There are so many places to start when you want to workout at home and it can be a bit over whelming. I wanted to do a simple round up article that would list out body weight workouts that you can do at home. My goal was to make sure you could do this with minimal equipment and that the workouts were for women and men. Lastly,
I wanted them to be something that a beginner could stat working out with along with it be short and to the point so you can easily fit the workout into your daily schedule. What that said, let's get started.
Exercises For A Flat Stomach - No Equipment Needed!
One of the best ways to get a flat stomach is to work on your inner stomach and back muscles that pull in your stomach and make it flat. You want to always focus on the transversus abdominis which is the muscle layer behind the rectus adominis or your 6 pack muscles that everyone loves to see. 🙂 The other muscle that is key to a flat stomach and a strong back is called the Multifidus which runs down the back of your spine. When they are strengthen the Multifidus pulls the transversus inward creating support for your lower back and creating that flat look.
In this workout you will do basic bird dog exercises, planks simmers, alternating supermans and leg push ups. These are absolutely perfect to do 1-3 times a day and the whole routine shouldn't take you more than 10-15 minutes to do.
The 3 minute Arm Workout
I can't explain why, but women tend to have weaker upper body strength than men and have trouble strengthening that area with traditional weight lifting exercises because they were all meant to be done with weights that most can not lift. So, I want to talk about this very simple 3 minute workout that will increase your upper body strength with various body weight exercises that you can do at home.
The goal here is to rotate each exercise every 30 seconds back to back as a circuit that will take 3 minutes to complete. The exercises include will target your triceps with push-ups and floor dips. You will target your shoulders with arm circles and overhead presses and lastly you will work your biceps with with regular tension from your own arms doing a curl.
It's a great beginner workout to start working on your upper body and to ease into it without getting really sore. I also like recommending this workout because it's something you can do in the privacy of your own home and not be embarrassed about doing it.
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Full Body Workout For Beginners
We are going old school with this workout and keep it real and simple. You will be doing a sequence of exercises that you probably remember doing as a kid but are still effective today. I would consider this a great warm up if it is just done with one round of exercises before a regular workout say like the 21 day fix workout. If you do this 3-4 times it will be a nice simple routine you can do before work or at lunch. It won't take much time at all and you will hit most of the major muscles. It's not the most complete but it's simple and to the point.
Check and Back Routine For Women
I'm a big fan of this one because it targets your upper body and back which many women will love the tone look when they start to see results 3-4 weeks into completing the workout. I know I have been focusing on bodyweight workouts, but I do break the rule on this one with adding in some light dumbbells. Everything else is still using your body's natural resistance. I suppose you could so any object that was 1-3lbs for some of these exercises if you don't have any dumbbells. It will accomplish the same thing.
So, this will take around 15 - 20 minutes to complete is what I would estimate. Each exercise will be done 3 times for a certain length of time. I would suggest two ways of doing this. First option is to go through each exercise and complete all 3 sets with a 30-60 second interval in between each set. IE.. So the first exercise is the side shuffle that you do for 60 seconds. That completes one set. I would rest for 30-60 seconds to get my breath and then complete the 2nd set. Rest for 30-60 seconds and complete the 3rd set.
I would repeat that for each of the exercises and do them in order as you go down the list.
The 2nd option would be to do 1 set of each exercise and do them in sequential order. Once you complete all 10 exercises you would be done with your first circuit. Take a 1-2 minute rest and then do it for the 2nd round. Rest again after completing all 10 exercises again and then complete the 3rd training circuit. This will be a great workout for strength and cardio all at the same time. This would be similar to what you would see in a P90x3 workout for example.
Do what makes sense for you and I know you will enjoy this one!
Quick Movement Exercise Circuit
Ah this is a workout after my own heart just fits my personality. It's fun, active, works on the inner core and gets you involved in cardio along with strength straining. On top of that, I can complete this routine in no time at all and walk away feeling good about getting a nice bodyweight cardio workout in that works everything.
The main focus is your inner connector muscles and core. You will work your upper body some and your legs. The gist of this body weight workout is to start out with 10 reps of each exercise and just go down the list of exercises in sequence. Take a break and then do 9 reps of each exercise. Take a break. Then do 8 reps of each and repeat. It's a basic exercise pyramid where you work on muscular endurance while also building strength and toning muscle. It's definitely a fun little routine to mix in a couple times a week.
Great Bodyweight Butt Workout!
Ok which women does not what to have a tone good looking butt? ......Well you are in luck because this butt workout is going to do the trick and you can do this all on a yoga mat at home. Some of the exercises recommend have a lot of reps in them. I would be cautious about doing all of them to start out with if you have not done strength training for a while. You will be sore if you over do it, so take it easy at first. The main focus here is to work on your gluteus, quads and hamstrings. Follow each exercise and do a complete training circuit with it. Once you are done take a break, then repeat for a total of 3 times. I would do this 3-4 times a week.
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Intense Bodyweight Cardio Workout
I left the hardest for last. This won't be easy and it's going to be a cardio blast. For some of you who now about Insantity Max:30 workout from beachbody this will look really similar and you will smile as you look at the exercises in the list. These exercises are all plyometic in nature working your big muscles and working your heart rate. Look at the sequence of exercises and get them in your head or write them on paper so you can follow them and just get after it. Repeat as many times as you can take it.
It is a type of workout that I would only do 2-3 times a week to replace my cardio workouts. You still need to do one of the bodyweight strength workouts I listed above the other days of the week.
Bodyweight Workout Summary
Well hopefully have given you some bodyweight workout ideas you can do at home no matter what your level of fitness is. All of these can be completed in a reasonable amount of time and are great for busy people who do not have a lot of time to workout. So, pick one out and just give it a try. I have several at home workout programs you can also look at that will give you 1 on 1 instruction through video that you follow along at home. You can find these here on my home page or read my review on beachbody workouts.