Blast Through A Circuit Workout With Just A City Bench

Today’s workout is a perfect one to take outside. After a no-equipment warm-up, you’ll do two circuits of strength exercises and two 30-second cardio bursts, with no more equipment than a sturdy bench.

You can do the same workout indoors, of course — just grab a chair or a gym bench. This video demonstrates all the moves, which I recommend you scribble on a scrap of paper to take outside. (Pro tip: use a rubber band to attach your cheat sheet to your water bottle.)

Here’s the sequence:

• Warm-up: 5 reps of walkouts; 10 knee hugs; 10 toy soldiers; 6 walking lunges with a twist; and finish off with 20 steps of high knees
• First circuit: 5 reps each of reverse lunge to step-up; a single leg push-up with your hands on the bench; and a decline knee tap with your feet on the bench.
• Cardio burst: 30 seconds of side-to-side jumps.
• Second circuit: 10 reps of jumping onto the bench; 10 dips with your hands behind you on the bench; and 10 side lunges.
• Cardio burst: 30 seconds of burpees (I got in about 8 reps, if you’d rather just count).

You’re supposed to repeat each circuit twice before moving on to the next part of the workout, but hey, it’s your lunch break. Do what you can. (It took me about eight minutes to do one of everything; doubling the circuits would bring this into the 12 minute range I bet.) You can also do the whole thing multiple times if you’re itching for a longer session.

Difficulty: Moderate. These are pretty simple moves if you’re used to strength training, but they can be challenging (especially the burpees at the end).

Modifications: None provided, so just take a rest if it’s getting too intense.

Equipment: A bench (or bench-height object) that won’t break when you jump on it. (If you’re stuck with an office chair or something, you can just jump in place instead of the bench jumps.)

Sweat factor: Definitely moist.