Here is the truth about fitness that nobody selling you a programme wants to say: the best workout is the one you actually do.
Not the 90-minute gym session you planned on Sunday night and abandoned by Tuesday. Not the class you bookmarked and never booked. The one you do — in your bedroom, in your living room, in whatever ten minutes you carved out between the morning and everything else.
Kaleigh Cohen is a personal trainer whose YouTube channel has built an audience of hundreds of thousands of women on exactly this premise. Her workouts are clear, efficient, and mercifully free of the performance that makes so much fitness content exhausting to watch. She talks to you like a friend who happens to know what she’s doing. And she keeps it to ten minutes.
We picked three of her 10-minute sessions — one for your abs, one for your glutes, one for your arms and shoulders. Together, they cover your full body. Do one today. Do a different one tomorrow. Stack all three on a Saturday if you’re feeling ambitious. The point is: you start.
Workout 01 — Core
The Best Abs Exercises in 10 Minutes
No equipment. Floor work. Your core will know.
The one to start with if you haven’t worked out in a while. It’s ten minutes on the floor — no jumping, no equipment, no reason not to. You’ll feel it the next morning, which is how you’ll know it worked.
Ten minutes. That’s the length of a coffee break, half a commute, one episode of nothing on your phone. Trade it.
Workout 02 — Lower Body
10-Minute Glute Builder
Knee-friendly. All levels welcome.
This one is specifically designed to be knee-friendly, which makes it a good entry point if impact has been holding you back. Kaleigh focuses on targeted glute activation without the strain. Grab a set of dumbbells if you have them; bodyweight works too.
Workout 03 — Upper Body
Arms & Shoulders Finisher
10 minutes. Add it to anything — or let it stand alone.
Designed as a finisher you can add onto any workout, but it’s more than enough on its own. Ten minutes of focused arms and shoulders work. The kind of thing you do twice a week and then notice in the mirror a month later.
About the Trainer
Kaleigh Cohen is a personal trainer, cycling instructor, and the creator behind one of YouTube’s most-followed free workout channels. Her strength training library spans everything from 10-minute targeted sessions to full 45-minute programmes — all filmed at home, all free, all without the noise. Find her full library on YouTube and at kaleighcohen.com.
