Megan Roup Says Effective Workouts Can Take 20 Minutes

At 40, Megan Roup, founder of The Sculpt Society (TSS), approaches fitness differently than she did in her early 20s, when she spent hours on a treadmill focused on calorie burn. Her current schedule includes about 20 minutes of exercise on three days each week. She also leads a live class lasting roughly 30 minutes and holds a weekly session with a private client. Those clients have included Kate Hudson, Dakota Johnson, Karlie Kloss, Miranda Kerr, and Jasmine Tookes, though Roup uses the same TSS method with celebrities and subscribers.

Roup believes a sustainable routine begins with movement that feels enjoyable, welcoming, and realistic within everyday life. TSS combines dance cardio and pilates while remaining accessible to people without dance experience. Her emphasis is on continuing to move instead of performing every step perfectly. She also favors beginning with a manageable amount and increasing it gradually. Short sessions, alongside two weekly rest days, help her maintain consistency without making exercise feel overwhelming.

For shorter workouts to produce progress, Roup emphasizes purposeful programming that challenges muscles and includes periods of moderate- or vigorous-intensity cardio. Whether she has 10 minutes or more than 30, she prefers training several areas of the body. Her usual mix raises her heart rate, includes functional movements such as squats and lunges, and adds mobility, glute, deep-core, muscular-strength, and endurance work. Examples in her compact circuit include jacks, a slider movement, fire hydrants, deep-core work using a ball, and triceps kickbacks. The full circuit can be completed as many as three times, with rest when needed.