doing yet but also get input about methods or exercises I’m not regularly doing.
By finding something that we are both not used to, I make sure to keep it challenging and interesting.
While it makes sense to have a single-focus workout in a long-term training program, I’m always aiming to cover as many fitness aspects as possible for spontaneous training.
Picking exercises for the different movement patterns, push, pull, squat, lunge, hinge, and rotate.
Picking modalities that train the different types of strength,
Putting them together in a way, that makes the heart rate go up.
So we train all the movement patterns, with all the different types of intensity, and in a way that also gets us some cardio benefits.
If we have no equipment at all, training the back muscles needs a little creativity. It does not feel like much at first but holding a towel in front of you with your palms up and then trying to rip it apart, as hard as you can, is a great impulse for your back.
Towel deadlifts are also a staple in my on-the-road workout toolkit.
The easiest way to put all this together is 3 different EMOM circuits (+ a core finisher)
EMOM = every minute on the minute, you start at 0, do your reps and the rest of the minute is for recovery. At minute 1 you start the second set and so on.
Besides giving a structure it also ensures that you don’t rest too much in between sets and miss out on the high heart rate sweat and benefits.
After a 5-minute mobility warm-up we start with the circuits.
A power circuit:
3 movements (e.g. Jump lunge, Plyo Push-Up, Towel Row)
3 rounds, 5 explosive reps each, EMOM
Total: 9min
A strength/muscle growth circuit:
5 movements (e.g. Split Squat, Hindu Push-Up, Overhead Towel Row, Plank with rotation, Towel Deadlift)
3 rounds, slow reps to muscle failure, EMOM
Total: 15min
A strength endurance / HIIT circuit:
2 complimentary exercises, one hard, one medium intensity (e.g. Mountain climbers, Sit-Out Burpees)
3 rounds, 1min each exercise, 1min rest between rounds
Total: 9min
A core finisher:
4 movements (e.g. Side Plank Left, Hip Bridge, Side Plank Right, Bird Dog)
2 rounds, 1min each, no rest
Total: 8min
The whole thing takes less than an hour and you can easily adjust and switch out exercises if you and your training buddy have different skill levels.
But following this general structure I have yet to meet somebody who did not feel like they got an amazing workout in. If you find yourself sometimes doing sub-par workouts because of spontaneous changes in your schedule, give this method a try.
Feel free to send me your workouts for feedback and more ideas, until then, keep moving!
Joe
