Working out isn’t enough on its own to make weight loss happen. If you want to lose weight—adopting healthy eating habits has got to be step one. To get technical, you need to create a calorie deficit, which means using more calories in a day than you consume—and the consumption part plays a much bigger role in that than burning calories in the gym.
Abandon the gym and build up strength the easy way by harnessing your bodyweight! In just 15 to 20 minutes you can accomplish a great deal of work to stimulate fat loss and muscle growth – especially as a beginner to training.
Many people struggle to fit fitness into their daily routine. Below is an example of a bodyweight-based workout that you can squeeze in anywhere. Do each exercise for the desired amount of reps, quickly moving from one to the next. When you get to the end, take a 30- to 60-second break and then repeat, cycling through the routine a total of two or three times.
Blast-Off Push-Up:
How to:
- Start in a tabletop position with knees hovering above the floor.
- Quickly shift forward into plank position and do a push-up.
- Immediately shift from plank back to starting position.
Sprinter Sit-Up:
How to:
- Lie face-up on the floor with knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and hands behind head with elbows pointed out to the sides.
- Crunch up to lift shoulder blades off the floor while also lifting the right foot off the floor, drawing the left elbow to the right knee.
- Return to the starting position, then repeat on the opposite side.
- That’s 1 rep.
- Continue alternating.
Single-Leg Deadlift:
How to:
- Stand with feet together.
- Hinge forward at the hips while lifting the left leg straight backward, keeping hips square.
- Pause when the torso and left leg are parallel to the ground, then return to the starting position.
- Do 5 reps.
- Switch sides; repeat.
How to:
- Stand with feet hip-width apart.
- Swing arms back then jump as far as possible, landing softly on both feet with knees bent.
- Quickly do two short hops before performing another long jump.
Plank-Ups:
How to:
- Start in a high plank position with hands directly under shoulders.
- Lower onto the right forearm, then the left forearm, coming into a low plank while keeping hips as stable as possible.
- Press right palm into the floor then left palm into the floor to press back up to high plank.
- Repeat, alternating which arm starts.
Pendulum Lunges:
How to:
- Stand with feet hip-width apart and hands-on-hips.
- Take a big step forward with your right foot, lowering into a lunge until both knees form 90-degree angles.
- Press off right foot and immediately take a big step back, lowering into a reverse lunge until both knees form 90-degree angles.
- Immediately push off right foot and step into a forward lunge again and begin the next rep without pausing in the centre.
- Do 5 reps.
- Switch sides; repeat.
Burpee:
How to:
- Crouch down to place palms flat on the floor, shoulder-width apart.
- Jump feet back to a high plank position and immediately lower chest to the floor.
- Press chest away from the floor to return to high plank, then immediately jump feet up to hands.
- Stand and explosively jump with hands overhead.
- Land and immediately crouch down to begin the next rep.
