Welcome to our 30-minute home workout guide that’s designed to help you stay fit, toned and fabulous throughout the day. We’ve put together a full-body exercise routine that’s super targeted and really effective at waking up even the most dormant muscle groups.
This guide is really for anyone looking to connect with the essentials of daily fitness while maximising every minute of a free half-hour.
Before We Get Going…
Because the routine is super short and snappy, we’ve made sure to only include a minimal amount of equipment here, and it’s sure hard to choose anything but a resistance band for the assignment.
Small but incredibly mighty, resistance bands are the perfect partner for our 30-minute home workout guide. They provide workouts with an adjustable amount of resistance and mimic natural movement patterns to enhance functional strength across all areas of the body.
Being a low-impact form of resistance training also makes these bands ideal for those working out while in physical recovery, and the bands’ strength can be easily adjusted to achieve the maximum level of comfort.
Elsewhere, we’d also recommend having one of our collapsable water bottles to hand. Not only are they super versatile, durable and lightweight, but they always make keeping hydrated during a hot 30-minute workout easy and fun.
Now we’re ready to put our best foot forward, let’s begin!
SMUG's 30 Minute Home Workout Guide
These short, sharp sessions are a killer for injury, even if none of the movements are highly strenuous on the muscles.
That’s why we always recommend starting with a short five-minute warm-up. Just to note our schedule, this will be followed by an exciting and dynamic 25-minute workout session, which we’ll wrap at the end with a five-minute cool-down.
- Warm Up (5 minutes)
Here we’re going to be warming up the body from its core, including the muscles, heart, lungs and most importantly, the mind.
We’re going to start with two minutes of star jumps. For this, alternate between a neutral standing position with your feet together, and an all-out stretched position with your hands and feet forming an ‘X’ pose, with jumps in between.
Take a one-minute break to stretch out your arms, neck muscles and quadriceps, encouraging new blood flow to all corners of the body.
Next, finish off our warm-up with two minutes of sprinting on the spot. Aim to keep your knees high and your back as straight as possible, and use the palms of your hands as targets if that helps.
These actions are all about waking the body up, so there’s no need to go beyond what you’re comfortable with, so long as you’re beginning to feel a welcomed burn on the rise.
- Workout Routine (25 minutes)
This is where the magic happens as we slowly start to turn up the heat. Here with our resistance bands at the ready, we’re going to be going through eight very easy movements that have been designed to test your strength, agility and stamina.
Keep going with each exercise for one minute straight, taking 15-second breaks in between. When you finish the cycle, bring it back to the beginning for round two, keeping the same high level of energy throughout.
- Start with squats
Place a resistance band on the floor and stand right in the middle of it. Grab an end of the band in each hand and bring them up to your shoulders.
Working against the resistance of the band, perform squats for one minute. This movement will put your biceps to the test, while also helping to keep your back straight.
- Bent-over rows
Keeping the same standing position with the resistance band under your feet and in each hand, bend your knees, throw back your hips and bring your shoulders down.
With the body in this sort of bent position, pull the resistance band up so that your inside wrists meet your shoulders, which should be kept back to properly engage the back muscles. Repeat for one minute.
- Alternating Lunges
To complete this opening trio, remain standing on the band with a handle in each hand and your back kept straight.
Throw a foot forward to complete a lunge, bringing the handles of the band forward with it to meet your 90-degree knee. Use your remaining stationary foot to keep the band firmly pinned to the floor as you make this movement, before alternating to the other foot.
- Press Ups
Mixing things up a bit, assume the press-up position, with the resistance band looped around your back, down the outsides of your arms and under your palms.
For one minute, complete as many press-ups as you can, working against the strain of the resistance band with every push.
- Plank Rows
Maintaining the same press-up position, loop the resistance band back around the soles of your feet, with a handle in each hand - and don’t forget to keep that back straight and those shoulders down!
With a plank in full force and the band nice and taut, raise one handle of the band up to meet the shoulder above it, before bringing it back down to the floor. Alternate this action between the hands, and although this one is super tough, try to go for a full minute.
- Open Stretch
Return to the good old standing position, with your feet shoulder-width apart. Straight your arms so that your hands are level with your shoulders. Take a resistance band, and loop it around the backs of your hands.
From this, throw your arms out as if you’re about to give someone a massive hug, fighting against the resistance band as you do so. Go for as wide as you can, hold it for one second, and then return the hands to the starting position. Repeat for one minute.
- Overhead Tricep Extension
This is probably one of the most complicated set-ups on our list, but stay with us, because the rewards are so worth it. Start in a standing position, with one leg bent at a right angle so that your foot’s behind you.
Next, loop a resistance band around the foot of the bent leg, holding the other end behind your back with your arms reaching over above your head. Both your hands and your raised foot should be pointing at each other.
For the movement, simultaneously raise your hands and the band so that your arms are stretched out right above your head while you push down against the resistance band with your bent leg, hold it, and then bring it back to the starting position. Repeat this movement on one leg for 30 seconds, then switch legs and repeat.
- Glute bridge
We end the core of our workout with a glute bridge - a super powerful exercise that’s enhanced with a resistance band sidekick. Begin by laying on your back with your knees bent, your feet flat on the floor, and a resistance band looped across your hips and wrists. Pin the band down to the floor on either side using your hands.
Raise your hips up towards the sky, engaging your core all the way until you’re completely straight from your knees to your shoulders. Hold this position for one second, before slowly lowering your hips back down to earth. Repeat for one minute.
- Cool down (5 minutes)
As with any rewarding workout session, it’s important to bring the workout to a slow and steady stop to avoid the potential of injury.
And our cooldowns are all about the stretches, so take five minutes here to stretch out those muscles at your own pace.
Standing hamstring and quadricep stretches are an absolute staple, while those triceps will be in need of a good breather after our tricep extensions.
Maybe try out a child’s pose to open out the space between your hips, and don’t forget to wrap things up with a couple of breathing exercises and plenty of hydration to maximise the gains of this trialling 30-minute workout.
Final Thoughts
This guide is for everyone who loves the feeling of a good sweat session just as much as we do, but might often find their days limited for time to actually exercise.
This guide can be done anywhere you feel comfortable, and although we’ve plugged it as a 30-minute session, in reality, you can take as much time to complete it as you like, and in whichever order you prefer.
This guide isn’t just a guide, it’s a SMUG guide, which means your life is about to change. Keep the momentum going by flying over to our HQ here.
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