Best Short Workout For Weight Loss

There are tons of exercises that can help you lose weight, but not all of them will give you the results you’re looking for. In this article we’ll be discussing one of the most effective exercises for weight loss: short workouts.

Short workouts are great because they don’t take a lot of time, meaning you can fit them into your schedule without having to rearrange all of your other commitments. They also burn fat very quickly and efficiently, so if you want to see results fast then they’re the way to go!

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Best Short Workout For Weight Loss

Rob Fletcher, the creator of “America’s Next Great Trainer (ANGT),” says that a simple 5-minute exercise routine can make a big difference. In an interview conducted in 2015, he said that he challenged his clients to a seven-day jump-start challenge, where he asked them to set aside just 5 minutes each day to work out. He said this simple commitment helped to ignite healthy habit changes and promote a positive confidence boost.

Calories Burned in a 5-Minute Workout

So, how many calories can you burn during a five-minute workout? It depends on how hard you work. Fletcher says that you can burn up to 20 calories per minute with a high-intensity interval workout.

But the real benefit comes after the workout is complete. An intense 5-minute workout can help you burn more fat all day. Fletcher says that you experience the “afterburn effect” for up to 48 hours after an intense workout.

Exercise physiologists call this post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). In simple terms, it means that your body consumes more oxygen and burns more fat and calories in the hours following an intense workout.

Even after a workout of only 5 minutes, fat-burning benefits continue for the rest of the day.

Set Up Your 5-Minute Workout

There are a few things you should do to set up your 5-minute workout for weight loss. First, you should make sure that you are healthy enough for vigorous activity. Check with your doctor if you haven’t exercised in a while if you have any injuries or concerns about your health. Next, make sure that you are properly equipped for your fitness level.

A beginner fat-burning mini-workout doesn’t require any special equipment. Most of the activities can be performed using your own body weight as resistance. But as you progress and become more fit, Fletcher suggests that you add medicine balls, dumbbells, or resistance bands to further enhance your “fat-burning furnace.”

5-Minute Workout #1

Before you do this workout developed by Fletcher, you may want to familiarize yourself with each of the exercises. Most of the activities in this mini workout are self-explanatory but check the links and images if you need further guidance. Remember to modify as needed when you’re first starting out.

5-Minute Weight Loss Workout #1

Do each exercise for 1 minute. Rest 15 seconds between each activity.

• Burpees
• Jumping jacks
• Mountain climbers
• Push-ups
• Running in place

5-Minute Workout #2

The second 5-minute weight loss workout suggested by Fletcher is based on repetitions, not on time. Again, modify if necessary when you’re first starting out. And remember to add resistance (dumbbells, resistance bands, or a medicine ball) as your fitness level improves.

5-Minute Weight Loss Workout #2

Perform 12 repetitions of each exercise. Repeat the sequence as many times as possible in 5 minutes.

• Bicycle crunches
• Jump lunges
• Jump squats
• Push-ups

5-Minute Workout Tips

Even though you should be able to do some kind of physical activity every day, there will be occasions when you simply can’t get the five-minute workout completed. So, should you ditch the weight loss workout plan completely? “Absolutely not!” says Fletcher.

“Never give up,” he says. “The key is consistency. However, things do happen and days will be missed.” He suggests that you refocus and stay the course. He also emphasizes the importance of healthy post-workout nutrition. He says that eating the right foods after exercise will help to keep you satisfied, so that your weight loss plan stays on track.

More 5-Minute Workouts

If you enjoy 5-minute workouts and you’re in the market for new exercise tools, find a tool that provides workouts on the go. Many new tech tools provide watch or ear-based sessions. For example, the Jabra Sport Coach wireless buds might be a good investment.

The Bluetooth-enabled earbuds connect with the Jabra Sport Life app and provide a series of guided mini-workouts that you can do while you listen to music. The weight loss workouts range from 3 to 6 minutes and can be modified or customized based on your fitness level and goals.

You can also use the app and the earbuds to track and coach you through your other favorite activities like running, biking, or walking. Several Fitbit products like the Versa and Ionic also provide exercise tools so you can get a 5-minute workout right on your wrist.

