What is emom exercise?

EMOM might sound a little confusing, but this type of conditioning workout is actually quite simple. It stands for Every Minute On the Minute, and it’s a pretty effective way to level up your fitness.

Here, with the help of personal trainer Evan Williams, C.S.C.S., founder of E2G Performance in Chicago and Runner’s World run coach, Jess Movold, we break down everything you need to know about EMOM workouts. You’ll find out what they are, the awesome benefits, and how to slot one into your schedule. You can also follow along for a 5-minute EMOM workout, straight from Coach Jess, that you can do right at home.

EMOM is a form of high-intensity interval training (or HIIT workout). Here’s how it works: You pick an exercise, or series of exercises, to perform for a certain number of reps or time that’s less than 60 seconds. You then repeat that pattern every minute for a set number of minutes—hence the name, every minute on the minute.

If you’re doing a rep-based EMOM, the amount of rest you get depends on how quickly you complete the prescribed rep count. Say you’re doing an EMOM of 20 push-ups for example. If it takes you 30 seconds to bust out those reps, you get to rest for another 30 seconds before dropping for another set of 20. But if those reps take you 50 seconds, you’d have only 10 seconds of downtime before starting again. Rep-based EMOMs encourage you to work at a high intensity and quick speed so you can maximize your rest time.

Time-based EMOMs are slightly more structured because your rest period stays the same no matter what. For example, if you’re doing an EMOM that involves lunging for 40 seconds, you would always get 20 seconds of rest, regardless of how many reps you’re able to complete during the 40-second work period.

There’s no set duration for an EMOM workout. It can be as short as one minute, or as long as a full workout–say, 45 minutes or more. However, most HIIT workouts only last 10 to 20 minutes, and research says you might need only four minutes to gain the benefits.

There are several solid reasons runners should consider adding EMOMs into their routine.

The first: Because EMOMs typically alternate between bursts of max-effort work and short periods of rest, they qualify as a form of HIIT. And regularly doing HIIT can bring loads of benefits, including improved fitness, better physiological functions, and lowered risk of cardiovascular disease, according to research.

Another perk of EMOMs: If you choose strength-specific movements for your EMOMs (think: kettlebell squats or dumbbell lunges) you can increase your strength and boost muscular endurance, says Williams. For runners, this can translate to stronger, better running, because you’ll be able to recruit more muscle fibers to power you through your run and also be able to keep running for greater periods of time without fatiguing.

Lastly, EMOMs are a really efficient form of interval training, says Williams, because they typically involve intense efforts performed in a short amount of time. That means EMOMs can deliver a great bang for your exercise buck, making them an ideal choice for the busy runner who wants to get in and get out of the gym. Choose bodyweight exercises and you can do these workouts from any location, too.

If you’re new to this style of training, ease into an EMOM with basic bodyweight movements (like squats and mountain climbers) before ramping up the intensity, says Williams. This will help reduce your chances of injury and improve the overall effectiveness of your EMOM.

If you’re doing a rep-based EMOM, it can be tempting to push through as fast as possible to maximize your rest time. But doing so can compromise your technique and thus up your chances of injury. So while you want to work fast, you also want to focus on good form, says Williams. Once you get comfortable with EMOMs, consider adding weights to the movements to increase the strength challenge.

As for which specific exercises to slot into your EMOM, well, that’s really up to you. But if you’re looking for direct carryover into your running, it’s a good idea to focus on movements that target your lower body and core, like planks and glute bridges.

The beauty of EMOMs is that they are scalable to varying fitness levels and workout types. That means there are lots of different ways to program EMOMs into a routine.

As a general rule of thumb, Williams recommends runners incorporate EMOMs two to three times a week. You can fit them in as a quick heart-pumping finisher after a heavy weightlifting session–simply pick two movements and alternate between them for four to 16 minutes, suggests Williams.

You can also build an entire workout from EMOMs–for example, pick four to five different exercises and cycle through them, one after the next, doing each one for a number of reps in that one-minute time frame, and continuing for 45 minutes. Take one minute of additional rest after each completion of the circuit.

