Simple and Effective 12 min Bodyweight Workout (with Guide)

Hello and welcome to the effective 12 min bodyweight workout.

Before we get to the training, I have a question to ask you.

How often are you implementing bodyweight workouts in your training routine?

For me, bodyweight sessions are a regular thing, doesn’t matter if it’s during a workout or just to get my body moving after a few hours of sitting at my desk.

If you think bodyweight workouts can be “limiting”, you need to take a look at this article which gives you a variety of 56 movements (including movement demonstrations) you can do with your own body.

What can you expect from this workout:

• The whole duration of this training session is around 25 minutes including a full-body warm-up and cool-down.
• You will be performing two bodyweight movements.
• You will need to find a good combination between pushing the pace and pacing yourself.
• You will get an insane pump.

Let’s get to the workout.

Warm-Up

Before we start, I want to remind you to never skip your warm-up!

It’s just as important as your actual workout.

Just to give you a few important facts on why you should warm up:

• Increases blood flow
• Reduces the chance of injury
• Increases range of motion
• Improves performance

I could go on and keep rambling about the importance of warming up but I already did that in a different article. (click below to learn more)

If you feel a little more stiffness in your body after a long day of work, use this warm-up routine:

Full-body warm-up for home workouts

Effective 12 min Bodyweight Workout

As many reps as possible

3min as many reps as possible of:
3 x Pike Push-Up
15 x Air Squats

– 1min break –

3min AMRAP of:
6 x Pike Push-Up
18 x Air Squats

– 1min break –

3min AMRAP of:
9 x Pike Push-Up
21 x Air Squats

(Click on the link to see a movement demonstration)

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How to approach it?

On paper, this workout doesn’t seem to be that bad. But trust me, the number of reps will accumulate pretty fast.

Before you start, make sure to have a solid plan on how you want to attack this workout.

You will need to find the right mix between pushing the tempo and pacing yourself so you don’t burn out.

I would suggest you only one approach:

• Each AMRAP is 3 min long.
• Push the pace and try to maintain it throughout all 3 parts of the workout.
• The number of reps will increase each round, but focus on completing them unbroken otherwise, you will leave a lot of time on the table.
• Focus on fast transitions between the movements.
• During the last part of the workout – it will burn, and it will be painful but just keep going and remind yourself that this is “only” 3 minutes.
• Don’t forget to breathe.

If you feel your legs locking up or burning too much, instead of stopping completely, try to reduce your pace and just keep moving.

This way you still get your reps in even if it’s at a slower pace.

It’s still better than not moving at all.

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How to scale?

Before scaling the movement, always reduce the number of reps first if it’s too much volume for you.

In case you need to adjust the movement because of for example an injury, this is what I would suggest to you:

• Air Squats: a good alternative if you are struggling to go deep in a squat, is the box air squat
• Pike Push-Ups: an alternative for this movement would be the Arnold press or dumbbell push-press with the appropriate weight

(Click on the links for a movement demonstration)

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Cooldown

After a long workout like that make sure to have a proper cool-down to avoid injuries and give your body time to recover:

8 must-do cooldown mobility exercises