There are also great fitness tools that you can keep at home for a quick workout when you have a few minutes to spare. Consider Crossrope, a set of sharply designed jump ropes that comes with an app that provides short, intense, but easy-to-follow workouts. Pair the cardio workout with Stealth core trainer for a total body workout in minutes.

But you don’t have to spend any money to create your own mini 5-minute workout. Simply put together a few of your favorite physical activities and time yourself as you complete them. You can jog up the basement stairs, lunge across your living room or hold a wall squat while you talk on the phone. You can even turn your housecleaning routine into a calorie-burning session.

As Rob Fletcher says, the key is consistency. Try to complete some type of activity each day to burn enough calories, so that you reach and maintain a healthy weight.

4 Week Workout Plan For Weight Loss

For many people, losing a little weight and improving health go hand in hand.

Although your health and fitness are measured by far more than your weight, research suggests that the rising rate of obesity correlates with increased rates of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases that can ultimately cause major health problems.

Don’t get me wrong, you should not fixate singularly on weight loss. However, if you do want to lose weight, this 4-week workout program for weight loss will rev up your metabolic engine and kick-start your weight loss journey.

Meet your trainer

My name is Tyler Read. I have a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology, and I’m a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified personal trainer. I’ve been coaching fitness clients for more than a decade.

In that time, the vast majority of my general fitness clients have wanted to lose weight and be healthier — and they typically have not had much time each day for exercise.

With this in mind, I’ve consistently relied on short, hard-hitting workouts my clients can do on a daily basis, alternating cardio and strength training and performing workouts on their own.

Losing weight requires a calorie deficit, meaning you must burn more calories than you eat in a given time frame, typically broken down into calories per day.

Although effective exercise programs can certainly speed up your weight loss, it’s important to remember that long-term weight management requires sustaining healthy habits over time.

This includes eating a variety of whole foods, drinking enough water, and ensuring you get enough sleep and manage stress.

That said, research shows that exercise plays an important role in weight loss.

My 4-week workout plan for weight loss is a great way to kick-start your journey toward better health or add more variety to your workouts if you already consistently exercise.

4-week weight loss program structure

I build my program around three types of training:

• upper and lower body strength training
• interval training/conditioning
• low intensity cardio

The strength training will help you build muscle and strength that you can apply to your interval training.

Furthermore, the added muscle will increase your metabolism over time, meaning you’ll burn more calories at rest just to sustain yourself, which can contribute to the calorie deficit required for weight loss.

Interval training will provide a massive metabolic boost immediately after your workout. Interval training involves brief periods of high intensity exercise followed by relatively short rest periods.

This method keeps your heart rate elevated throughout the workout, giving you aerobic benefits while maintaining sufficient intensity to stoke your metabolic fire.

Finally, low intensity cardio, such as walking, jogging, swimming, or cycling, gives you a slight bump in your daily calorie burn and allows you to exercise while recovering from the more intense strength and interval training.

You can perform an hour or more of cardio, but even just 20 minutes is sufficient.

Each workout should take roughly 20–22 minutes, allowing you to fit the program into a busy schedule.

Over the course of 4 weeks, this workout structure helps target weight loss on all fronts, through both daily calorie burn and increasing your metabolism over time.

Start with a lighter weight and increase the weight each set until you find the point where the final repetition gets really hard.

Week 1

Day 1: Lower body strength

Equipment: dumbbells or kettlebells, barbell and plates, leg curl and/or leg extension machines

1. 3×12 dumbbell/kettlebell goblet squat
2. 3×12 barbell or kettlebell deadlift
3. 3×20 walking lunge with dumbbells (10 each side)
4. Optional: 3×12 leg curl and extension in the gym

Day 2: Low intensity cardio for at least 20 minutes

• Choose walking, light jogging, or your preferred method of cardio — even better if you can do it outside!

