Don't be fooled into thinking you have to own a gym membership to make strength gains and improve your fitness. Research shows bodyweight training can be just as effective for muscle growth as using weights. This is because bodyweight exercises create enough resistance to challenge your muscles, even without external loads like dumbbells or machines.
That being said, here's a 10-minute bodyweight workout you can incorporate into your next equipmentless workout session. The routine comes from popular online fitness trainer Kayla Itsines and uses seven moves that hit a wide range of muscles including, but not limited to, the quads, glutes, chest, shoulders, biceps and core muscles.
As you have gathered, no equipment is needed to complete Itsines' routine. But if you have one of the best yoga mats, or something soft that provides similar cushioning, using it can help absorb impact and make the exercises easier on your joints.
Now let's take a look at the routine.
Watch Istines' 10-Minute Bodyweight Workout
Thanks to Istines' you can watch how each exercise is performed below. Maintaining good form throughout this routine will get you better results, so don't rush through each exercise, take your time and focus on where each move is targeting.
- Jump Lunges: 12 reps (6 each side)
- Burpees: 10 reps
- Commandos: 12 reps (6 each side)
- Caterpillar Walk: 10 reps
- High Knees: 30 secs
- Russian Twist: 20 reps
- Mountain Climbers: 20 reps
- Three rounds!
Included in this routine are compound moves, which are great for building overall strength, burning more calories, improving coordination and boosting your core stability. Hence why this 10-minute workout is one for those who like a super efficient workout.
Although the higher impact moves like jump lunges, burpees and high knees may not be a crowd favorite amongst everyone, they are great for getting your heart rate up and lead to increased calorie burn. Raising your heart rate will also help to improve your cardiovascular endurance.
You are also going to get a solid workout for your core while completing this routine. The commandos and mountain climbers will be particularly useful, as they require maintaining a plank position, which stabilizes and strengthens the core.
Meanwhile, the Russian twists further enhance this by targeting the oblique muscles, promoting rotational strength and flexibility. And then exercises like burpees and high knees, while primarily cardiovascular, also involve the core for stabilization and power generation.
To advance this workout and achieve progressive overload, you can increase the number of reps or rounds, add weights, or introduce more challenging variations of the exercises. For example, you could increase the reps of jump lunges, burpees, and mountain climbers, or add a fourth round.
Alternatively, adding weights, such as holding dumbbells during jump lunges or wearing a weighted vest during burpees and high knees, will also increase the intensity.
More from Tom's Guide
- Forget sit-ups — you only need 10 minutes and 1 resistance band to strengthen your core with this abs workout
- Forget burpees — you only need 20 minutes and 5 moves to build full-body muscle with this kettlebell workout
- You don't need planks to build core muscle — try this 3-move kettlebell ab workout instead
