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Simple 10 minute workout

9 Simple 10-Minute Workout Routines

Having a balanced diet is important for maintaining a healthy heart, but keeping active through regular exercise is vital too. A healthy weight is particularly important for people who wish to maintain a desirable cholesterol level. However, if you work in an office, regularly travel by car, or have trouble finding a place to work out, getting a lot of exercise into your daily routine can be difficult.

Luckily, workouts don’t need be long, or take place at a gym to have a positive impact. Just a few short bursts every day can help you reach the NHS-recommended 2 1⁄2 hours of exercise a week. Doing three 10-minute workouts of moderate intensity five days a week can help you reach this goal and fit your exercise routine around a busy lifestyle.

To help you out, here are 9 simple 10-minute workout routines for you to try at home or in another suitable location – either browse the full workout guide here, or simply click the links to skip straight to illustrated instructions for each workout.

9 simple 10-minute workouts to try at home or on the go:

1. Get Up and Go: A good beginners’ activity, this 10-min workout involves marching on the spot for one minute then doing a range of arm and leg movements to stretch your muscles and get them moving.

2. The Energiser: Great if you are already out in the park – do some low lunges as you walk and try ‘crab stepping’ to one side and the other, making sure to keep your head up and a good posture throughout.

3. The Easy Cardio Circuit: After a short warm up, start with some jumping jacks, march on the spot then do leg squats to give your heart and blood vessels a kick-start into action.

4. The TV workout: Useful for boring ad breaks or rainy evenings in! Doing this 10 minute workout at home requires you to balance on one leg while keeping a straight back, hold your arms out stretched while sitting upright on the edge of your seat and finish by stretching your hip and back using upper body strength.

5. The Intense Cardio Circuit: Once you have warmed up, use a step or bench around 10 inches high to do step ups and squat jumps. Increase your pace as you go and aim to keep going for 2 minutes at a time. Follow this with on the spot skipping and press-ups.

6. Strength and Cardio Circuit: This 10-minute workout routine is particularly good for people wanting to work on their muscle tone – it involves step-ups, lunges and squats. Make it harder by keeping your arms out stretched as you go.

7. The Running and Walking Strength Circuit: Useful for adding a bit of extra challenge to your normal walk or run, do step-ups and ‘press and leg pull’ exercises on a bench or low wall. Repeat with 2 minutes walking in between each stage.

8. The Interval Session: A more challenging routine to try once you have warmed up for at least 5 minutes. This involves squats done at increasing levels of difficulty, interspersed with moments of rest.

9. The Stair Climbing Workout: Use your home stairs as a gym by going up and down 3-5 times slowly then repeating at increasing speed until you are moving as fast as you can. Just take care not to fall as you go!

For more details on each of these 10-minute workout routines and other exercises you can try take a look at our healthy lifestyle tips designed to help you tailor an exercise schedule to suit your needs and ability. Incorporating these activities into your regular schedule is a great way to help maintain a healthy weight. You could also sign up to the 21-Day Challenge or try our cholesterol-lowering starter kit for more heart health inspiration!