A lot of people—me included—find it difficult to do an hour-long workout session every day. That’s where shorter, higher-intensity workouts can be useful.
Moving quickly through a set of exercises can challenge both your cardio fitness and your muscular endurance. And if you can’t manage that, even a few minutes of stretching can boost your body and make you feel better.
When I only have 10 minutes to spare, I have a set routine I like to follow featuring squats, Romanian deadlift, overhead press and bent-over row.
But admittedly, this can get a bit boring. So whenever I interview a trainer, I ask them for their favorite busy-day workout.
Samantha Cubbins—manager at Gymshark’s UK Lifting Club and a certified trainer with 20 years of experience—told me that her favorite quick routine is an eight-minute session of eight burpees followed by eight dumbbell snatches (four on each arm), completing as many rounds as possible (AMRAP).
My first thought was: That sounds hard.
But she convinced me of its benefits and offered some beginner-friendly modifications that made it more accessible.
The eight-minute AMRAP workout
Cubbins’ workout consists of doing eight burpees, followed by eight dumbbell snatches as many times as you can within eight minutes.
Cubbins says she likes the routine because it’s easy to remember and works a lot of your muscles.
“You're using every muscle in your body, you're lifting your own bodyweight, you're getting your heart rate up and you're working your core, your shoulders and your legs,” she says.
However, this is a tough routine if you’re new to exercise, so she suggests tweaking it if you’re a beginner.
How to adapt the workout if you’re a beginner
Cubbins suggests that beginners perform eight rounds of the exercises, with 30-60 seconds of rest in between.
Rounds: 8 Rest: 30-60sec
- Burpee x 8
- Dumbbell snatch x 4 each side
Performing rounds, rather than exercising to a time limit, will make the routine a bit longer, so it might take around 15 minutes.
1. Burpee
Reps: 8
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
- Squat down and place your hands on the floor.
- Jump or step back into a high plank position.
- Lower your chest to the floor, then push back up.
- Jump or step your feet back to your hands.
- Jump or stand up, then repeat.
Form tips: Cubbins suggests beginners avoid the jumps and step in and out of the plank instead. This low-impact modification makes the burpee more accessible to a range of fitness levels.
You can also modify the push-up element, either by placing your hands on a raised surface—like a plyo box or weight bench—instead of the floor, or dropping to your knees before attempting the push-up.
2. Dumbbell snatch
Reps: 4 each side
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and a dumbbell between your feet.
- Push your butt back and bend your knees, and reach down to take hold of the dumbbell.
- Push through your feet, extend your legs and drive your hips forward to pull the dumbbell to chest height, elbow out to the side.
- Punch the dumbbell overhead in one smooth movement, extending your arm.
- Reverse the movement to lower the dumbbell to the floor.
- Complete all the repetitions on one side, then switch sides.
Form tips: To lower the dumbbell back to the floor, keep your back flat, hinge at your hips and bend your knees.
If you need to make the lifting and lowering movements easier, Cubbins suggests placing the dumbbell on a raised platform, so you don’t have as far to travel.
The dumbbell snatch is a technical move, so beginners should perform it slowly, with a light weight at first, and ideally with guidance from a trainer who can help you with your form.
“If you're unsure on what to do or how to lift something, ask someone to help you so they can demonstrate,” says Cubbins.
“I know there's a lot out there online [...] but I’m a firm believer that nothing is better than having someone there with you to show you and to make sure that you are doing it safely. Or you could film yourself and send it to a coach.”
Cubbins’ favorite Gymshark pieces
“If I'm doing Olympic lifting—the less sweaty style lifting—I will wear our Gymshark Legacy leggings.
“They feel really comfortable. I can move in them, and I know that they aren't sheer.
“I really like the pattern and the design on the back and the waistband is a little bit higher, so I just feel comfortable and it gives me a reference point to brace my core and push into my leggings, rather than like a lower rise legging.”
“They've always been my favorite since day one,” says Cubbins. “I like the fit and the feel of these. They’re quite tight around your legs, so they hook everything in. They make your butt look good!
“I'm very simple with my selection of clothing. I like leggings without a pattern on them.
“I feel good when I've got a plain legging on, and I don't have loads of lines on there.”
“I like the material, it's quite loose, it just looks cool,” says Cubbins. “I quite like the quirky look, something a little bit different.
“I know lots of girls wear guys' T-shirts as well now, but I like the colors that we have and I like the fit of them. I like the way they kind of drape around your shoulders.
“Most of the time I'm training, I'll be in a sports bra,” says Cubbins, “and my main sports bras that I like are the rouched ones because they're plain. All the colors are quite bold, so it's either blue or pink. Again, I like bold colors or just one color rather than like a tie-dye type look.”
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.