Here's the situation: You were caught up at work, and then had to drop off your dry cleaning, pick-up junior from baseball practice, make him dinner, bring him to his friend's house before their favorite TV show starts, and now you're finally on your way to the gym ... and it closes in a half an hour.

You rush in, and the gym employee is quick to tell you that they are closing soon, clearly hoping that you'll turn around and leave. But you don't. You change into your workout clothes, but -- oh wait -- you forgot your iPod in the car. Shoot. So, you run back out to your car to get it, only to then realize that you left your keys in the gym. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Back into the gym you go, grab your keys, and then it's outside to your car and grab your iPod (which turns out to be out of battery anyway -- son of a ... !!!). Then, you race back inside the gym, throw your keys in your locker, slam it shut, and then finally make your way over to the machines. Just as your about to step foot on a treadmill, one of the employees gets on the P.A. and announces: "Attention members, the time is now 9:45pm. The gym will be closing in 15 minutes." 15 freakin' minutes!!!

What do you do?

Your goal was to get in some cardio and some resistance training, but with only 15 minutes before the gym employees start giving you the evil eye, how can you pull that off? Easy. Perform a hardcore resistance circuit using just two exercises.

The first is the Front Squat to Shoulder Press. Start by holding a barbell in front of your shoulders. Bend at the hips and knees into a front squat position, pausing for a second when your thighs are parallel to the floor. Next, press up with your legs as you push the barbell over your head. Hold the weight in this position for a second and then lower it back in front of your shoulders to the starting position. Use a weight you can safely perform 15-20 repetitions with.

The second exercise is the Horizontal Pull-Up. Once you've finished with the previous exercise, place the barbell on a squat rack at about the height of your waist. Lie flat on the ground and grab the bar with a shoulder-width grip, so your body can remain straight and rigid from head to toe. Bend your elbows to pull your chin and chest up toward the bar, keeping your body straight throughout the movement. Finish the move by slowly lowering your body until you are hanging horizontally from the bar. Complete as many reps as you can until you reach technical failure.

Alternate back and forth between these two exercises, taking a 15- to 30-second break in between sets. This will ensure that you get the muscle-toning, fat-blasting workout you were hoping for, even if it only takes 15 minutes to finish. Once done, grab your belongings from your locker, wipe the sweat from your brow, and exit past the gym employee and give him or her a wink. How dare they doubt you.