So you’re looking to squeeze in a speedy workout? You’ve come to the right place. Complete each of these five movements for 45 seconds and rest for 15 seconds between each exercise. No matter what your fitness level is, keep the intensity high to get your heart rate up and give yourself a boost of energy and mental clarity to keep moving through your day. Learn the full rotation for this five-minute cardio workout below.
The Moves:
Inchworm Squat Jumps
Close Squats to Wide Squat Jumps
Bear Crawls
Lateral Slides with Forward Hop
Jumping Jack and Tuck Jump
The Move: Inchworm Squat Jumps
How to: This exercise is great for your total body and really helps get you started in this quick burst of cardio. Start with your feet hip-width apart, and bend forward to place your hands on the ground. Walk your hands out to a plank position, and then walk them back to your feet. Before standing up, drop your hips down to sit in a squat position. Lift your chest and torso upright as you explode upward and jump out of your squat, landing softly back in a squat. Place your hands on the ground in front of you and begin the inchworm again.
To modify this movement, remove the jump in the squat. Instead, you can stand up and sit back down in a squat before you resume your inchworm.
The Move: Close Squats to Wide Squat Jumps
How to: Squats and squat jumps are great for the legs and cardio. In this exercise, I provide a variety of leg positions to make the work time go quicker. You can always modify this movement as well if you aren’t comfortable jumping from close squats to wide squats: Simply step your feet together and apart between each squat. Start with your feet close together as you sit your hips back and down into a squat. Explode up out of the squat and hop your feet outwards to a wider position. Sit down into the wide squat repeating the same squat jump, and this time use your inner thighs to bring your legs back together to the close squat.
Repeat this close-to-wide-squat jump sequence, making sure to land softly in your squat position each time.
The Move: Bear Crawls
How to: This move is a great full-body exercise that challenges your cardiorespiratory system as well. Start in a quadruped position, with your hands right under your shoulders and your knees right under your hips. Lift your knees off the ground so that all the weight is in your hands and toes, and brace your core by pulling your ribs in and rotating your hips to a neutral position as you draw your belly button up toward your spine. Move your left arm forward and your right leg forward, and repeat with your right arm and left leg so that your body moves forward and backward in total control and stays balanced. Move at a pace that is best for you.
To modify this movement, stay in one position with your knees on the ground and lift up one arm and the opposite leg. Continue to alternate limbs in a bird-dog style.
The Move: Lateral Slides with Forward Hop
How to: Start with your hands out to the side and your feet wide. Perform two lateral slides to the right and then one forward hop before you slide back to the left. Continue this sequence in both directions so that you complete two slides and one forward hop at each end. This works on agility and multiplanar control as you get your heart rate up.
You can modify this movement to make it more low-impact by keeping one foot on the ground as you step twice per direction and step forward and backward, before switching back to the other direction.
The Move: Jumping Jack and Tuck Jump
How to: This cardio movement is an advanced move, but it can be modified to make sure everyone at every fitness level can crush it. Start this combo movement with one jumping jack. As you bring your feet back in together, complete your tuck jump by hopping and swinging your arms upward and bringing your knees up toward your chest. This part of the combo can be modified and switched for a vertical jump without bringing your knees up to your chest.
If you need to modify this entire movement for lower impact, you can do a single leg side tap as you reach your hands overhead in a jumping jack motion. When you bring your leg back in toward the middle, you can swap the vertical hop for a single leg knee drive. Go at the intensity that challenges you best, and make sure you are breathing throughout each rep in these five minutes of cardio.
A former Division 1 high jumper and record holder at West Virginia University, Sydney is a National Academy of Sports Medicine Personal Trainer and Fitness Nutrition Specialist in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sydney and her fiancé Dustin created the Royal Change digital media company and post a new, completely free workout every day. They have a quickly growing audience with over 53,000,000 views since they started their YouTube channel. Royal Change’s mission is to always provide high-quality fitness to everyone, everywhere, at any time.
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