However you fit EMOMs into your routine, make sure you don’t do them directly before or after a long or otherwise challenging run. It’s important to give your body enough downtime in between hard bouts of exercise so that your muscles can fully recover and build back stronger for your next workout.

For a quick, beginner-friendly EMOM workout, try this one created by Runner’s World Run Coach, Jess Movold. Follow along in the video above so you can master proper form and get some motivational tips from Coach Jess herself.

How to use this list: Start a timer for 5 minutes (or simply follow the video). Do 5 reps of each move, then rest for the remainder of the minute. Repeat for 4 additional minutes, adding one additional rep of each move per round.

Stand tall with feet hip-width apart, arms by sides. Bend knees and send hips down and back to lower into a squat as arms come together in front of chest. Keep chest lifted, shoulders down, and core, quads, and glutes engaged. Go as low as you can without breaking form, then press through feet to stand back up as you lower arms back to sides. That’s 1 rep.

Start in a high plank position with feet shoulder-width apart, arms straight, shoulders stacked over wrists, and core, glutes, and legs engaged. Your body should form one long straight line from the top of head to heels. This is the starting position. Drive right knee toward right elbow, then place it back on the ground and quickly repeat on the other side. That’s 1 rep. Continue alternating.

From your plank position, jump or walk feet up to hands. Then stand up tall, extending hips. Next, place palms on the ground and jump or walk feet back into a high plank. Pause. That’s 1 rep.

An acronym for “every minute on the minute,” EMOM workouts challenge you to complete an exercise for a certain number of reps in less than 60 seconds. The remaining time within the minute serves as your recovery. The recovery time is crucial and you shouldn’t skip it. It helps your body reset and prepare for the next round of exercise. At the top of the next minute, you perform a different move.

“EMOMs are an effective style of training because it demands intense effort to gain any recovery within the allotted time,” explains Gerren Liles, Hyperwear athlete and Equinox master trainer. He adds that this structure allows people to get creative with their workouts and easily scale them to be more difficult as your fitness level increases.

The beauty of EMOM workouts is that you can personalize the programming and design it basically any way you’d like. You can tailor the number of reps, minutes and rounds to your fitness goals. EMOM workouts are also a great form ofmetabolic conditioning, which trains your body to use oxygen efficiently and revs up your metabolism. So if you’re training for a race or an athletic event, for instance, EMOMs are especially helpful for building power, speed and endurance.

As with any type of HIIT, EMOM workouts reset your metabolism to work at a higher rate during exercise. According to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), this results in EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), which leads your body to continue burning calories long after you stop working out. Talk about major weight-loss benefits!

If you’re taking a group fitness class that includes EMOM workouts, you can expect to do a variety of bodyweight, cardio and strength exercises each minute. The exercises are usually simple to follow so you can fire off rep after rep with good form, Liles says. You should be able to complete the number of reps within 30 to 40 seconds at most classes that offer EMOM workouts.

“In classes, you’ll likely alternate between different exercises each minute. Each minute will focus on a particular muscle group while allowing other muscle groups to rest,” Liles explains. For example, you could be doing eight push-ups for the first minute, eight squats the second minute, and eight bicycle crunches the third minute.

The exercises (and weight used) will be based on the goal of the workout — specifically, cardio, strength or endurance. Cardio-based EMOM workouts tend to have a higher rep range than strength ones because the amount of time needed to complete one rep is often minimal. Think about how much time it takes to do one jumping jack versus a squat with bicep curl. If the goal is to improve muscle endurance, Simon Lawson, a NASM-certified personal trainer and instructor at Fhitting Room, a HIIT studio in New York City, recommends lifting for more reps, which means lighter weights. But if you’re looking to increase overall strength, Liles says to use heavier weights and do fewer reps “because you do need to have adequate recovery when you are approaching maximal load.”

Regardless of the end goal, the key is to work as efficiently as you can with great form and allow yourself to rest the remaining time in each rounds' minute. You don’t ever want to sacrifice form for speed. Think quality over quantity, Liles says. In fact, moving through reps at a leisurely pace or rushing through them without proper form are the most common mistakes people make with EMOM workouts.

