There’s an endless number of at-home exercises available on the Internet, even before the quarantine happened. Of course, there are the basics that everyone’s been taught at elementary school, but do you know which exercises are the best ones for a full-body workout?
The best, easy-to-learn exercises that will utilize your entire body should target multiple muscle groups while giving you the muscle tone and practical strength to meet your goals. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need the fancy gym membership or equipment to begin your fitness journey.
Here are the best and most effective full-body exercises that you can do right at home.
PUSH-UPS
Ah, the most basic workout of them all. It’s the most old-school, but it’s definitely effective. Push-ups work a wide range of muscles, though it specifically targets the chest, triceps, and core. If you do it in proper form, you can also strengthen your lower back and core by pulling in the abdominal muscles. Completing a full push-up means you typically lift about 60% of your own body weight, and that’s quite an achievement!
A consistent daily push-up routine will significantly strengthen your upper body strength. For best results, try the push-up challenge where you gradually increase the number of push-ups you do each week. You can also add variety to the types of pushups you do.
SQUATS
Squats are infamous for a reason. They might look easy, but doing this exercise activates your thighs, traps, abs/obliques, upper back/lats, and glutes, which is the biggest muscle in your body.
Many of the muscles used during this workout help power you through daily tasks such as walking, bending, climbing stairs, or carrying heavy loads. It can also boost your overall exercise performance, decrease injury risk, and increase your ease of movement.
The most basic type of squat is the air squat. It uses just your body weight for resistance. However, you can also incorporate barbells, dumbbells, resistance bands, or yoga balls. Once you master this move, there are a lot of different squat varieties that you can try. Changing up your moves keep your workout fun and interesting.
LUNGES
This brilliantly simple exercise is popular for fitness enthusiasts. If you want to strengthen your back, hips, and legs, while improving mobility and stability, then definitely try this exercise. Athletes, particularly runners and cyclists, love this exercise because it extensively works the quadriceps, the glutes, and the hamstrings.
Results include tight, toned, and stronger muscles, plus, a lower body fat percentage within a few weeks. For a bit of variety, try stationary, side, walking, reverse, twist, and curtsy lunges. If you’re starting to plateau, increase the intensity by doing more challenging variations, adding weights, or increasing the amount you do.
BURPEES
Want to improve your cardiovascular health? Then burpees will do just the trick. It is fundamentally done by mixed martial arts practitioners and military forces as part of their regular routine exercise. For regular gym-goers though, burpees are usually done at the end of most bodyweight exercises.
The intensity of this exercise, plus the number of muscles required can result in significant weight loss. The high repetition squats work wonders for building strength for the entire body.
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