Day 3: Upper body strength

Equipment: pullup bar or lat pulldown machine, dumbbells

1. 3×12 pullup or lat pulldown
2. 3×12 dumbbell overhead press
3. 3×12 dumbbell row
4. 3×12 dumbbell bench press
5. Optional: 3×12 biceps curl and triceps extension

Day 4: Low intensity cardio for at least 20 minutes

Day 5: Interval conditioning

Equipment: plyometric box, slam ball

Perform the following exercises for 15 seconds at a hard pace, then rest for 15 seconds and move to the next exercise. I’ve included two options you can choose between, depending on your current level.

Exercises focus on lower body movements performed at a moderate to high pace.

The large muscle groups in this area help get your heart pumping much more effectively than exercises using smaller muscle groups.

For Week 1, perform 3 rounds of the following as discussed above:

1. Squat or jump squat
2. Box stepup or power stepup
3. Alternating lunge or jumping lunge
4. Lateral box stepup or ice skater
5. Burpee

Week 2

Week 2 involves the same exercises as Week 1. However, you should be performing 1 warmup set and then switching to the weight you finished with last week and, if possible, increasing the weight each set.

Bump up the intensity or duration of your cardio sessions by 5–10%. Be sure to keep it light enough that you can perform the minimum 20 minutes without stopping.

For the conditioning, perform 4 total rounds instead of 3.

Day 1: Lower body strength

Equipment: dumbbells or kettlebells, barbell and plates, leg curl/extension machines

1. 3×12 dumbbell/kettlebell goblet squat
2. 3×12 barbell or kettlebell deadlift
3. 3×20 walking lunge with dumbbells (10 each side)
4. Optional: 3×12 leg curl and extension

Perform 1 warmup set with body weight or light weight before starting the 3 working sets.

Day 2: Low intensity cardio for at least 20 minutes

• Bump up time or intensity by 5–10% from Week 1.

Day 3: Upper body strength

Equipment: pullup bar or lat pulldown, dumbbells

1. 3×12 pullup or lat pulldown
2. 3×12 dumbbell overhead press
3. 3×12 dumbbell row
4. 3×12 dumbbell bench press
5. Optional: 3×12 biceps curl and triceps extension

Perform 1 warmup set with body weight or light weight before starting the 3 working sets.

Day 4: Low intensity cardio for at least 20 minutes

Day 5: Conditioning

Equipment: plyometric box, slam ball

Perform the following exercises for 15 seconds at a hard pace, then rest for 15 seconds and move to the next exercise.

For Week 2, perform 4 rounds of the following as discussed above:

1. Squat or jump squat
2. Box stepup or power stepup
3. Alternating lunge or jumping lunge
4. Lateral box stepup or ice skater
5. Burpee

Week 3

In Week 3, I reduce the repetitions on the resistance training to 8 per set, which should allow you to increase the weight relative to your 12-rep sets.

If you can, begin performing barbell movements instead of using dumbbells, but either one is OK.

This takes the muscular endurance and movement proficiency from Weeks 1 and 2 and triggers more strength and muscle growth.

Bump up your cardio another 5–10% and perform 5 total cycles of your interval training.

Day 1: Lower body strength

Equipment: dumbbells or kettlebells, barbell and plates, leg curl/extension machines

1. 3×8 barbell back squat or dumbbell/kettlebell goblet squat
2. 3×8 barbell or kettlebell deadlift
3. 3×16 walking lunge with barbell or dumbbells (8 each side)
4. Optional: 3×10 leg curl and leg extension (keep reps higher on these isolation movements)

Perform 1 warmup set with body weight or light weight before starting the 3 working sets.

Day 2: Low intensity cardio for at least 20 minutes

• Bump up time or intensity by 5–10% from Week 2.

Day 3: Upper body strength

Equipment: pullup bar or lat pulldown, dumbbells

1. 3×8 pullup or lat pulldown
2. 3×8 barbell or dumbbell overhead press
3. 3×8 barbell or dumbbell row
4. 3×8 barbell or dumbbell bench press
5. Optional: 3×10 biceps curl and triceps extension (keep reps higher on these isolation movements)

Perform 1 warmup set with body weight or light weight before starting the 3 working sets.

