THE MINI WORKOUT

The Mini Workout is a concept that everyone "knows" about, but I'll admit I never actually put it into practice until just a few months ago.  Ross Enamait talks about the Mini Workout a lot in his books Infinite Intensity and Never Gymless, and he frequently mentions its effectiveness when answering questions on his forum.  The premise is simple...everyone has their Main Workout which could consist of lifting weights, running, bodyweight exercises, etc.  Everyone also has weaknesses or areas where they want extra improvement.  That's where the Mini Workout comes into play.  It is a very short, focused workout that is done separate from the Main Workout so that the body is fresh and you can give 100% effort.  Examples could be grip strength, core strength / stability, or skills that need to be honed without the presence of fatigue.

For instance, yesterday morning I performed my Main Workout which was power- and strength-focused.  When I got home from work, I wanted to add a conditioning component to the day's work so I performed a conditioning Mini Workout that consisted of 15 minutes of jump rope and a sledgehammer and med ball finisher:

The total time required was less than 20 minutes (and that was a "long" Mini Workout), which was a perfect way to kill time while I waited on some fish to thaw out before I could cook dinner.