For cardio-based EMOM workouts, Liles says you want to make sure the work-to-rest ratio is 1:1 (30 seconds on, 30 seconds off) or close to 2:1 (40 seconds on, 20 seconds off), especially if you’re alternating between exercises that involve different muscle groups, like squat jumps followed by plank with shoulder taps. “If you’re doing a purely strength workout, similar rules apply. But keep in mind the weights being used and if the exercises use the same or different muscle groups,” Liles explains. You don't want to move too fast with a heavy load and risk injury, he adds.

If you’re finding it difficult to get enough rest between exercises in a class, don’t be afraid to decrease the reps or modify the exercise to your fitness level. Not sure how many reps you can complete? For beginners or those just getting back into a fitness routine, Liles recommends doing a quick test before starting the workout to see how many reps of each move you can complete in 15 seconds. “This way, once you get started, you can continue on and not course-correct. As you get tired, you’ll likely slow down and need more time to complete each set,” Liles says.

A word of caution: If you’ve been leading a sedentary lifestyle and are new to exercise completely, EMOM workouts might not be a good route to follow right now.

“Because most training happens in the heart and joints, you need to be able to sustain a workout that leaves you out of breath, and people with diabetes or heart disease generally have been sedentary so working at a high intensity isn’t something they should start doing right away,” explainsBen Levine, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Director of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, a collaboration between UT Southwestern and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.

“Most people are better off doing aerobic exercise at a moderate intensity instead of the high intensity that EMOM workouts demand,” Dr. Levine says. “Everyone has different kinesthetics and biomechanic abilities, and working out in intervals isn’t magic. Meeting the minimum guidelines for exercise is more important,” he says. (FYI,current exercise guidelines are 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week.)

However, Levine says working out in intervals is great for people who have certain performance goals. “Working out 30 seconds to no more than one minute at maximal effort trains different energy systems, and this might be good for people who are training for something,” he says.

Levine recommends doing intervals that follow the4-by-4 Norwegian interval workout, in which you do four minutes of exercise at 95 percent max capacity and follow it up with three minutes of recovery for four rounds. “It’s a powerful way to build endurance and increase speed,” he says.

Many trainers will use EMOM workouts as a finisher in group classes, but you can also use them to squeeze in a little sweat sesh when you’re pinched for time. The beauty of EMOM workouts is that you don’t need a lot of time to do them. You can have EMOM workouts that are anywhere from four to 20 minutes.

Ready to give EMOMs a try? Check out these 20-minute EMOM workouts designed by Liles. Repeat each 5-minute EMOM four times for a total of 20 minutes. To kick things up a notch, you can hold a forearm plank as active recovery between each move for 10 seconds. This gives you enough time to get into position for the next exercise.

At the end of each EMOM workout, Liles recommends making a note of the time it took for you to complete each exercise. This gives you a sense of whether you need to scale back or tack on more reps, as well as dial down or up the intensity. For example, if you complete eight reps of an exercise with more than 30 seconds to recover and you feel like you can be further challenged, you can try adding two to four more reps the next round. Again, just be sure you are completing the exercises with proper form and aren’t rushing through them.

EMOM might sound a little confusing, but this type of conditioning workout is actually quite simple. It stands for Every Minute On the Minute, and it's a pretty effective way to level up your fitness.

"With higher-intensity-style EMOMs, the work and rest times are both inside the minute, so the faster you complete your reps, the more rest you have before the next minute starts," explains certified personal trainer Evan Williams.

Typically, EMOMs are performed in a class environment, which allows those in the class to feed off one another's energy. But ultimately, this workout is designed to push your body hard with limited recovery time. EMOMs are also ideal for those who are crunched for time yet want to reach a higher heart rate training zone, meaning you will also reap the benefits after the workout when your body is recovering.

Keep reading to learn more about these powerful workouts, straight from Williams and personal trainers Missy Berkowitz and Pete McCall.

"Though the history of EMOMs aren’t exactly clear, the origin of interval-style training can be traced back to around the early 1900s, when the more commonly used and familiar form of HIIT known as Tabata was introduced by Izumi Tabata in 1996, allowing different variations of HIIT to soon follow," outlines Williams.

