Skip the Gym – 10 Amazing Exercises for a Full-body Workout
We don’t need a gym membership to be healthy. You can do many full-body exercises and workouts from the comfort of your home to get in shape. Skip the gym with this routine that’s sure to get you toned and fit.
This routine can be improved by adding a short 5-minute warm-up and cool-down to it. Working out at home can be as easy as doing body weight exercises and making them easier or harder. This way you are training for strength and ability. By using your body weight, you can increase mobility, flexibility, balance, and range of movement while gaining strength.
Why Use Bodyweight Workouts?
Bodyweight workouts are accessible as you need little to no equipment to get started. They tend to train the body to do more instead of training for a certain look. This means they increase stability, flexibility, and mobility. Full-body workouts engage the entire body as well, making it easy to tone up everything at once.
10 Exercises for a Full-Body Workout
Here are the 10 moves needed for a full-body workout! In theory, you want to do 10-15 repetitions of the exercise and 2-3 sets of each.
1. Single Leg Squats
Squats work out the muscles of the legs, but doing them on one leg can increase intensity greatly. Stand with your arms in front of your body, raise one leg off the ground, then start to lower into a squat. Go as deep as you can before rising.
Make with easier by either assisting yourself with your arms on the way up and down or by using a chair.
2. Diamond Hand Push-ups
This is a variation of a push-up that works the muscles of the shoulders and arms more than the chest. They are a great way to target the triceps. Get into a high plank position, with your legs extended, and arms below your shoulders. Next, move your hands toward each other until you make a diamond shape.
From here, do a push-up. You should feel it in the triceps more than any other muscle.
3. Full-body Dips
Another great workout to target the arms, core, and even thighs. For this exercise, you may need a chair, bench, or any other surface you can comfortably reach the ground. Sit on the surface, extending your legs out in front of you. Then, move your body off the surface, supporting yourself with your arms.
Bend your arms to a 90-degree angle, lowering and raising.
4. Sit-ups
Sit-ups work the entire core. Lie on the ground with your knees bent to the ceiling. Place your hands behind your head and engage the core as you raise the upper body towards the knees. Lower back down and repeat.
Make the workout harder by raising the legs so that the feet do not touch the ground. This will engage the lower abs more.
5. Pull-ups
Pull-ups work out the muscle of the shoulders arms and back. Hang from a bar and raise your body so that your chin is level with the bar. Lower down and repeat. Here is the full guide to training to do a pull-up
6. Burpees
Burpees use a lot of energy by engaging the entire body in movement. From a standing position, squat down. Next, kick the legs out to make yourself into a plank. Lower the body to the ground, then raise it back into a plank. Jump into a squat, then move up towards the ceiling, jumping so that your feet leave the ground.
7. Single-leg Glute Bridge
This works out the glute muscles while also engaging the core and thighs. Lie on your back with your knees bent. Raise one leg, the lower up and down. Repeat on the other side. To make it more challenging, raise the lifted leg towards the ceiling.
8. Plank
A plank is a simple yet effective position that can work the entire body. It can be done from the elbows (low plank) or the hands (high plank). Get on all fours, with your knees below your hips, and arms below your shoulders. Extend the legs out. This is a high plank, which works the triceps and upper body. Lower onto the elbows for a low plank position, which works out the core more.
9. Inverted Plank Knee Ups
Inverted plank knee-ups work the core, arms, and legs for an intense exercise pose. Sit on the ground, knees bent, arms to the ground. Extend your legs completely, supporting yourself with your arms. Next, bend one knee towards you, then the other.
10. Bear Crawl
This one is just like it sounds; ridiculous and effective. It is crawling around on all fours. Why does it work so well? A bear crawl teaches the muscles of the body to move as one unit. Your core muscles stabilize you, your shoulders and arms work to keep you lifted, and your legs burn from moving you.
Warm-Up
A warm-up is anything that gets the blood pumping. Imagine your muscles like string cheese. If they are cold and are pulled, they break. If the muscles are warmed up a bit and are pulled, they stretch.
Warming up can be something like a light run, jumping jacks, high knees, or jump rope. Do a type of movement that warms you up, literally. You should feel a bit hot but not uncomfortable after a warm-up.
Cool-Down
A cool-down can help your body recover and return to homeostasis. Suddenly stopping an exercise routine may cause lightheadedness, nausea, and other negative conditions due to the sudden change in blood pressure and heart rate. Cooling down provides a transition period that can help you come out of a workout feeling stronger than ever. It can also help reduce muscle pain from fatigue.
To do a cool down, start with a brisk walk, making sure you are breathing deeply. Let your heart rate drop, then work on some stretches. Here are some good options for balance, stability, and overall fitness. Remember to breathe with each stretch.
Workout Tips During a Full-body Routine
Here are some tips to help you get the most out of an exercise.
- Engage the core – engage the core by tightening the ab muscles. This will help protect the lower back from injury as you move.
- Add weights – adding weights can increase the difficulty of any movement. Equipment is not necessary, just grab something heavy around the house.
- Increase intensity – if a workout feels too easy, change it up! Make a push-up harder by using a different hand position, using one hand, or getting some weight on your back.
- Do what feels good – find an exercise you like doing to avoid working out.
- Push yourself – get comfortable reaching failure, as in the point of a workout where you cannot do another repetition. This is more common in weight lifting but can also be obtained in bodyweight workouts. Don’t push yourself to failure each time, but try it out.
Workout Tips for After a Full-body Routine
Here are some tips to help you recover, repair, and safely end a workout.
- Hydrate properly – make sure you are hydrating properly to avoid muscle cramps and fatigue. Water is needed in many chemical reactions in the body during exercise and is vital in recovery.
- Remember to rest – rest days are just as important as workout days. Your muscles need up to 48 hrs to repair, depending on how hard you worked out.
- Pre-workout fuel – try eating carbs before a workout instead of healthy fats. Fats take longer to digest while carbs are readily available to use as fuel. Try carb cycling today.
- Recovery meals – take note of what you eat after a workout and in the days following. Make sure you are eating enough protein, carbs, and fat to help your body repair.
- Change it up – you don’t have to do weighted workouts every day. Change it up by doing yoga, going for a run, trying HIIT cardio, or anything else.
The Takeaway
Not everyone likes exercising at the gym. I had to trick my brain into enjoying workouts. With these 10 exercises, you can skip the gym and invest in yourself instead.
Remember that health comes from within! Eat nutritious food, work out in a way that feels good, listen to your body, and watch how wellness and fitness flourish!
Always mind the microbiota gut health in mind too! A balanced gut can help improve your ability to work out, gain muscle, increase mental health, boost metabolism, improve digestion, and even clear the skin.
