How many times have you missed a workout and just said “oh I’ll go to the gym tomorrow?”  Or maybe you travel a lot or are on vacation and can’t hit a gym.  There’s really no reason why you can’t get a total body workout without weights!  When you are at the gym, you’re likely focusing on the smaller “show me” muscle groups like biceps, shoulders, or triceps.  They’re not the power houses of the body and in fact they get worked out when you’re hitting the big muscle groups anyway.  Here’s a few exercises you can put together to get your sweat on right at home!

Push Ups

One of the best upper body workouts you can do.  With proper form push ups can work all the major muscle groups of the upper body.   If you’re already at a more advanced fitness level and feel like push ups aren’t challenging enough for you, try incorporating Progressive Load Push Ups into your routine.  Progressive Load Push Ups vary the difficulty of the exercise by changing the angle at which you’re doing the movement.

For example, an incline push up you could do against the edge of your kitchen counter.  A standard push up would be done on the floor, and a decline push up would be done with your hand on the floor and feel elevated on a bench, chair or step.

Squats

You already know that squats are a guaranteed way to amp up your metabolism and get your heart rate up there.  You don’t need to be strapped to a Smith Machine or weight rack to glean the benefits of this gem of an exercise.  By incorporating lower body compound exercises like squats you’ll be training the biggest muscle groups of the body.  I’d suggest starting with something simple like a Prisoner Squat.

1. Standing tall with feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, lock your hands behind your head.

2. Lead with your hips as you push your butt back and bend at the knees.  Try to get your quads paralell to the floor.

3. Return to the starting position by focusing on pushing through your heels and tightening  your butt.

Abs

If you don’t have an exercise ball at home that you can use for abs, you can improvise with a little creativity!  Planks are my go to abs exercise when I want a total body workout without weights.  They don’t require anymore space than what’s needed to do your push ups or squats.

Planks for Abs

1. Resting on your elbows and forearms on the floor, extend your feet straight out behind you creating a bridge or plank.

2. Keep your abs squeezed super tight and tighten up that butt too.  It’s helpful to think of an imaginary rope that’s pulling you up towards the ceiling through your belly button.

3. Hold this rigid position for as long as you can.  Don’t let your hips sag to the floor and breathe!  When you feel like you’re losing your form relax. That’s one rep.

4. Don’t rest for any longer than you just held the plank position, and go for another rep… and so on.

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