Bodyweight Training-Fast Functional Fitness

With bodyweight exercises, you can always find the space and time to exercise. Here is a bodyweight workout that is sure to get your body feeling energized, connected, strong, and agile! A good bodyweight workout does all of this and more.

To get started, check out the video to the right for a great routine for warming up your joints. Rotate your neck, move it side-to-side, than work down to your shoulders, and all the way down through your hips to your ankles. 

Next, move on to the following routine, which is going to be an energizing upper and lower body workout:

-Swinging arms squats, quarter depth: x20 Squat down to quarter depth, swinging your arms back as you do. As you come up, let the arms naturally swing upward.

-Full squats, overhead arms: x20 Squat to full depth, bringing your arms overhead as you go down, and keeping them up until the move is completed.

-Hip Bridge: x10 Roll to your back, extend and spread your legs slightly more than shoulder width apart, and with your feet flat on the floor, and your torso rigid, press up with your hips. Make sure the upper body rests on the shoulders, and the head is relaxed.

Roll over and immediately begin:

-Hindu Pushups: x20

-Leg Threads: x10

Repeat this routine for three rounds, and increase the repetitions as you become better at the movements. Follow the video sidebar for excellent instruction on the Leg Thread exercise.

Animal Training

The second set of bodyweight exercises require a large enough space to crawl or hop in for a little distance. The ideal spot is a long hallway, an outdoor park or a sports field. Measure off a distance and do the following exercises back-to-back.

As with the previous workout, once you get the movement patterns memorized, aim for as many 'laps' as possible in a three to five minute round. Start off with three rounds and work up from there. One lap is a round trip of the measured distance you've marked off.

Bear Crawl:

Start the movement bending down to place your hands on the ground. Begin the exercise by moving one hand and then the opposite foot forward, and as they say, just keep putting one hand, and foot, in front of the other.

Crab Crawl:

In a seated position, support your body on your hands and lift your hips off the ground. This is not a bridge, they just need to be high enough to allow you to walk backwards on your hands, with your feet stepping gingerly in front for support. Your fingers should be pointed toward your body, with the weight supported on the palms. For a greater challenge, raise the hips higher.

Spider Walk:

Start in a push-up position. Begin the movement by reaching one arm forward and the opposite leg simultaneously. Move the whole body by repeating this on the other side. The key to the spider walk is keeping the body as horizontal as possible (butt down,) bringing the bent leg up along your side, not under your body.

After a round or two of animal walks, the triceps, shoulders and pecs should be burning and three 3 minute rounds may be enough for the day! These are great exercises though, so stay with and they will get easier. Soon it will be time to add a 40 lb. vest!

Even though these programs only use your body's weight, be sure to execute the movements with perfect form. Move at a slow pace until the exercise become second nature. Then time yourself for three minute rounds and do as many repetitions as possible in the allotted time.