20-Minute No-Excuses Bodyweight Workout

20-Minute No-Excuses Bodyweight Workout Do This Circuit Twice and Call It A Day! MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS • Start with some cardio that also targets all the muscles in your body. Get down in a plank position and alternate bringing each knee in toward your chest. Start with 30 seconds and work your way up to a minute as you get stronger. REVERSE CRUNCHES • Get into a crunch position. • You can put your hands behind your ears or leave them under your tailbone for support. • Extend your legs straight above you. • Tilt your pelvis and raise your butt off the floor, rolling your knees toward your chest to come nto a reverse crunch. • This is a small movement with a big payoff. • Don't swing your legs as you're doing this you want your core muscles, not your momentum, to do the work. • Do 15 to 20 reps. SQUATS • This one's simple but effective. • Stand with your feet hip distance apart. • Bend your knees and bring your legs parallel to the floor. Keep your butt behind you and go as low as you can. Straighten your legs to come back to the starting position. • Repeat 20 times PUSH-UPS • Simple but challenging, you know the drill here: • Get on the floor in a plank position, keeping your body in a straight line behind you as you hold yourself up on straight arms. • Lower yourself forward the ground by bending your elbows and then push yourself back up to come back to straight arms. • Do 10 to 15 reps. PLANK • Since you're already on the floor, stay down there and get back into a plank posi- tion. • There are two ways to hold a plank: You can either hold yourself up on straight arms as if you're about to start a push-up or you can bend your elbows, lace your fingers together, and support yourself on your forearms. • Keep your butt down and your body in a straight line behind you. • Start at 30 seconds and work your way up to holding for a minute. GLUTE BRIDGE • Lie on your back. • Bend your knees. • Keep your arms by your sides. • Lift your pelvis toward the sky, using your core muscles to guide you as you keep your hips and butt high off the ground. • Slowly lower your body but don't come all the way back down to the ground again before going back up – stop an inch before the ground to ensure you keep the contraction the entire time. • Do 10 to 15 reps. LUNGES • Start from a standing position with your feet hip distance apart. Step forward with one foot and lower yourself toward the floor until your leg is parallel. • Push yourself back to the starting position. Finish 10 to 15 reps on one leg before switching legs and repeating the movement. OOdddooo FOREARM DOWNWARD FACING DOG • Get on your hands and knees. • Place your forearms on the floor so that your elbows are narrow and your shoul- ders are pulled back and in. • Walk your feet behind you and raise your body up into a downward facing dog position, so your body forms a "y" with your arms and feet on the ground but everything else in the air. • Start holding for 30 seconds and work your way up to a minute. THE WINDMILL • Sometimes this move is also referred to as Windshield Wipers. • Either title works: it's all about the sweeping motion from one side of your body to the other. • Lie on your back. • Spread your arms out to the sides to form a "T" with your body. • Lift your legs straight in the air. • Use your core muscles to lower your legs to the left side of you, stopping before you reach the ground,and then use your core muscles to pull your legs back up the middle and then over to the rightside of you, stopping before you reach the ground. • Your abs should remain engaged throughout the entire movement. JUMPING JACKS • End with another cardio move. • This one is also super simple but highly effective. • Stand up and jump your legs and arms out to the sides. • Jump them back in toward your body. Keep jumping like that: out, in, out, in, for 30 seconds to a minute. SIGNUP FOR NEWSLETTER! www.fitnessrepublic.com http://www.fitnessrepublic.com/newsletter