Exercises to do for a full body, at-home workout
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Exercising at home in your living room is sometimes seen as the poor relation of going to the gym, but the truth is that you can get just as good of a workout at home.1 Plus, there are plenty of reasons you might prefer a home workout over going to the gym: maybe you’re relatively new to exercise and the energy of the gym just feels a bit too aggressive. Or perhaps you’ve witnessed fellow weekend warriors failing to wipe down their gym equipment, so you have cleanliness concerns.
Whatever your reasons for staying home, we’ve put together some exercises to do for a full body, at-home workout – no equipment necessary. After all, the gym might not be for everyone, but movement is.2
Always consult your doctor before starting a new exercise program.
Benefits of working out at home
These days, many of us are spending more and more time sitting down, which is impacting our health.3Inactivity has been described as a “silent killer” by the UK’s Department of Health,4 with studies linking it to obesity, type 2 diabetes, some cancers and even early death.5 Fortunately, we can reduce our risk of ill health from inactivity with regular exercise6 – which is where this home workout can come in handy.
Find out more about the pain relief benefits of weight management. Movement is crucial to ensuring a healthy weight. There is a strong link between obesity and pain,7 and those extra kilograms can put stress on our bodies through extra to carry, as well as giving us poor posture.8 Being active every day, and a weekly target of 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise (like brisk walking, riding a bike, or aqua aerobics) or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise is recommended.i The activities included in this circuit training are vigorous, so you can see how doing it twice a week can quickly get you to that target!
How to do the home workout
The bodyweight exercises in this at-home workout target your back, chest, legs, abs and arms, helping to build total body strength.9 There’s also a cardio component to support heart health and help you maintain a healthy weight.10 Doing cardio exercises is one of the best ways to lose weight at home, making this a great workout to try if fat burning or weight loss is your goal.
You can do this workout anywhere you have a bit of space in your home, and you don’t need any equipment except for a stopwatch (you can use a physical stopwatch or anything with a stopwatch function, like a smartwatch or your phone). The whole workout should take about 30 minutes to complete.
The workout is made up of five different exercises. Do each exercise for 30 seconds before moving on to the next, focusing on completing as many reps as you can in that time while maintaining good form, with 20 seconds of rest between each exercise. When you’ve worked through all five exercises, take a full minute of rest. That’s one round. Complete four more rounds for a full body, combined strength and cardio workout – all from the comfort of your own home.
In practice, this is how the workout looks:
- do exercise #1 for 30 seconds.
- rest for 20 seconds.
- do exercise #2 for 30 seconds.
- rest for 20 seconds.
- do exercise #3 for 30 seconds.
- rest for 20 seconds.
- do exercise #4 for 30 seconds.
- rest for 20 seconds.
- do exercise #5 for 30 seconds.
- rest for 1 minute.
Repeat steps 1 through 10, four more times.
Without further ado, let’s move on to the main event: the exercises.
Exercise #1: squats
Targets: the legs (especially the thighs) and glutes (buttocks).
How to do it: stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart. Turn your feet out slightly (the toes of your left foot at 11 o’clock; the toes of your right at one o’clock). Think about hinging at the waist and sitting your hips back as you squat down, then push back up to a standing position, squeezing your glutes and core at the top of the movement.
Exercise #2: push-ups
Targets: pretty much the whole body, but especially the arms, chest, back and core (including the abs).
How to do it: come down onto all fours with your hands directly underneath your shoulders, fingers splayed out. Extend your legs so that you’re balanced on your hands and feet, and your body forms a straight line. Bend your elbows and lower your chest towards the floor, keeping your core engaged. Go slowly, maintaining control, and make sure that your elbows are pointing behind you rather than flaring out to the side. Push yourself back up, but be careful not to lock your elbows at the top of the movement.
Exercise #3: tricep dips
Targets: the arms (especially the triceps).
How to do it: sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, about hip-width apart. Take your hands behind you so that your elbows are bent and your fingers point back towards your body. Straighten your arms and lift yourself up off the floor. Now bend both elbows a little until your bum grazes the floor and then push back up (again, avoid locking your elbows when you straighten your arms).
Exercise #4: plank
Targets: the whole body, but especially the core, shoulders and arms.
How to do it: come into the top of a push-up position (the position you’d be in before lowering your chest towards the floor). Focus on engaging your core, keeping your pelvis tucked underneath you and gluing your inner thighs together, as if you were trying to hold a single piece of paper between them. Hold for the full 30 seconds, or until you’re forced to break form.
Exercise #5: Russian twists
Targets: all the muscles in your core.
How to do it: sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, feet together. Lean back slowly until you can feel your abs working to keep you in position. From there, twist from side to side in a controlled manner, gently touching the floor beside you on each rotation.
Top tips for a successful home workout
- Always warm up before a workout and cool down afterwards. This will help to prevent injury and also make your workouts more effective11- whether at home or in the gym. Try briskly marching in place for a couple of minutes, followed by knee lifts. Raise each knee to the opposite elbow and aim to repeat this movement 30 times in 30 seconds using alternating knees.
- Always check with your doctor before beginning any new exercise regime, including this one.
- Experiencing a little bit of discomfort as you challenge yourself and improve your fitness levels is totally normal, but pain can be a sign that you’ve pushed your body too far. Never push through pain; end your workout immediately if you experience any pain while exercising.
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