Kickboxing Express and Other 30-Minute Workouts

UNTIL recently, I was convinced that a worthwhile workout meant at least an hour. But my trainer challenged me to consider 20- to 30-minute programs that she promised would push me just as hard as our 60 minutes together. When these high-intensity sessions of jumping rope and other powerful movements became even more strenuous than my longer routines, I was a convert.

Gyms around New York City were onto this idea well before I was: several offer shorter classes for those who are pressed for time or who simply don’t want to spend their lives in the gym.

The Reebok Sports Club/NY on the West Side of Manhattan, for example, has a half-hour Kickboxing Express class that its creator, Emma Paynter, said would require more effort than the traditional hourlong one.

“Since the class is so short, the intensity is revved up a notch,” she said. Students perform moves without resting, like punching arms, kicking in different directions, squatting rapidly, running in place and doing jumping jacks.

Uma Muthu Vlahoplus, a 46-year-old screenwriter who lives on the Upper East Side, said that attending the class regularly had helped her maintain her prepregnancy figure.

“I work every body part,” she said. “And since it’s much easier for me to carve out 30 minutes out of my day than an hour, I don’t have an excuse not to go.”

At Crunch Fitness, the 30-minute classes include Ripped Rotation and Sexy Stretch. In Ripped Rotation, instructors lead students through endurance-testing core moves using a six-pound weight with a flat end, called a Smart Bell. To work their lower abdominals, participants lift their legs, bend their knees, balance the weight on their shins and extend their legs without dropping the weight.

The quick moves give Steve Batista, a 42-year-old dog walker from Washington Heights, the rush he seeks when he works out. “The class gets my heart rate up quickly, which is what I love about exercising,” he said.

Physique 57, the popular workout based on the ballet barre, has a 40-minute version of its hourlong class, called the Physique Express. It starts with push-ups, planks, triceps dips and biceps curls and progresses into moves that work other muscles.

Shorter sweat sessions aren’t offered only as classes. New York Sports Clubs locations also have XpressLine, a free program supervised by trainers in which members work through machines in 22 minutes or less to hit every muscle group.

Personal trainers are also willing to cut their standard hourly sessions in half to trim the price and be more flexible. My trainer, Annette Lang, based in Brooklyn, said she pushed her clients in 30-minute sessions by incorporating moves that work multiple body parts at once, like squat with biceps curls and overhead presses followed by squat jumps.

“Working out for a short time can be even harder than a longer session,” she said.

After finally trying it, I can attest to the rigors of a compressed routine and the joys of finishing a workout that much more quickly.