Short on time? This 20-minute EMOM workout can help build muscular endurance fast

Woman exercising at home with dumbbells — (Image credit: Getty Images / FreshSplash)

To fit exercise into my busy week, I try to get up early and squeeze something in before my daughters come down for breakfast. I usually have about 30 minutes max before I’m back to mom duty so how I work out matters.

I’ll often do a circuit that uses EMOM (every minute on the minute) timings. You complete a certain number of repetitions of an exercise at the start of every minute, and your recovery is the remaining time on the clock before the next 60 seconds start.

I recommend this style of training if you’re on a tight schedule. There’s minimal downtime and workouts can build cardio fitness as well as muscular strength and endurance because you only have short recovery periods. As you get tired, you have to work harder to complete the repetitions, which is what improves fitness, strength and endurance.

How to do the EMOM workout

You will need a set of dumbbells or a kettlebell for this workout. Do 10 reps of every exercise, one after the other, and complete four rounds.

Each exercise starts at the beginning of the new minute, with any remaining time used as rest. For example, if the first exercise—the goblet squat— takes you 40 seconds, then you will have 20 seconds rest before the next move at the next minute mark.

If your RDL reps take 50 seconds, you will have only 10 seconds of rest before moving on, and so on.

Don’t compromise technique just because you want to complete your reps quickly and have a longer rest. If you are new to EMOM workouts, try two rounds and then increase this as you get fitter.

Resist the urge to make it as hard as possible. Pace yourself so that you can complete your reps without having to stop halfway because you’ve started too fast, or picked a weight that’s too heavy. Because of the short rest periods, what feels hard at first can become impossible by the final round.

It’s helpful to keep a log of how you perform in the workout each time you do it. Over time, you might notice you can complete your reps quicker, add more reps to each minute, or can use a heavier weight.

1. Goblet squat

Reps: 10

Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell or kettlebell in front of your chest with both hands.
Engage your core.
Bend your knees and sit your hips back to lower, keeping your chest facing forward.
Pause when your thighs are parallel to the floor.
Press through your heels and squeeze your buttocks to stand back up.

2. Romanian deadlift

Reps: 10

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding dumbbells in front of your thighs, palms facing you.
Engage your core, and set your shoulders back and down.
Hinge forward from your hips and push your hips back to lower the weights down the front of your legs, keeping your back flat throughout.
Pause when you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, then squeeze your glutes as you drive your hips forward to return to the starting position.

3. Bent-over row

Reps: 10

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding dumbbells by your sides, palms facing.
Engage your core, and set your shoulders back and down.
Hinge forward from your hips and push your hips back, letting your arms hang down—this is your starting position.
Lift the dumbbells to your hips, drawing your elbows past your torso.1
Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of the movement.
Lower the weights slowly with control.

4. Plank shoulder tap

Reps: 10

Start in a high plank position with your shoulders directly above your hands, arms extended and your body in a straight line from head to heels.
Raise one hand and tap your opposite shoulder, keeping your hips stable.
Return to the starting position and repeat on the other side.
Continue, alternating sides with each rep.

5. Glute bridge

Reps: 10

Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor, hip-width apart and your arms by your sides.
Push through your heels to raise your hips, making a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
Squeeze your glutes at the top, then lower your hips back down slowly.

Maddy Biddulph is a journalist specializing in fitness, health and wellbeing content, with 26 years in consumer media working as a writer and editor for some of the bestselling newspapers, magazines and websites in the US and UK, including Marie Claire, The Sunday Times and Women’s Health UK.

She is a CIMPSA-certified PT and works one-on-one with clients, as well as running Circuits Club classes which mixes cardio and strength training, chair-based exercise classes for seniors and MenoFitness classes for perimenopausal women to help build strength and support bone density.