This workout is great for when you want to workout at home, have very little equipment and want to work the whole body!
It hits the main muscle groups and gets you moving keeping your muscles and joints nice and strong for everyday life.
All you need is some space and maybe an exercise mat.
The exercises
Squats with low double contraction
Stand with the feet just over hip-width apart, bend at both the hips and the knees. Draw the hips back as if going to sit on a little stool behind you while keeping the core engaged. The start to come back up to standing, however, once you have come up a little of the way, return to the bottom of the squat- like a pulse at the bottom of the movement (low double contraction if your nerdy or technical) then you can come all the way back up t0 standing squeezing those glutes all the way up to neutral.
North/South Lunges
Step one foot straight forward, keeping your torso straight with your shoulders relaxed and core engaged. Lower your hips until your knees are roughly at 90 degree angles, not letting your back knee hit the floor. The instead of simply stepping the foot back to the beginning you are going to take the same foot straight back into a reverse lunge. Complete all the repetitions on one side before performing on the other side.
Walkouts
Start standing, bend at the hips (and knees if you need to, depending on your flexibility) until your hands reach the floor. Walk the hands forward until you are in a full plank position, then walk yourself back to standing- and repeat.
Press Ups
Start in a high plank position (hands on the floor, underneath the shoulders, with the arms straight. You can either be on your feet or on your knees depending on your fitness level) from here, bend the elbows and lower your chest towards the surface, keeping it nice and controlled, then breath out and push yourself back up to the starting position.
Bicycle Kicks
Lie on your back and take your hand up to your temples. Bring both knees in towards your chest. Extend one leg along the floor while bending the other leg and bring it in to meet the opposite elbow. Then swap the legs over. Focus on contracting the core muscles and getting a good twist in the torso, its going to burn!
Plank
Place forearms on the floor with elbows underneath and in line with your shoulders, trying to achieve straight line with your body from your heels to the crown of your head. You want to try and squeeze all your muscles, especially focusing on your core by keeping your hips in line (not allowing them to sink or rise). Shaking is okay- just be sure to breathe throughout! This can also be done on the hands rather than the forearms.
Burpees
From standing jump up into the air, as you land, bend your knees and place your hands on the floor. Then jump your feet backwards into a plank position. (Here if you want to take it up a level you can either perform a press up or drop your body to the floor and have to push yourself up before the next step) Then jump your feet back in towards your hands and jump up to start the next repetition.
Perform these exercises as a circuit, so go through all the exercises before starting again. You are going to perform each exercise for 40 seconds, followed by a 20 second rest before moving on to the next exercise. Do this for 4 rounds with a minute between each round.
Enjoy!
