Your 16 Minute Leg Workout for the Day

11/25/2025 Workout of the Day

The day was Tuesday, the 25th of November, in the year 2025. And this day was slipping away from me. 

I got home late from work and had a long phone call with the parents. I still needed to run back out to the grocery store to get ground turkey for dinner, along with milk for....well, life.

But, I had planned to do legs on that day. I could have easily skipped it and pushed things off to the next day, but if you know me you know I don't like such acts of cowardice. No, I had the itch to train and it happened to be the day for legs, since it was the day after PUSH, of course. 

So I bartered with my wife and asked her if she'd hit a quick leg workout with me before I ran to the store.

She asked, "how quick? It's late, after all."

I lied. "Super quick. 11 minutes."

She said, "okay, but let's do it in the living room. It's cold and dark outside."

I grunted disagreeably before eventually agreeing. So I went out, grabbed a few kettlebells, brought them back inside (a perk of having some basic, quality home gym equipment like kettlebells, dumbbells, and knowledge of basic calisthenics).

Then, we did the following workout:

My WOD:

Ex 1: EMOM standard split squats-12 sets x 4/4 reps (4 reps each leg) every minute on the minute

Ex 2: single leg glute bridges-3 sets x 10/10 reps (10 reps each leg each set)

Megan's WOD:

Ex 1: EMOM Goblet Squats-12 sets x 5 reps every minute on the minute

Ex 2: glute bridges-3 sets x 10 reps

The total workout took us between 15 and 16 minutes.

Now, let's address the lie.

I told my wife 11 minutes because I intended to do an 11 minute EMOM, since last leg session I did a 10 minute EMOM of alternating reverse lunges for 4 reps per leg per minute. I wanted to 1-up last session's performance on the EMOM. Granted, last leg session (which was on Friday the 21st of November) I began the workout with a 10 minute alternating reverse lunge EMOM, then moved onto 3 sets of Bulgarian split squats, 3 sets of unilateral hip thrusts, and 3 sets of calf raises. So it was not just a quick, EMOM-only workout like this 16 minute leg session was shaping up to be. But I since I thought I'd be only doing the EMOM portion of the leg workout on this most recent session, I figured I should do at least 1 more set/minute.

However, I didn't have an 11 minute EMOM saved in my Gym Boss timer. I did have 12 minutes. Yes, it is easy to switch that, or even create a new timer altogether, but I thought to myself, "well, 12 minutes sounds even better than 11 minutes, and she won't even know the difference until I tell her at the end of the EMOM workout." This is how marriage works, folks. 

I chose to try out standard split squats for the EMOM instead of alternating reverse lunges this time. I like reverse lunges, but I might like standard split squats even better. I wanted to see if I could do 4 reps of split squats on the right leg, switch, and do 4 reps of split squats on the left leg all within each minute. I thought it might take too long to do both legs every minute, which is why I felt like alternating reverse lunges would be best. But it turns out the EMOMs actually worked out great with standard split squats. It took no more time each set to do 4 reps each leg (8 reps total) every minute than doing the same reps for alternating lunges. For those curious, each set took around 25 seconds to do 4 reps right + 4 reps left.

After that 12 minute EMOM was done, I felt like we may as well finish out and make this a complete lower body workout. We've both accumulated plenty of volume in short order for our squat patterns of choice, now let's hit something specifically for the posterior chain. Enter the glute bridges. 

It was a good pump and sweat.

If doing standard (2 leg) glute bridges, hold 1 kettlebell/dumbbell on your pelvis OR hold 2 kettlebells/dumbbells on your hips.

If doing single leg glute bridges, hold 1 kettlebell/dumbbell on your hip flexor of the working leg.

Either way, I like to hold each rep of glute bridges for 2 seconds at the top of each rep.

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If you don't think you have time to train, you're wrong. EMOMs are an especially time efficient way to get a lot  of work done in a very short amount of time. This allows you to get a good blend of strength, hypertrophy, and conditioning work done, simultaneously. 

With EMOMs and a little creativity, you can get a lot of volume done for 1-2 exercises in just 10-15 minutes. Then, finish up with 2-3 sets of another exercise to finish things off.

Here's a couple other examples of quick EMOM based workouts:

Sample 15 Minute Pull Workout:

Ex 1: EMOM pullups OR single arm alternating rows-8-12 sets x 3-5 reps (each arm of alternating rows) every minute on the minute 

Ex 2: bicep curl variation-2-3 sets of 10-15 reps

Sample 15 Minute Push Workout

Ex 1: pushups or overhead press-8-12 sets x 8-12 reps (if pushups) OR 8-12 sets x 3-5 reps (if overhead press)

Ex 2: tricep isolation variation-2-3 sets of 10-15 reps

Ex 3: lateral raise variation-2-3 sets of 10-15 reps

Get the picture? Easy enough and quick enough, right? Each of those workouts are quick and effective and you can progressively overload them by:

-doing more reps per minute/set of the given exercise

-doing more sets/minutes

-using heavier weight for the given rep ranges on EMOM and accessory exercises 

One important caveat for EMOM workouts, if the goal is prioritizing strength and/or muscle rather than conditioning (you'll still get some conditioning effect regardless, due to the short rest periods), your sets should be low to moderate because your "working" period should be 15-30 seconds. You should have around 30-45 seconds of rest between each set. 

This ends up looking an awful lot like Vince Gironda's cumulative fatigue method for muscle gain – a topic I've discussed at length over the last 5 years (even scribed an ebook about it) and will probably discuss more in the future – high sets (6-15 sets), short rests (30-40 seconds). EMOMs were popularized in the early days of CrossFit and pretty much adds a little extra structure to Gironda's cumulative fatigue idea. 

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Again, it took me between 20 and 25 seconds to complete 4 reps right leg and 4 reps left leg (8 reps total) for standard split squats, giving me 35-40 seconds of rest each set/minute. 

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Is this the ideal long term plan?

Maybe. If you're someone that does best with VERY short, yet very frequent workouts. 

Maybe not, though, if you have time for multiple 30-45 minute sessions each week.

The bottom line is, these quick "EMOM + 2-3 sets of accessories" workouts provide a time efficient option and eliminate the excuse of "not having time to train."

The perfect plan is the one that you will do, and do regularly, while also progressing (like the sample progressions I shared above). If that's these 15 minute workouts, then double down and make that happen.

For me, workouts like these provide the option of a great fall back plan for days like Tuesday, November 25, 2025, when it seems the day may have slipped away without time for a workout. Nay, I say, nay. There is always another way!

You can also use EMOMs as a part of a more standard 30-45 minute workout, too, of course. I've shared some examples of how to do that in recent "Workout of the Day" posts, but I'll share a full structured sample plan later.

That's enough talk for now. Be sure to train. Use ideas like EMOMs to help you get more training done in minimum time – and even with minimum equipment – if necessary. 

Don't make excuses. Find solutions. 

Enjoy your health!