FitnessU

Body weight exercises

Bodyweight Moves

Complete all the sets of one exercise before moving on to the next. Rest for 30 seconds to 1 minute between sets as well as between exercises.

Standard Pushup
Obtain a pushup-ready position. Arms are straight with hands below your shoulders. Legs are straight and hips are neutral, so that your backside forms a straight line. Bend your arms and bring your chest towards the ground. Once your chest comes within a few inches off the floor or your arms are bent at about 90 degrees, press with your arms to bring your body back to the starting position. Maintain a straight line with your backside throughout the movement. This exercise will challenge primarily the upper body, as well as stabilizer muscles. Perform 3 sets of 10-20 repetitions.

• Beginner Alternative: Incline Pushup: This time, place your hands on an inclined surface 1 to 3 feet off the floor. Using a stable bench or chair is optimal. Feet remain on the ground. Execute the same motion. Lower into the pushup until your chest is within inches of the inclined surface. Perform 3 sets of 5-15 repetitions.
• Advanced Alternative: Tempo Pushup: Keep both hands and feet on the ground like a standard pushup. Again, execute the same motion. However, slowly lower into the pushup so that it takes 4 seconds. Come up out of the pushup explosively within 1 second. Follow this 4 to 1 second tempo for each repetition. Perform 3 sets of 5-10 repetitions.

Ankle Touch
This exercise is similar to running in place, but with a new dynamic. Each time one foot comes off the ground, turn the knee of that leg slightly outward to bring the inside of the foot up toward the hip. Reach towards the ankle with the opposite-side hand. For example, when your right foot comes off the ground, bring it up towards your hip and reach towards the inside of the ankle with your left hand. Alternate legs and try to stay as upright as possible. Also, start slow! This is primarily an aerobic exercise, challenging your overall endurance. Perform 2 sets of 20-30 total touches.

Cross-Body Crunch
Lie flat on your back with one knee bent and the other leg crossed over top as if you’re crossing your legs while seated in a chair. Without pulling on your neck, bend your torso until your far elbow touches the knee of the leg that’s crossed. For example, your right elbow will touch your left knee and vice versa. This movement targets your abdominal and oblique muscles. Perform 2 sets of 15-20 repetitions on each side.

Lateral Lunge
Stand facing forward with a wider than normal stance. Make sure that both feet are pointed forward and flat on the ground throughout the movement—neither lifting the toes nor the heels. Hold your arms out in front of you. Simultaneously push your hips back and bend the knee of one leg, lowering your body in the direction of that leg. Press through the heel of the bent leg and return to the starting position. Maintain the wider than normal stance as you repeat the same movement, alternating between both legs. This tests primarily your glute and quadriceps strength. Perform 2 sets of 10-12 total repetitions; that is, 5-6 repetitions on each side.

• Advanced Alternative: Split Squat: Take a kneeling position. Make sure the front foot and back foot are close to in-line with each other. Both knees should be bent at or slightly beyond 90 degrees. Place your hands on your hips. Press through the front heel to raise out of the split squat. Lower back down until your back knee gently touches the ground. Keep your weight on the front heel throughout the movement. This exercise requires some balance, so stand by a wall if need-be! Perform 2 sets of 10-15 repetitions on each side.

Standard Burpee
From standing, bend over and bring each hand to the floor. Hop back with both feet to the pushup-ready position with hands and feet on the floor with hips neutral so that your back forms a straight line. Without performing a pushup, hop in with both feet and return to the standing position. This movement engages almost the entire body. Perform 1-3 sets of 5-10 repetitions to finish off the workout!

• Beginner Alternative: No Hop Burpee: Perform the same general movement as the standard burpee. Instead of hopping back and forth to and from the pushup-ready position, step back and forth for better control. Perform the same range of sets and repetitions.
• Advanced Alternative: Explosive Burpee: Again, perform the same general movement. This time, make sure to hop back and forth to and from the pushup-ready position. Once you’re in the pushup-ready position, perform 1 pushup. Once you hop back to standing, finish the repetition with an explosive jump. Perform the same range of sets and repetitions.

