How to use AMRAP workouts to test your fitness and get stronger with limited equipment, according to a trainer

• An AMRAP workout format means "as many rounds (or reps) as possible" in a set time period.
• It's a great tool for building strength and stamina and testing your progress, according to a coach.

The term AMRAP stands for "as many rounds (or reps) as possible."

To do them, set a timer and complete as much of a particular exercise (or combination thereof) as you can manage before the clock runs out. A sample AMRAP in its simplest form is doing burpees for two minutes straight, as quickly as possible.

Dominick Fortino, a trainer and owner of Dutch Kills Fitness, told Insider that AMRAPs can help build strength and endurance by teaching you to move efficiently under stress to become a better (and smarter) athlete.

"It's a really good training tool because you can create so much variety," he told Insider. "It's hard to find examples of where this wouldn't benefit somebody."

AMRAPs can work for all fitness levels, but get intense quickly, so pick simple movements with good form and pace yourself to maximize benefits.

AMRAPs are a great way to measure fitness progress

One benefit of an AMRAP workout is that it makes it easy to track your improvements over time, Fortino said. For instance, if you complete five rounds in your first AMRAP attempt, you might be able to do seven rounds of the same AMRAP after a month of training. It's immediate, highly-motivating feedback that your fitness has improved.

Similarly, it allows you to keep challenging yourself with limited time and equipment.

"It's designed to train athletes to keep moving for the entire time period," Fortino said.

They can help you build strength and endurance

It's a misconception that AMRAPs' high-intensity style is ineffective for strength training, or that it requires exercising to muscle failure. The workouts can help you understand workout pacing and what your body is capable of, according to Fortino.

"It's about teaching you to move well under duress, because we don't always have the opportunity to come in fresh and rested," he said.

While resting between exercises is also beneficial, particularly for heavy lifting, adding AMRAPs can help develop stamina and durability that translates to all kinds of athleticism.

How to incorporate AMRAPs into your fitness routine

Examples of popular AMRAPs include:

• Couplets or triplets: two or three exercises in sequence. One of Fortino's favorites: five back squats, 15 kettlebell swings, and a rope climb (substitute pull-ups), repeated for 20 minutes.
• "Cindy": a classic CrossFit benchmark, perform five pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 bodyweight squats repeatedly for 20 minutes.
• Single exercises: A benchmark example is five minutes of nonstop burpees (a good score would be 100 reps).

Other good exercises for AMRAPs include overhead presses, box jumps, sit-ups, medicine ball tosses, and running, rowing, or biking for set distances (or calories). Unless you're a pro, avoid gymnastics or Olympic weightlifting, since you risk shoddy technique.

"The better the athlete, the more dynamic and higher skill movements you can sprinkle in," Fortino said.

To tackle AMRAPs as a beginner, take it slow

For beginner AMRAP attempts, aim to move at a pace that feels almost too slow at the beginning of the workout, Fortino said. It's deceptively easy to overestimate the speed required and to exhaust yourself quickly.

"Be realistic about what you can do. You can always pick it up but it's hard to recover if you've gone too quickly," he said.

Moving continuously without rest can overwhelm even experienced athletes, so don't assume you can handle the same weight you'd lift in a typical set.

For total beginners who struggle with pacing, consider adding set time periods of work and rest with a different workout format such as an EMOM (completing a set or exercise "every minute on the minute") and build up.