Full Body Exercises

Full Body Exercises

Today, many fitness experts advocate for functional exercises. These are exercises that work multiple muscles and joints to improve endurance, coordination, strength, posture, agility and balance. These types of exercises give your body a full workout in a single session. Below are some of the most popular and effective ones for shaping your body.

Jump lunges

Want to feel the burn in your legs? This is one exercise that will set your legs ablaze and quicken your heart rate. Jump lunges are one of the best full body workout routines.

Here’s how to go about them:

• Start out in a lunge position making sure your knees are as close as possible to the floor.
• Jump up as high as you can then switch legs as you land on the floor such that the leg that was in front is now at the back.
• Repeat.

Push-up with hip extension

This is a great exercise for your shoulders, arms and chest. It also strengthens your core and glutes.

Here’s how to go about it:

• Get on your knees and place your hands on the floor such that you’re on all fours. Make sure your hands are placed wider than your shoulders.
• Kick out your right leg straight back and hold your stomach in such that you’re tightening your core muscles.
• With your leg still lifted, lower your chest until your elbows are at a 90 degree angle. Now push up. You can do 10 to 15 reps.

Squats

Squats are great full body exercises for your lower body and should be part of any full body workout regimen. The best part about squats is that they also strengthen your core, your back and shoulders as well. You can also do them anywhere and at any time.

Here’s how to go about them:

• With your feet apart (hip width), pull your shoulders back such that you engage your abs.
• Now push your hips and butt back like your were sitting on a chair.
• Keeping your weight on your heels and lower yourself until your thighs are lying parallel to the floor.
• Now get back to the starting position. Make sure to squeeze your butt and push your knees outwards as you do so.

If you need more precise instructions, check this out!

Knee lift with lateral raise

This is a full body exercise that helps strengthen your core, improves your balance and tones your shoulders.

How to go about it:

• Stand straight, arms on your sides, with a 5lb weight in each hand.
• Lift your knee up to the hip level. At the same time, lift your hands such that you form a T at the shoulders.
• Hold for about 2 seconds while holding your stomach in.
• Get back to the start position.
• Do 10 to 15 reps for each leg. You can increase the weight with time.

Burpees

Burpees are some of the best full body exercises. Not only are they an awesome body strengthener, you can also do them with nothing but the weight of your body.

Here’s how to go about them:

• From an upright position, squat with your hands on the floor in front of you.
• Kick back your feet and assume the push up position. Now lower your body until our chest touches the floor.
• Jump and get back into the squat position as fast as you can (frog jump). Now jump into the air as high as possible (jump squat).
• Repeat

The following video explains clearly how to do Burpees and what muscles they work:

Dynamic prone planks

The dynamic prone plank is an exercise that strengthens, tones, and lengthens almost every muscle in the body. It is a challenging exercise, but is a great addition to your workout regimen.

Here’s how to go about it:

• Get on your hands and toes while facing the floor.
• Keep your head back with your legs straight and your hands at a 90 degree angle to the floor.
• Lift your butt to the ceiling while holding your stomach in.
• Return to the starting position.
• Bend your elbows and lower your legs and torso to the floor.
• While keeping your lower body lying on the floor, use your arms to push up your head and chest.
• Go back to the starting position once more.
• Repeat 5 to 10 times.

Pull-up

These are some of the best workouts for the upper body. They strengthen your arms, back, shoulders as well as your core. Pull ups are a bit challenging especially if you’re not used to them.

Here’s how to do them:

You will need a pull up bar. Hang from the bar with your palms facing away from you. Keep your shoulders back and chest up. Keep your feet crossed and squeeze your glutes. Pull yourself upwards until your chin rests above the pull up bar. Now lower your body slowly back to the starting position.

Kettlebell Swings

This exercise will increase your body’s explosive power while toning your leg and lower back muscles. If you cannot access a kettlebell, you can always use a dumbbell.

How to go about it:

• With your feet apart (keep them at shoulder width), grab a kettlebell with both hands in front of you.
• Push back your hips and bend your knees such that the hands fall between your legs.
• Extend your knees and drive your hips forward. Swing the kettlebell to the front at the same time.
• You should swing the kettlebell to eyelevel. Make sure to control it as it descends.
• Keep your core tight throughout the exercise.

Important Notes

The exercises listed above are not conclusive and may not work for everyone. You are free to adjust the workouts as you deem fit. However, these are the 8 best full body exercises that have been proven to work time and again.

Rules and Tips for Total Body Workout

Full body exercises are very effective, but doing them without a plan is a recipe for failure. You need to plan out your workout frequency to avoid injury and burnout. With other exercises it is easy to break up the exercises based on the body parts you’re working out. This is not possible with full body exercises. This is because you’re hitting all muscles in a single session. For this reason, you should only work out 3 times a week.

A typical workout schedule would look like this:

• Monday: Total Body Workout
• Tuesday: off
• Wednesday: Total Body Workout
• Thursday: Off
• Friday: Total Body Workout
• Saturday: off
• Sunday: off

Source enkivillage.com