The Tabata protocol is similar to the structure of an EMOM class in that you have a set amount of time to work at maximum effort and with limited rest. Typically, Tabata is performed in four-minute increments of 20 seconds on and 10 seconds rest. In short, both workout styles require you to go "all out."

Like many forms of HIIT, the popularity of EMOMs piqued as the industry introduced more forms of the adaptable workout to class schedules. Whether it's access to equipment, time limitations, or to reach a higher heart rate training zone in a shorter spell and still reap the benefits post-exercise, EMOMs provide it all.

Research shows that HIIT classes are best for improving blood sugar levels and the amount of fat found in the liver, as well as cardiorespiratory fitness with Type 2 diabetes adults and boosting heart function and anterior health.

To put it simply, EMOMs are an excellent workout to shed calories fast whilst building up your muscle endurance. "They can be part of a strength-training, HIIT, or metabolic conditioning class, whereby you focus only on EMOMs, or feature them as a component of the workout," says Pete McCall, CSCS and experienced master trainer. "You can use heavier weights with lower reps for strength-training purposes, or incorporate more reps to result in greater muscular endurance and calorie burning."

Below, Berkowitz breaks down three EMOM classes using the same exercises set up in a different structure, each for a quick and effective sweat session. The exercises are:

Air squats:

Push-ups:

Push-ups can also be performed on your knees following the above steps above, making sure your core is engaged and midsection doesn't collapse.

Sit-ups:

Perform the following exercise and repetitions for six rounds for a total of six minutes.

Repeat from the top of a new minute.

Repeat for five rounds for a 15-minute workout.

The goal here is to power through the sit-ups and push-ups at speed in order to dedicate the remainder of time to maxing out on air squats, says Berkowitz.

"EMOMs have a different structure to other (circuit) classes, the biggest difference being the variability of rest time," says Williams. "Most HIIT classes have a set work/rest time, yet with general circuits you can personally dictate how much rest time you have in between exercises, as opposed to EMOMs where reps remain the same."

However, your specific rest time may decrease depending on your energy levels as the workout progresses. This arguably makes for a tougher yet more effective workout. Also, whereas a general circuit class typically has people working and resting at the same time intervals, if set up in rep style, you may finish ahead of others in the class.

"Although EMOMs can essentially be performed as a general circuit class, it really depends on what the EMOM workout is," adds Berkowitz. "Maybe it's an EMOM for 10 minutes, where the odd minutes are for working and the even minutes are rest, which is a great way to work in high-intensity movements and equal rest."

You should be spaced out in a class environment to allow you to move at speed and in various directions without bumping into your neighbor. There may also be a timer for reference or an instructor to count down the seconds to the next minute. Some classes will also incorporate other workout elements (like abs drills or weights), so you will want to be prepared for all eventualities.

With this in mind, you will want to dress appropriately for comfort, with quality footwear that supports your feet and ankles, alongside moisture-wicking clothing.

"You are very likely to sweat a good amount during these classes, so it helps to have this type of apparel to keep you dry," stresses Williams. However, if the class is outdoors, you will need to be prepared for other conditions. "In hotter outdoor temperatures, I would suggest heat-resistant clothing that’s both breathable and sweat-wicking, he says. "Although in cooler temperatures, go for cold-resistant workout clothes that are sweat-wicking and easy to move around in."

EMOMs are a fast and efficient workout to burn calories and build on your muscle endurance in a short burst of time. Each exercise is performed on the minute and usually with a set number of reps, with the remainder of time allocated for rest. The same as the benefits of a HIIT class, EMOMs work you fast and hard to bring about maximum results with intense spells of exercise.

Although they are suitable for most, the intense nature of the class can be taxing on the body, so you should avoid such a workout if you have any chronic aches or injuries. Those who suffer with breathing issues likes asthma should ensure they take their inhaler prior to class.

The flexibility of an EMOM workout allows instructors or the individual to play around with timing, structure, and what equipment is used. This is why EMOMS are so efficient at slotting into any time of day and from any location that has a solid, supportive surface.

Be sure to dress appropriately for the elements, whether the class is in or outdoors, with sweat-wicking materials in hotter weather and breathable, cold-resistant clothing for colder conditions.