How to stay in shape on your mission (no gym, no equipment)

By Kristin Wise, certified personal trainer & missionary mom · Updated June 2026

You have about 30 minutes a day, a small apartment, and no equipment. That is genuinely enough to stay strong, energized, and healthy for your entire mission — if you have a plan. Here's how to build one.

Most missionaries leave with good intentions and a vague idea that they'll “work out in the mornings.” Two weeks in, the routine collapses: they don't know what to do, the apartment is cramped, and the time slips away. The problem is almost never motivation. It's the lack of a simple, repeatable plan that fits the constraints of mission life.

Work with the 30 minutes you have

The daily missionary schedule sets aside time for physical exercise — typically around 30 minutes in the morning. That is short, but short is fine. Research on exercise consistently shows that brief, focused training done regularly beats long workouts done occasionally. Thirty minutes of bodyweight strength work, four to six days a week, will keep you fit.

The key is to remove every decision from the morning. When you already know exactly what today's workout is, you start moving instead of standing in the kitchen wondering what to do. That single change — a plan you don't have to think about — is what separates missionaries who stay fit from those who don't.

You don't need equipment

Your body is the gym. Bodyweight training builds real strength, and you can scale every movement up or down to match your level:

• Push: push-ups (incline against a counter if you're new, feet-elevated if you're advanced), pike push-ups, dips off a sturdy chair.
• Legs: squats, reverse lunges, split squats, glute bridges, wall sits, calf raises.
• Pull: the hardest to replicate without a bar — use a sturdy table for inverted rows, or a backpack loaded with books for rows and curls.
• Core: planks, dead bugs, mountain climbers, hollow holds.

For a full movement-by-movement breakdown, see the 12 best bodyweight exercises for missionaries.

Train in a small space

A 6-by-6-foot patch of floor is enough for almost everything. Most bodyweight movements happen in place. If your apartment is tight, build your session around exercises that don't travel: squats, push-ups, planks, glute bridges, and mountain climbers can be done beside your bed without moving a thing.

Structure a week that actually works

Don't train the same muscles to exhaustion every day. A simple, balanced split keeps you progressing and prevents burnout:

• Day 1 & 4: Lower body + core
• Day 2 & 5: Upper body (push + pull) + core
• Day 3 & 6: Full-body circuit or a brisk walk/conditioning
• Day 7: Rest and recover

Each session: 5 minutes to warm up, 20 minutes of work, 5 minutes to stretch. That's your 30.

Make it last the whole mission

The missionaries who stay fit for two years share three habits:

1. Same time every day. Tie your workout to a fixed anchor in the schedule so it becomes automatic, not optional.
2. A plan they don't have to invent. Deciding what to do is the hardest part. Outsource it.
3. Progression. Doing the same 20 push-ups for two years gets boring and stops working. Add reps, slow the tempo, or move to harder variations.

Want to try it first? The free 7-Day Plank & Pray Challenge sends one short workout a day for a week — a no-cost way to see how the program feels before your missionary leaves.