I still remember it like it was yesterday …
The year was 2008. JUST married, my wife and I decided on the Hawaiian island of Kauai for our honeymoon … the natural beauty of the “Garden Isle” made it the PERFECT place to relax and unwind …
Of course, as usual :), I wanted to keep up with my workout program on the trip. And for the life of me I couldn’t find a decent gym ANYwhere!! (I ended up driving half way across the island to find a crappy YMCA with nothing but a circuit of selectorized weight machines. It wasn’t fun. And it was a giant waste of time.)
BUT – if I had had a workout like the one I’m going to share with you today, I could have stayed right in the hotel room and felt great about it – with a total body resistance, cardio and core workout, done in less than 30 minutes time.
Now I know you might run into situations like the one I did on my honeymoon from time to time … so I thought you could benefit from a body weight only total body workout. So I put one together for you … it’s a quick and efficient session you can use next time you’re traveling, at home, or just about anywhere without access to a gym:
Body Weight Only – Total Body Workout
Exercises in each circuit/pair are to be performed back to back without rest. Upon finishing both/all exercises in each circuit/pair, rest 30-60 seconds as needed and repeat two more times for a total of three sets of all exercises in the workout.
Exercise Pair 1
- Body Weight Squat – 20 Reps
- Body Weight 1 Leg RDL – 12 Reps ea leg
Exercise Pair 2
- Push Up (or variation like Feet Elevated Push Up, T-Push Up, etc.) – 12 reps (pick a hard variation for you where you reach a couple reps short of failure at 12 reps)
- Pull Up or Body Row/Fat Man Pull Up – 8 reps (again, pick a variation that allows you to work to a couple reps short of failure)
Cardio Circuit Finisher
- Alternating Backwards Lunge – 12 reps ea side
- Mountain Climber – 20 reps ea side
- ‘Reverse’ Sit Up (focus on 5 sec. eccentric phase) – 6 reps
- Repeating Squat Jumps – 10 reps
(NOTE: These are all zero added equipment exercises … with the exception of the pull ups/body rows. It’s very tough to work your back muscles without some sort of added equipment … so if you’re one that frequently travels, works out at home, etc., I strongly recommend investing in some heavy -duty resistance bands – like the ones we carry in the FVT Pro Shop. They’re an easy, portable, and cheap piece of equipment that you can get an awesome workout with any place, any time! If you’d like more info about ’em, shoot me an email and I’d be happy to help.)
If you’re short on equipment or just want a new workout bust you out of your current fitness plateau, get started on body weight only total body workout.
Train hard and train smart –
Forest