EMOM: Every Minute On The Minute Workouts

by Erick Avila

What’s an EMOM?

EMOM is an acronym for Every Minute on the Minute, these workouts involve doing an exercise at the start of every minute until the workout ends. With this style of training, you select an amount of time that you want your workout to last, specific exercises that you’d want to do, and a set number of repetitions that you’d want to do for each exercise. This style of training can be very efficient because you can do a total body workout in a relatively short amount of time.

EMOMs can also be very versatile workouts because they can be cardio focused, strength focused, or used for skill development on complex exercises. For these reasons, EMOMs are especially popular with CrossFit athletes and Olympic lifters.

EMOM Benefits

EMOM workouts have many benefits including:

• Improved Cardiovascular Fitness: EMOM workouts can be an excellent way to develop your overall cardiovascular fitness. The first time you try it out, you’ll notice how the shortened rest periods and high intensity movements keep your heart rate elevated throughout the workout.
• Increased Strength: EMOM workouts are popular with strength-based athletes because you can structure these workouts as an opportunity to train at high intensities relative to your one rep maximum. The principle of specificity in sports states that your training should mimic the demands of your competition. If you do a strength-based sport where you’re only doing one rep, an EMOM gives you the opportunity to practice setting up and positioning yourself for a big lift, something that you may not practice as much if you’re only doing higher rep training.
• Time-Efficient: EMOM workouts can be a time efficient way to work out because your total training time is short but intense. And because EMOMs can be adapted for endurance or strength, you’re able to train several aspects of fitness simultaneously. Generally, the exercises done during an EMOM also target a large range of muscle groups so you’re able to do a full body workout in a short amount of time. 

How to Design an EMOM

1. Decide on an exercise focus for your EMOM: strength, cardio, skill development, power, upper body, lower body. The focus of your EMOM should guide your selection for the other items on this list.
2. Pick the total amount of time that you’d like your EMOM workout to last. This includes time doing the exercise and the rest between sets. You don’t want your EMOM to be too long because it will be difficult to maintain a high intensity. And you also don’t want your EMOM to be too short because it may not be enough time to develop any fatigue. For many people, the sweet spot for an EMOM workout seems to be 10-15 minutes.
3. Choose which exercise(s) you’d want to include in your EMOM. It’s possible to do an EMOM with just one exercise although doing multiple exercises can be an efficient way to workout different body parts. Just be mindful of how many exercises you select because it can be difficult to keep track of exercises as your workout gets more intense.
4. Select the number of reps that you’d like to do for the exercise(s) in your EMOM. Be mindful of how much time you’d have left to rest between the end of your exercise and the start of the next minute.
5. Choose the appropriate equipment for your EMOM. EMOMs can be done with everything from bodyweight to barbells.

Sample 10-Minute EMOM Workouts

If you aren’t quite ready to design your own EMOM workout, try out one of these sample ones to get started with this powerful workout style.

Full Body Strength EMOM

EMOMs can be an efficient way to do a full body workout and they can be effective for increasing your comfort level with lifts that are closer to your 1 rep maximum.

• Minute 1: Squat (back squat, front squat, or goblet squat) @80% of your 1 rep max for 2 reps
• Minute 2: 5 pull ups
• Minute 3: Squat (back squat, front squat, or goblet squat) @80% of your 1 rep max for 2 reps
• Minute 4: 5 pull ups
• Minute: 5: Squat (back squat, front squat, or goblet squat) @80% of your 1 rep max for 2 reps
• Minute 6: 5 pull ups
• Minute 7: Squat (back squat, front squat, or goblet squat) @80% of your 1 rep max for 2 reps
• Minute 8: 5 pull ups
• Minute 9: Squat (back squat, front squat, or goblet squat) @80% of your 1 rep max for 2 reps
• Minute 10:5 pull ups

Cardio Focused EMOM

EMOMs can be great ways to develop your aerobic capacity while keeping your workout engaging because you’ll have your eye on the clock.

• Minute 1: 10 second sprint rowing ergometer
• Minute 2: 15 push ups
• Minute 3: 10 second sprint rowing ergometer
• Minute 4: 15 push ups
• Minute 5: 10 second sprint rowing ergometer
• Minute 6: 15 push ups
• Minute 7: 10 second sprint rowing ergometer
• Minute 8: 15 push ups
• Minute 9: 10 second sprint rowing ergometer
• Minute 10: 15 push ups

Skill Focused EMOM

Skill focused EMOMs are popular for improving technique on complicated exercises like olympic lifts and kettlebell exercises. A common exercise that many people use EMOMs to improve on is the snatch. Grab a barbell, kettlebell or dumbbell depending on your comfort level with this movement and give this Skill focused EMOM a try.

• Snatch @ 65% your 1 rep max for 2-5 reps (use the lower end of the rep range if you’re using a barbell) at the start of every minute, for a total of 10 minutes

The Importance of Hydration and Replenishment

While EMOMs can be short workouts, they’re very intense, so it’s important to hydrate and recover after a tough workout. Add XTEND® Original to your post-workout routine to support hydration and recovery after a tough EMOM. XTEND® Original features an electrolyte blend to support hydration and the signature 7-gram ratio of BCAAs to support muscle recovery, making it the recovery choice of champions.