Be Well Workout of the Week: Carve Your Muscles With Zero Equipment


All you need to tackle this full-body workout is, well, your body. That’s right: You’ll get a full-body workout with only bodyweight exercises. To make this workout even more muscle-burning than it already is, move through the rounds as fast as you can to challenge your cardio and endurance. You will have two sets of exercises to work through: for the first set, complete 20 reps of each exercise, then 18 reps, then 16, 14, 12, and 10 reps of each exercise before moving on to repeat that process for the second set of exercises. Got it? Good luck!

Be Well Workout of the Week: Carve Your Muscles With Zero Equipment

Set 1
Reps: 20-18-16-14-12-10
Squats
Push-ups
Lunge jumps (single count)
Sit-ups
Mountain climbers
Skiers (single count)

Set 2
Reps: 20-18-16-14-12-10
Single-leg floor tap with hop, left side
Single-leg floor tap with hop, right side
Up-down planks (single count)
Bicycle crunches
Plié squat jumps
Plié squat pulses (stay in plié squat and pulse down to floor)

Explanation of exercises:
Click links for how-to videos. 

Squat: Stand with your feet just a bit wider than shoulder widt and your toes slightly turned outward. Keeping your weight in your heels, bending at the knees and lower until your quads are parallel to the floor. Keep your back as upright as possible. Straighten legs and come back to the starting position.

Push-up: Start lying face down with your chest on the floor, with hands facing forward and palms down in line with your shoulders; elbows should be pointing back. Push up until arms are extended (the inside of the elbow should be facing forward) and drop back down.

Lunge jumps: Start standing with feet together and step forward with the left leg into a lunge, bending knee to about 90 degrees. Jump as you stand back up and switch legs before you land, so your right leg is forward. Lunge again, then jump, putting your left leg forward, and so forth. Left and right counts as one.

Sit-up: Lie on your back with feet on the floor and knees bent. Put your hands behind your ears. Without pulling on your neck and using only your abs, lift your shoulders off the mat and come to a full sit-up position. Lie back down slowly.

Mountain climbers: Get in plank position. Alternating legs, bring your knee into the chest, keeping your upper body strong. Extend leg and switch.

Skiers: Stand in a split stance, with right foot about a foot in front of the left. Jump in place and switch legs so your left foot is in the front. Repeat the motion, pumping your arms in rhythm: left arm forward when left foot is forward, right arm forward when right foot is forward. Left and right counts as one rep.

Single-leg floor tap with hop: Standing on just your left leg, bend your left knee, reaching down toward the ground and reaching your right leg back behind you, keeping it lifted. Tap the floor with your right hand, then drive back up to standing, keeping your right leg lifted, and hop off your left foot. Repeat.

Up-down planks: Start in a plank position on your elbows. Plant your right palm into the group and rise into a high-plank position on both sides. Return back to a low plank, then repeat, planting your left palm into the ground to rise up.

Bicycle crunch: Lie on your back in sit-up position: feet on floor, knees bent, hands behind the head to support the neck. Lift your feet off the floor, extend your left leg to straighten, and twist your torso as you touch your left elbow to right knee. Draw the left leg in as you push the right leg out, and twist the other direction, touching your right elbow to left knee. Repeat by alternating sides in a fluid motion.

Plié squat jumps: Standing with feet a little further than hip width apart, turn your feet out and do a squat. Instead of standing to return to the starting position, spring upward with your feet, jumping in the air. Land in the starting position and repeat.

Plie squat pulses: Standing with feet a little further than hip-width apart, turn your feet out slightly so you’re in a pile position and squat down. Hold and pulse down toward the ground, never standing all the way back up.

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Audrey McKenna Hasse is the owner of A.M.Fit, a personal training and healthy consultation business on the Main Line. You’ll find her workouts every Monday right here on Be Well Philly.

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