Getting (and staying) in great shape is one of the keys to maintaining optimal health and wellness.
And contrary to popular belief, you don’t even need access to a gym or weights to succeed at it.
In this post, you’re going to learn 5 beginner-friendly body weight exercises that anyone can do to help strengthen muscles, tone, and stay in shape.
If you’re ready to start looking, feeling, and performing at your best, here are some exercises to add to your body weight routine.
1. Knee Grab Sit-Ups
To do a knee grab sit up, you start out laying flat on the ground.
Tuck your hands under your chin.
Don’t arch your back. Try to tuck your back down toward the ground.
Then, you raise your upper body upward, while also raising your knees.
Pull your knees close enough that you can grab them with your hands.
You should feel this exercise working your core muscles and upper thigh muscles.
Then, reverse the steps to settle back down onto the ground to begin the next one.
2. Lateral Lunge
To do a lateral lunge, start from a standing position.
Then, lift your lead leg, and move it upwards and outwards, away from your center of gravity.
Put your arms forward as you move your leg, to engage your shoulders.
Then, bend your lead leg knee, but don’t overextend. You don’t want your knee to move out in front of your toe.
Also, make sure to keep your back leg straight.
Once you complete the lunge, straighten back up and return to a standing position, and prepare to do another lunge in the opposite direction.
3. Marching In Place
To march in place, otherwise known as a high jog, you mimic the movements of running, although you make sure to raise your knees as high as you can (usually to about mid-stomach level), while also raising your arms along with your legs.
Then you alternate sides, basically mimicking the motion of running, but staying in one place.
4. Plank
To do a plank, the first thing you need to do is lower your body to a hands-and-knees position.
Next, lower your elbows to the ground, and either clasp your hands together or leave them facing straight away from you, whichever feels more comfortable.
Then, you’re going to stretch your legs out while also straightening out your body, holding yourself up like a ‘plank’ with your elbows and the tips of your toes.
Then, you just hold your body like that for as long as possible.
For best results, use a stopwatch to time yourself, to see how long you can sustain it.
5. Reverse Lunge
The reverse lunge is best done in front of a mirror, as that will let you focus more intently on your knee position.
More specifically, your lead knee should not move at all during the exercise.
You start with both legs slightly bent, with one in front of the other.
Then, you move your back leg backwards, flexing the lead knee, lowering yourself to the ground until you are in a kneeling position with your back knee on the ground, and then you return to a standing position again, and repeat.
In Conclusion
There you have it!
5 body weight exercises to help you stay in shape, even when you don’t have time to make it to the gym.
All that’s left is to get out there and get to work.
Just don’t forget to stretch and take it easy at first!
