Exercise is a great way to beat stress, boost your mood, and keep your body healthy, but finding time to fit in a home workout session after a long shift or while juggling homeschooling and work can be hard.
There are two parts to getting active: the amount of time you spend exercising and the amount of sedentary time in your daily routine.
Even if you’re active during the day, sitting for more than an hour slows our metabolisms down, making us feel sluggish and sleepy.
We’ve found and tested short five-minute workouts that are easy to build into your morning or evening routine or even for a quick burst of activity during the day.
Morning Yoga
Yoga is a fantastic mindful exercise option for your mornings. Whilst being a strength training and flexibility activity, it also allows you to embrace five minutes of mindfulness in your morning.
If you are interested in introducing some mindful movement to your morning, try this relaxing five-minute morning yoga workout routine.
Samba Steps
Find yourself sitting too much once you get home? Building your step count doesn’t have to take up a lot of time in your day. You can rack up your step count with this 600-step workout in just five minutes, all to the beat of the fun-filled classic Copacabana.
No-weights Arm Toning Workout
One of the biggest misconceptions about home exercise is that you need to invest in lots of expensive and bulky equipment. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Here, we have a simple under-five-minute arm workout that is 100% equipment-free.
5-minute move with Joe Wicks
Exercise is a great way to carve out some additional family time with young children, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. The nation’s self-appointed PE teacher has a collection of five-minute workout routines aimed at school-age children that can be done as a family or on your own – they’re tough for adults too!
Flat-belly abs with Jake DuPree
If you are looking for a more advanced time-saving workout, wake up your core by taking five minutes to really focus on your abs. Combining barre and Pilates, this short workout is a simple but effective routine to build into a work break or morning routine.
Leg-toning workout
If you are looking for five-minute movement breaks to target on leg day, this five-minute leg-toning cardio workout could make finding time for HIIT training more manageable.
Mini HIIT workout
Music is a great way to motivate yourself to get through a workout routine. If you prefer to be the DJ? Put your own playlist on to tackle this challenging 5-minute HIIT routine with lots of dynamic movements.
Stress-busting cardio
Struggling to relax after work? Learning how you are able to unwind after a busy day can help your body physically and mentally recover. Get rid of some stress with this five-minute cardio workout that centres on punches and kicks to help you kick the stresses of your day to the curb!
Take 5 yoga break
Studies by the British Journal of Sports & Medicine have shown that hourly five-minute workouts or movement breaks are one of the most impactful ways to improve both wellbeing and maintain work performance. To make movement breaks more mindful, take some time out to stretch and unwind with this super speedy five-minute yoga practice.
Core challenge
Last, but not least, challenge yourself and your core with this five-minute ab workout. With five back-to-back ab exercises for one minute each, this one will get your heart rate up.
Find more movement inspiration with Westfield Health
We have lots more help, advice, guidance and ideas to help you and your team prioritise their health and wellbeing whilst juggling the busy demands of everyday life. Check out: