EMOM Workouts: How to Use Every-Minute Training for Strength
An EMOM workout - every minute on the minute - means starting a set at the top of each minute and resting for whatever is left of it. Used for strength, the trick is to keep the reps low and the load moderate, so the last set looks like the first. Done that way, an EMOM lets you pile up a lot of good-quality work in a fixed, predictable block of time. Done the other way, with high reps and a racing heart, it becomes conditioning dressed up as strength training. Both have a place, but they are not the same session.
Here is how I set them up for clients who want to get stronger without spending 90 minutes in a gym.
How does an EMOM actually work?
You start a clock. At 0:00 you do your prescribed reps, say three back squats. If they take 15 seconds, you rest for 45. At 1:00 you go again, and you repeat for the agreed number of minutes. The total work is fixed in advance - ten minutes of three reps is 30 reps - and the clock decides your rest for you.
That last part is the real value. Most people who train alone rest far longer than they think between heavy sets, and the session quietly expands to fill the evening. An EMOM removes the negotiation. It also gives you an honest read on fatigue: if the reps that took 12 seconds in minute two take 25 seconds in minute nine, you are slowing down, and that tells you something useful about the load.
Why EMOMs suit strength work
Strength responds to practising heavy-ish lifts with good technique, many times. The classic way to do that is a few sets of five with long rests. An EMOM spreads similar volume across more, smaller sets. Ten sets of three gives you 30 reps, the same as six sets of five, but each set ends well short of failure, so bar speed and positions stay sharper.
- More first reps. The first rep of a set is usually your best one. Ten sets means ten first reps.
- Technique under mild fatigue. Rest is shorter than in a traditional strength session, so you learn to brace and set up well when slightly tired, without it falling apart.
- Time certainty. A twelve-minute EMOM takes twelve minutes. For anyone fitting training around a commute and a job, that matters more than any clever programming.
If you want the principle behind keeping sets short of failure, our guide to reps in reserve and RPE explains how to judge effort without grinding every rep.
Choosing the load, reps and length
This is where most EMOMs go wrong. A sensible starting framework:
| Goal | Reps per minute | Load guide | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy strength practice | 1-3 | A weight you could lift about 5-6 times when fresh | 8-12 minutes |
| General strength | 3-5 | A weight you could lift about 8-10 times when fresh | 10-15 minutes |
| Technique practice | 2-5 | Light and fully controlled | 6-10 minutes |
| Conditioning | 8-15, or a calorie target | Light or bodyweight | 10-20 minutes |
The rule I use: each set should take no more than about 20 to 25 seconds, so you always get at least 35 seconds of rest. If a set creeps past 30 seconds, the load or reps are too high for an EMOM and you are now doing something closer to a circuit.
Start more conservatively than feels necessary. A weight that seems easy in minute one feels very different in minute ten. You can add a little next week; that is ordinary progressive overload, just measured in sets of three rather than sets of eight.
Which exercises work, and which do not
The lifts that suit EMOMs are ones you can set up quickly and that do not need a long reset between sets: front or back squats from a rack, deadlifts from the floor, overhead press, dumbbell bench press, chin-ups, cable or seated rows. In our basement studio for private personal training in Highgate, that usually means the squat rack and barbell for the main lift, the dumbbell rack for presses, and the cable station or lat pulldown for pulling.
The lifts that suit EMOMs badly: anything with a fiddly or risky setup (a heavy barbell bench press with nobody spotting), anything where a missed rep is dangerous, and very heavy singles near your maximum, which need more than a minute of recovery to repeat safely. Heavy deadlifts for a couple of reps are fine. A true maximum every minute is not training, it is attrition.
Three sessions you can use
1. The single-lift strength block (12 minutes)
Back squat, 3 reps every minute for 10 minutes, at a weight you could manage about six times fresh. Two easy minutes on the air bike afterwards. Next week, either keep the load and add one rep to the first five minutes, or keep the reps and add a small amount of weight. Not both.
2. The alternating EMOM (16 minutes)
Odd minutes: 4 overhead presses. Even minutes: 5 chin-ups, or 8 lat pulldowns if chin-ups are not there yet. Alternating a push with a pull means each muscle group gets close to two minutes between its own sets, so you can work a little harder on each one.
3. The finisher (8 minutes)
Odd minutes: 8 calories on the air bike. Even minutes: 10 goblet squats holding a dumbbell. This one is conditioning, not strength. It belongs at the end of a session, never in place of one.
Warm up properly before any of these. Five minutes of easy movement and two or three lighter ramp-up sets of the main lift are enough. The EMOM itself is not the warm-up.
The mistakes I see most
- Racing the clock rather than lifting well. If you rush reps to “earn” rest, the technique pays for it.
- Too many reps. Eight heavy squats a minute for ten minutes is not a strength session. It is a very hard way to get out of breath.
- No plan for a missed minute. Decide beforehand: if you miss the target reps, either drop the load by roughly ten per cent or end the block. Do not keep going and hope.
- Using them every session. EMOMs are one tool. One or two blocks a week alongside conventional sets is plenty for most people.
- Ignoring the slowdown. Set times creeping up is information. Write them down and use them next week.
How EMOMs fit into a full week
For a busy professional training two or three times a week, a sensible arrangement is one EMOM block on the main lift of the day, followed by two or three accessory exercises in normal sets. That keeps the session comfortably under an hour while giving you a clear, repeatable measure of progress. The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week alongside regular aerobic activity, and the NHS summary of those guidelines is a sensible baseline. EMOMs are simply an efficient way to cover the strength side.
If time is your constant problem, compare this approach with supersets, which save time in a different way, and choose whichever suits the lift in front of you. If you would rather have the minutes, loads and progressions worked out for you, that is exactly what 1-1 sessions with me at The Highgate House are for; prices are on the personal training page.
A short safety note: if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure, are pregnant, are carrying an injury, or are coming back after a long break, check with your GP first. The fixed rest makes EMOMs feel harder than ordinary sets, and heart rate climbs more than people expect.
Questions we get asked
Is an EMOM good for building muscle?
It can be, if total volume is high enough and the later sets get reasonably close to failure. For muscle gain on its own, conventional sets of roughly 6 to 12 reps with adequate rest are usually simpler to manage.
What if I finish my reps in ten seconds?
Then the load is on the light side for strength. Add a small amount of weight or one rep next time, keeping each set under about 25 seconds.
Can I do EMOMs at home?
Yes, with whatever you have. Squats, press-ups and split squats all work, though without load they lean towards conditioning rather than strength.
Should a beginner use them?
Light technique EMOMs are excellent for beginners because they give plenty of practice reps. Heavy strength EMOMs make more sense once your form on the lift is reliable.
Book with The Highgate House
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