If you think 20 minutes isn’t enough time to get in a good workout — you’re wrong! Though 20 minutes might not seem like a big commitment, or even like it won’t lead to many benefits, it’s just enough time to fit in a quick run or strength session that challenges and improves your endurance, strength, power — or all three.

That’s why we rounded up these 10 effective 20-minute workouts, crafted by run coaches and certified personal trainers, for you to refer to on days you’re pressed for time.

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1. Negative Splits Run Workout

Running at your threshold pace strengthens and trains your muscles to run at harder efforts, Dr Alison Marie Helms, NASM-certified personal trainer, and certified running coach tells Runner’s World. And makes those harder efforts feel easier. Threshold is a steady yet challenging pace you can hold for 50 to 60 minutes without feeling fatigued, which translates to about a 10K pace for many runners.

This negative splits workout slowly builds in intensity. The goal: Knock out each interval without burning out, so you complete the second half of the workout faster than the first. This helps you control your pacing, which can lead you to faster finishes come race day.

To effectively complete this workout, you will need to reference either your 10K pace, or rate of perceived exertion (RPE), which is how hard your efforts feel on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being all-out intensity.

How to do the workout:
Minutes 1-5: Run at easy pace: 90 seconds per kilometre slower than 10K pace or RPE of 2-3.

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2. Core Strength in 20

To become a better runner, you need to strengthen your entire core — and 20 minutes offers plenty of time to do just that. The workout below targets all of your core muscles, including your abdominals, but also your diaphragm, lats, pelvic floor, and adductors (inner thighs).

“A strong core is the foundation of running efficiency,” says Helms. While you run, a strong core will help improve your posture to reduce muscle imbalances and minimise stress on the joints. It also kicks up your stability, so you can maintain power and speed. Plus, a strong core helps transfer power from the upper body to the lower body and vice versa, Helms explains.

“With a strong core, runners can maintain proper running form for longer periods. This contributes to improved endurance as efficient biomechanics reduce fatigue and allow runners to sustain their pace,” Helms adds.

This 20-minute workout designed by Helms focuses on building core strength with five different exercises.

How to do the workout:
For this workout you will need a wall, mat, and a dumbbell.

• Do exercises 1 and 2 for 8-10 reps each; rest for 1 minute in between each exercise. Complete 2 sets.
• Then do exercises 3 and 4 for 8-10 reps each; rest for 1 minute in between each exercise. Complete 2 sets.
• For exercise 5, do 6-8 reps on each side, and complete 2 sets. Rest for at least 30 to 60 seconds between each set.

1. Quadraped Pelvic Tilts

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3. Endurance, Incline, and Hill Treadmill Workout

This 20-minute workout includes a bit of endurance, hill, and sprint work to help runners of all fitness levels improve their running performance.

“Regular aerobic exercise strengthens the heart, increasing its pumping capacity, and expands lung capacity for more efficient oxygen exchange,” says Erin Beck, certified personal trainer, and director of training and experience at STRIDE Fitness. By practising aerobic workouts like this one, runners can improve the efficiency of their cardiovascular system, and overall run performance, she adds.

How to do the workout:

1. Warmup (minutes 1-3): Walk or jog.

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4. Upper-Body Strength Workout

“Strong arms, back, shoulders, and core muscles contribute to better posture and form, making it easier for runners to maintain proper mechanics for long-distance runs,” says April Gatlin, certified personal trainer and master trainer at STRIDE fitness.

This is why she created this quick upper-body strength routine that targets all of these muscles.

How to do the workout:

You will need a set of medium dumbbells, which should make these moves feel difficult by the final rep.

1.Warm-up: 5-minute easy run

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5. Lower-Body Plyometric Workout

Research shows that strength workouts, particularly plyometrics, can help improve running performance by boosting running economy or how efficiently you use oxygen for exercise.

To get you started with plyometrics — which are explosive exercises that target fast-twitch muscle fibres — turn to this bodyweight workout, designed by Mallory Creveling, certified personal trainer, certified run coach, and Runner’s World deputy editor of health and fitness. (Keep in mind, you want to nail down form for each movement, before adding explosiveness to it!)

Before you start, warm up with a few dynamic stretches, as well as bodyweight squats, lunges, and good mornings.

How to do the workout:

Rest for 1 minute between each set below.

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6. Walk, Jog, Sprint Treadmill Training

While you definitely can enjoy and benefit from running a 5K at a steady-state effort, Ellen Thompson, NASM-certified personal trainer and run coach at Blink Fitness believes you can achieve much more by practising walking, jogging, and sprinting intervals. That’s why she crafted this 20-minute run workout.

Not only can this workout help you speed things up so you improve your 5K pace, the combination of three different intensities is more entertaining than running at one particular pace, she says, which keeps you motivated and makes the time fly by.

How to do the workout:

Repeat the sequence at least 6 times or until you’ve reached the 20-minute mark

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7. Core and Arm Strength

As we mentioned earlier, stronger arms, back, and core muscles all contribute to improving your overall run performance due to better balance and posture. This workout, from Thompson, includes a few bodyweight exercises as well as some weightlifting to help you build stronger muscles.

How to do the workout:

You need a set of light and heavy dumbbells for this workout.

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8. Progressive Strides

“On an easy day (not a recovery day) you can include strides as a way to improve your stride power and coordination while accruing minimal fatigue and injury risk,” John Goldthorp, certified personal trainer, certified run coach, and the owner of Fix Your Run says. You can schedule this workout for the day before a hard run or race. You’ll find you have more “pop” in your stride the next day, Goldthrop says.

How to do the workout:

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9. Leg Strength

A workout every runner should have on their training plan? A lower-body strength routine that includes single-leg exercises (running is a single-leg sport after all!) and challenging weights that feel difficult to lift by the final rep or two.

The workout below, created by Creveling, is meant to build strength by lifting heavier weights for lower reps. So if that final rep feels easy, it’s time to grab that heavier set.

How to do the workout:

You’ll need a heavy set of dumbbells or kettlebells, and a chair or box.

Complete the exercises in order listed below. Do 6-8 reps of each exercise, resting as needed between moves, and complete 3 sets. Rest for at least 2 minutes between sets.

Stand with feet together and hold a dumbbell in each hand, down by sides.

• Take a large step to the left, keeping back flat and chest up, push hips back while bending left knee into a lateral lunge. Dumbbells should frame left foot.

• Push through left foot to stand back up, bringing left foot to meet right.

Repeat for reps, then switch sides.

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10. Mobility Workout

This mobility workout, designed by Cameron Yeun, certified strength and conditioning specialist, and senior physical therapist at Bespoke Treatments, helps address common areas of limited mobility for runners.

You can practice this routine on a rest day or before a run or a race.

How to do the workout:

You will need a resistance band for this workout, and a mat and yoga block is optional.

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