The Fast, Simple Workouts That’ll Make You Sweat

How long you’re sweating: Don’t sweat it.

We get it: anything less than a nice, long hour set aside for a workout feels unlikely to yield true wellness results. The trouble is, that pursuit of perfect can compel us to skip the chance to simply move—and miss the benefits that can accrue. Trainer Jordan Couture is here to snap us out of the inertia with his “consistency is more important than intensity” MO. Jordan is all for doing a little bit of something over a lot of nothing. Here are some little-somethings you can do literallyrightthissecond.

Lower body pyramid

To clarify, simple does not need to mean easy—confuse the two at your own peril. Here, you can add some weight to increase the difficulty, but take it from us (and our sore legs): no weight necessary.

Start with 20 Squats, 40 Walking Lunges (one foot step forward = 1 lunge)

Then you literally pyramid down—19 squats, 38 walking lunges; 18 squats, 36 walking lunges; 17 squats, 34 walking lunges...see where we’re going with this? Continue all the way to one squat and two lunges.

20 minute cardio

Do each of the following moves for one minute and run through the order 5x. Please note that a minute is longer than you think, so pace yourself—you should be working at a 6-7 level of exertion on a scale of 1 to 10.

1 min jog in place1 min high knees1 min butt kicks1 min inch worms

Rinse and repeat times four.

Standing desk workout

You will need a small gadget for this one: a mini band to put around your ankles. You may start with a lighter resistance—it should be challenging but you should be able to move throughout. 

Complete all on one leg, then the other, four rounds per leg.

In and outs (30 seconds)
Leg abduction (30 seconds)
Banded kick back (30 seconds)

Single leg hold (30 seconds): Keeping shoulder-width space between your feet, bend knees slightly and hover one leg off the floor while stabilizing on the other leg.