— Frankie, Lipscomb University

Bare Necessities Bodyweight Workout

Pushup variation:

• Beginner: Modified pushup- From a kneeling position, extend the hips to make a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. Align the hands so that the arms are in a straight line down from the shoulders. Keep the hands closer towards the body to work more triceps, and out further to strengthen the shoulders, along with the chest. As you go down into the pushup, your forearms should stay in a straight line, and go down until the tops of the arms are parallel to the floor, using your knees as the pivot point.
• Intermediate: Pushup- Start in a plank position on the toes and with the arms in a straight line down from the shoulders. Align the hands so that the arms are in a straight line down from the shoulders. Keep the hands closer towards the body to work more triceps, and out further to strengthen the shoulders more, along with the chest. As you go down into the pushup, your forearms should stay in a straight line, and go down until the tops of the arms are parallel to the floor.
• Advanced: Side to side pushup- Begin in the same position as a regular pushup, but have the hands spread out wide. Transfer your weight onto mostly one arm by shifting your body to one side. From here, go down into a pushup keeping the body close to the one arm, only using the other arm for as much support as you need. Once you come up, alternate sides.

*As you advance from a modified to a regular pushup, there are 2 key moves to work on to make the transition. The first is the advanced side to side pushup on the knees, as this will strengthen your arms more than doing the regular modified pushups. Once you can do 20 side to side pushups (10/side), then you can move on to trying pushup negatives. So start in the up pushup position, and lower yourself as slowly as possible, keeping the core tight. Then push yourself back up using the knees. Once you can do about 10 negatives, each rep taking 3-5 seconds, you should be more than capable of doing a full pushup with good form.

Squat variation:

• Beginner: Wall sit- Begin leaning against a wall with your feet a foot or so away from the wall. Slide down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, and hold this position keeping the core tight and upper body against the wall the entire time. Arms can rest at the sides, or you can hold them out in front of you to challenge the shoulders as well. Hold this position for a designated time- work up to 1 minute 30 seconds before moving on to the intermediate variation.
• Intermediate: Jump squat- Begin with your feet in a squat stance- usually about shoulder width apart. Begin by sitting back with the hips slightly, then bend at the knees until your thighs are about parallel with the floor, keeping the chest up and the spine in a straight line. From here, explosively jump up, and as you land, absorb the shock by sitting back using the same form as for the first one, then jump back up.
• Advanced: Box pistol squat- Begin standing facing away from a chair, bed, bench, anything you have that is around knee level. Stand on one leg, letting the other leg hover straight in front of you just off the ground. Slowly lower yourself down with the same form as the jump squat, bending at the hips first then the knee. Hold the arms out in front of you to help counterbalance. Sit down fully on whatever you have available, then stand back up, trying to limit any rocking and use of momentum.

Bridge variation:

• Beginner: Table top- begin sitting on the floor, knees bent, resting your weight on your hands behind you. Turn the hands out so the fingers are facing away from your body, and raise your hips up until your stomach makes a straight line from your knees to shoulders. Allow the head to relax back as you go up.
• Advanced: Bridge press- Begin laying on the ground with your knees bent, grabbing the ankles with your hands. Bridge your hips up, and place your hands so they are to the side of your head. From here, press through the heels and hands, coming into a full bridge. Once you can hold this position comfortably for about 10 seconds, bend at the elbows, slowly lowering your head to the ground. Once contact is made, extend the elbows again and press back up into the full bridge. Feel free to place a towel under your head if you do not have a carpeted surface or to use as a safety precaution until you are comfortable with the movement.

Prone Cobra:
Begin lying face down, with the arms and legs fully extended. Position your hands in a thumbs up position, and balance yourself on your hips and toes. Flex the lower back to allow the upper body to come up, and as you do so, open up the arms until they can’t go back any further, and squeeze the back muscles. Return to the starting position, and repeat.

For a quick and effective circuit that will challenge your cardiovascular system and muscle endurance, do 10 reps of each exercise without any rest, then take a 30-60s break, and repeat it up to 4 times.

— Chase, Northern Illinois University

Bodyweight Exercises

Arm pulses:
Start in a standing position with feet hip width a part and feet parallel. Raise your arms from your sides up to shoulder height. Have your palm face forward and begin to do quick little pushes with your palms, keeping just a slight bend in your elbows. Do the same with palms facing up, down, and back. Do 5 repetitions in every direction and repeat twice. To modify, you can relax your arms in between switching the direction of your palms.

Calf raises:
Start in a standing position with feet hip width a part and feet parallel. Relax your arms by your sides and begin to roll up onto the balls of your feet by lifting off of your heels. This is one repetition. Do 20 repetitions for two sets. To modify you can hold onto a wall or chair for balance and to intensify you can bring your arms out and up from your sides.

— Eliza, University of Massachusetts Amherst