Day 4: Low intensity cardio for at least 20 minutes

Day 5: Interval training/conditioning

Equipment: plyometric box, slam ball

Perform the following exercises for 15 seconds at a hard pace, then rest for 15 seconds and move to the next exercise.

For Week 3, perform 5 rounds of the following:

1. Squat or jump squat
2. Box stepup or power stepup
3. Alternating lunge or jumping lunge
4. Lateral box stepup or ice skater
5. Burpee

Week 4

There is nothing particularly special about Week 4.

You will continue increasing the weight on the strength exercises, bumping up your aerobic intensity, and performing a full 6 rounds of conditioning. If this is too intense, you can dial back as needed.

Day 1: Lower body strength

Equipment: dumbbells or kettlebells, barbell and plates, leg curl/extension machines

1. 3×8 barbell back squat or dumbbell/kettlebell goblet squat
2. 3×8 barbell or kettlebell deadlift
3. 3×16 walking lunge with barbell or dumbbells (8 each side)
4. Optional: 3×10 leg curl and extension (keep reps higher on these isolation movements)

Perform 1 warmup set with body weight or light weight before starting the 3 working sets.

Day 2: Low intensity cardio for at least 20 minutes

• Bump up time or intensity by 5–10% from Week 3.

Day 3: Upper body strength

Equipment: pullup bar or lat pulldown, dumbbells

1. 3×8 pullup or lat pulldown
2. 3×8 barbell or dumbbell overhead press
3. 3×8 barbell or dumbbell rows
4. 3×8 barbell or dumbbell bench press
5. Optional: 3×10 biceps curl and triceps extension (keep reps higher on these isolation movements)

Perform 1 warmup set with body weight or light weight before starting the 3 working sets.

Day 4: Low intensity cardio for at least 20 minutes

Day 5: Interval training/conditioning

Equipment: plyometric box, slam ball

Perform the following exercises for 15 seconds at a hard pace, then rest for 15 seconds and move to the next exercise.

For Week 4, perform 6 rounds of the following:

1. Squat or jump squat
2. Box stepup or power stepup
3. Alternating lunge or jumping lunge
4. Lateral box stepup or ice skater
5. Burpee

What is a healthy 4-week weight loss goal?

The typical weight loss recommendation is to lose 1 pound of body fat per week, which is achieved through a 500-calorie deficit per day.

With the above program, you may be able to further lose weight by hitting more than a 500-calorie deficit, but this is difficult for most people.

I should mention that losing a pound of fat per week typically results in more than a pound of scale weight lost due to lost water weight.

While a pound of fat per week might not sound like much, if you are currently overweight, losing even small amounts of weight can result in drastic improvements to your health.

Given that weight maintenance is a long-term process, think of my 4-week program as a way to kick-start your journey as opposed to a one-stop shop for weight loss.

Exercising and staying motivated long term

While I structured this program into 4 weeks, you can extend it much longer than that if you want to. For example, you could perform the 12-rep sets for a full 8–12 weeks before switching to the 8-rep sets, which would give you a 16-week program instead of a 4-week program.

Furthermore, as you perform this program, you will learn which types of exercise or specific movements you prefer and explore those in more depth down the line.

If you enjoy strength training more than cardio, you can consider finding a more comprehensive strength program or hiring a personal trainer.

If conditioning is your thing, you can perform 2 or 3 conditioning workouts per week instead of 1 and consider joining a group fitness class.

Finally, if the long, slow cardio is your thing, you can build up to massive endurance levels over time through running, swimming, or your preferred aerobic training method.

The most important thing is that you stick to exercising for the long haul.

So, focusing on the types of exercise you like is more important than intently trying to optimize a program you are unlikely to perform long term.

The bottom line

There is no magic formula for weight loss other than burning more calories than you consume. Still, there are better and worse ways of approaching this goal.

Combining frequent exercise with a healthy lifestyle is ultimately the most reliable method to improve your health.

My 4-week program is a great way to kick-start your weight loss exercise training, explore the fundamentals of fitness, and hopefully get fired up about exercising long term.

Always remember that, ideally, fitness should be fun.

Nobody has the final answer on the best way to stay active, but it all starts with your first workout.

Cheers to an active lifestyle!