45 Minute Total Body Bodyweight Workout

You have your own, personal, portable gym built within your body.  You can get as good a workout just using your own body weight as going to the gym and using the machines or free weights.  This workout includes six exercises that require no equipment, or just a chair.  It should take about 45 minutes or less.

Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions of the following exercises.

1. Pushups (works the chest, arms, shoulder, triceps, back, and neck)

Click here for a video on how to do a proper pushup.  Depending on your fitness level, this might sound easy or hard.  The great thing is that your can adapt pushups to any fitness level.  For beginners, you can lean against a wall and push yourself away. Then you can work up to doing pushups off of a chair for support, or just from your knees. There are MANY advanced variations to pushups.  You can do the standard pushup, you can elevate your legs on a chair or ball.  You can vary your hand placement from wide to narrow.  Check out this site for more ideas.

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2. Plank (works all of your core muscle groups)

Click here for a video on how to do a plank.  There are many variations to the plank as well, but even a standard plank can be demanding for someone who is already fit.  To make it harder, simply hold the position longer.  A beginner can start at 15 seconds, more advanced can take it up to a minute or longer.

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3. Dips (works your arms/triceps)

Click here for a video on how to do a dip.  Here are some variations on the standard dip.

4. Squats (works your legs)

Squats are are a great lower-body exercise.  Click here for a video showing proper form for a body weight squat.  

5. Mountain Climbers (works your core, including abdominal, lower-back, and hip muscles)

Mountain climbers are a great core exercise, plus they work your heart and cardiovascular system as well.  They can be a bit challenging for a beginner, so watch this video on the form and do what you can.  

6. Burpees (works most body muscles)

Burpees are an intense fully body exercise, they burn calories fast. Plus, research shows that high intensity exercises like burpees burn up to 50% more fat than moderate exercising.  These will definitely be a challenge for beginners, to the point that you either shouldn't do them, or just start out extremely slow.  Advanced techniques you can incorporate pushups and jumps.  Click here for a video on how to do a burpee.

Here's a downloadable version of the workout:

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bodyweight_workout.pdf
File Size:	36 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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And here's a summary:

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You'll wonder why you need a gym membership after doing this workout!  If you like this and other posts on my blog, click on an ad or two, it brings in a little change to help keep it going.  Thanks!