A Bodyweight Blast to Smoke Your Legs, Core, and Shoulders

A Bodyweight Blast to Smoke Your Legs, Core, and Shoulders

by Sue Jones
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You’ve made it to your second-to-last workout! You’re almost at the finish line, so it’s only fitting that this bodyweight full-body circuit workout is going to be packed with variations of moves you’ve mastered throughout the month. There are even some progressions of the moves to make it more challenging if you’re looking to really kick it up a few notches!

In this bodyweight full-body circuit workout, you’ll be hitting your entire body with just four moves: the reverse lunge, inchworm, plank shoulder tap, and rainbow plank. The reverse lunge works your quads and your glutes, the inchworm boosts mobility while challenging your hamstrings and shoulders, while the plank variations will light up your core. (Added bonus: With the plank shoulder tap, since you’ll be lifting one hand off the ground, you’ll also help improve shoulder stability, which is important for injury prevention. That unbalanced load also gives an extra hit to your core, since it has to really fire to resist rotating.)

By this time in the challenge, you’re probably very familiar with the basic moves here—you’ve been lunging and planking for weeks now! But with only two workouts remaining, you may be ready to challenge yourself a little more. That’s where the optional modifications come in for a few of these moves. For the reverse lunge, you can sub in the reverse lunge to kick, which ups the intensity component and challenges your stability. Then for the inchworm, you can do it single-leg instead—which will help you really feel it in your hamstrings and your core as it fights to keep you balanced.

If you’re not quite ready for progressions like these, you might also feel ready to challenge yourself with more intense work-to-rest ratios than what you’ve been doing previously. If that’s the case, you can try one of the more challenging work-rest ratios for this workout as you get ready to round out the challenge.

Of course, it’s also just fine to keep working with the traditional exercise variations and your regular work-rest ratios. Instead, you may want to really focus hard on your form during this full body bodyweight workout to make sure you’re completing clean, solid reps.

Ready to work your entire body? Read on before you get started with this bodyweight full-body circuit workout.

The workout below is for Day 26 of the SELF Spring Reset Challenge. Check out the full month of workouts right here. Or go to the workout calendar here. If you haven’t signed up to receive daily emails, do that here.

WORKOUT DIRECTIONS

Do each move for your selected period of time. At the end of all 5 moves, rest for 90 seconds. That’s 1 circuit. Do the entire circuit 3–5 times. After your last circuit, try the optional extra credit.

  • Option 1: 20 seconds of work, 40 seconds of rest
  • Option 2: 25 seconds of work, 35 seconds of rest
  • Option 3: 30 seconds of work, 30 seconds of rest

EXERCISES

  • Reverse Lunge (Left Side)
  • Inchworm
  • Reverse Lunge (Right Side)
  • Plank Shoulder Tap
  • Rainbow Plank

EXTRA CREDIT

Do a 3-minute plank hold, incorporating as many variations as you want throughout the time. 

Mix and match variations, and be sure to take breaks when needed. A few suggestions: forearm planks, rainbow planks, mountain climbers, forearm plank to dolphin, mountain climber twists, side planks, and side plank crunches. (You don’t have to reach that time in one go!) To make it easier, do 90 seconds instead.

  • Plank Variation Hold x 3 minutes

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