All you need are five minutes and five moves to build full-body muscle. AMRAP (As many reps
as possible) is a trending training method that builds functional muscle and improves endurance and overall performance. Just about any exercise can be included in this workout—push-ups, pull-ups, lunges and dips—but it must be done sequentially without any break.
“Keep a check on your form while doing these exercises to reduce the chance of an injury and to improve efficiency when doing the reps. Proper focus on the muscles being exercised enables you to target the intended points, while promoting good oxygen flow throughout the body, helping you power through the workout,” says Gurugram-based strength trainer Gaurav Tokas.
The thing with AMRAP exercise is the harder you go, the more calories you burn. "The workout is designed to pack in a lot of physical work in a very less amount of time. You can burn about 20 calories a minute while doing this high-intensity workout, research says. What’s more? The afterburn effect, or burning fat even after the session is over, plays a supportive role in fat loss".
Loved for its versatility, AMRAP-style workouts are appropriate for just about anyone at any fitness level. You can make them less or more intense depending on the results you’re looking for. To track progress, log in the number of reps you do of a single exercise in a minute. Compare the numbers at the end of the week.
Even though AMRAP can be done with or without equipment, in the gym or at home, experts recommend beginners use their body as far as possible to build strength, flexibility and stamina. “It’s also a good idea to do compound workouts so that different muscles in the body are exercised instead of just one or two, all within a tight time frame,” says Tokas. After all, it’s all about making the minutes count.
AMRAP for beginners
1 minute of jumping jacks with simultaneous air punches
1 minute of air squats
1 minute of pull-ups
1 minute of bear crawl
1 minute of on-the-spot jumping
Advanced AMRAP
1 minute of simultaneous high knee jumps and diamond pushups
1 minute of burpee tuck jumps
1 minute of single-leg Bulgarian squat
1 minute of mountain climbers
1 minute of on-the-spot running