If you want to strengthen and build your hamstrings, you want to include both hip extension and knee flexion movements.
For hip extension, think Romanian Deadlift or Good Morning for example and for knee flexion think about those hamstring curl machines.
But how can you work and even isolate those hamstrings if you don’t have any equipment at home?
So many of those go to moves require gym access or at least more equipment…
That’s why I wanted to share one of my go-to knee flexion hamstring moves, whether you have no tools while training at home or access to a full gym – The Glute Bridge And Curl.
I love this move because it can help you really target those hamstrings through knee flexion or bending your knees to curl your heels toward your butt while also activating and working your glutes.
It is also easy to progress and regress in a variety of ways without adding loads to match your needs and goals. And if you do have a gym, you can even progress through the same but different by using a variety of tools to change the instability and even range of motion.
But before I go into some of the different variations, I want to chat about the basic form of the glute bridge and curl and how you can do this amazing move at home…
How To Do The Basic Glute Bridge And Curl:
To do the Glute Bridge And Curl without any fancy equipment, you can use towels on a hardwood or tiled floor or paper plates on carpet. If you even have a simple set of sliders or furniture movers those can work as well.
Place a towel under each foot, making sure your heel is on the towel, as you lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Bend your elbows to drive your arms down into the ground. Perform a posterior pelvic tilt, slightly tilting your pelvis up toward your ribs. This will make sure you don’t arch your back as you perform the move.
Bridge up, squeezing your glutes.
Holding this bridge, slide your feet out to straighten your legs. You will lower your butt toward the ground as you lengthen but don’t lose that posterior pelvic tilt.
After fully extending your legs, curl your heels back in toward your butt to lift back up into the bridge. Almost think about trying to drag up the flooring as you curl back in so that you are creating tension to really work those hamstrings.
Return to the bridge and repeat the move.
Make sure you do not arch to lift up higher. You want to really use your glutes and abs to brace and support during this move so you can focus on those hamstrings powering the knee flexion.
Also, move slowly as you extend out to work your hamstrings through the eccentric portion of this move as well!
Modifications Of The Glute Bridge And Curl:
Now as simple as this move may seem, it is more challenging for our hamstrings than we actually give it credit for.
The great part is, this move is easy to modify to meet our needs. And, by modifying, we can even focus on each side independently to correct any strength imbalances we may have.
To modify this move, you can start by extending one leg at a time to focus on each side working. You can alternate curls or simply stay on one side.
Once you feel ready to progress from here, you can start with just using the two-leg bridge and curl for the eccentric portion.
You will extend both legs out slowly together, then curl one in at a time. Alternate which you curl in first and stay focused on that drag back in to really make your hamstring work.
If you do want to advance the move and get a unilateral focus, try a single leg bridge and curl with your other leg lifted up off the ground so it can’t assist.
Do not progress the move though if you feel your lower back compensating. You want to make sure to use those glutes in the bridge up and keep your abs engaged through that posterior pelvic tilt!
Equipment Variations Of The Glute Bridge And Curl:
If you do have access to different tool, you can even progress this move through doing the same but different.
You can create more instability from the version off of towels or sliders by using the suspension trainer. Or you can even increase the challenge by using a bigger stability ball which increases the height you have to bridge up!
If you have a rower you can even have some fun using that instead.
So many ways to vary a move and make it work for us.
What is your favorite way to perform the glute bridge and curl?
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When you think about gaining muscle you think about a “bulking” phase.
And all too often for people this calls to mind images of people stuffing their faces with all sorts of foods.
You need to eat big to get big right?!
While, yes, a calorie surplus is key to gaining muscle, too often a “bulk” often becomes the perfect excuse to pig out and way overeat.
And this often leads to a lot of unwanted fat gain as you put on muscle.
This unwanted fat gain means you will then at some point have to go into a CUT to get rid of the fat and lean back down.
And when you cut, if you don’t do it super slowly, you’re most likely going to lose some of the muscle you worked hard to gain anyway.
So the question is…can you gain muscle WITHOUT gaining fat?
Is it possible to bulk in a way you don’t really need to then do an extreme cut to lean back down after?
The answer is YES.
By being precise in how we go about gaining muscle and taking the time to do it right, we can ultimately gain muscle without packing on the fat.
That’s why I wanted to share 3 tips to help you gain muscle without gaining fat.
But before I dive into the tips, I do just want to discuss calorie intake and whether you ACTUALLY even need to be in a surplus first to gain muscle…
Do You Really Need A Calorie Surplus To Gain Muscle?
The answer to this is…It depends.
And part of what it depends upon is your current level of leanness and even training experience.
If you’re just beginning your weight loss journey and have a good deal of fat to lose while also wanting to put on muscle, you’ll actually find that a small calorie DEFICIT works to your advantage. Especially if you focus on a higher protein ratio.
By putting yourself in a small calorie deficit, while focusing on protein, you can lose the unwanted fat while not only retaining but even gaining muscle.
If you instead put yourself in a calorie surplus, you’d potentially, yes, build muscle, but not see the body recomposition or fat loss results you want.
By creating a small deficit, you can lose fat AND gain muscle.
So even think just a small deficit of 100-300 calories off of maintenance.
However, if you’re already lean, a calorie surplus will work to your advantage.
BUT this doesn’t mean adding 1000s of calories to your daily intake.
Often a more moderate surplus is best while still maintaining that focus on protein.
When you’re leaner you want that surplus to ensure you have readily available energy to fuel your training sessions so you can create progressive overload and help your muscles repair and grow.
If you don’t have that positive energy balance, you risk catabolizing lean muscle, which will hinder your gains.
A newbie lifter though does have more growth potential than someone who’s been training for awhile so may go on the higher end of a “moderate surplus” if they’re lean to start.
But you still want to be mindful of your surplus as more calories doesn’t mean faster muscle growth. Any excess energy, aka extra calories, you consume your body doesn’t need will simply be stored as fat.
So while you will want to set your calorie intake to start a few hundred calories over maintenance, you don’t need to create any crazy surplus to see results.
Generally speaking in the range of 100-400 may be more than enough above maintenance to see amazing results.
Once you have figured out your calorie intake, you then want to consider these 3 tips to help you dial in both your training plan and your diet to assist in gaining muscle without gaining fat.
3 Tips To Help You Gain Muscle WITHOUT Gaining Fat:
#1: Don’t Fear Carbs. Dial In Your Macros.
If you want to add muscle without gaining fat, you can’t ignore the importance of the macro breakdown you use. And you may even find you cycle ratios as your training routine changes.
By focusing on macros over just the calories in vs calories out, you can help yourself avoid gaining unwanted fat.
And while focusing on protein should be the first thing you do, going slightly higher in protein if you’re in a deficit than you would when you’re in a surplus, you also can’t ignore the importance of CARBS.
Low carb is all the rage right now, especially for weight loss. But carbs play an important role in promoting the most efficient muscle gains.
You want the immediate energy to fuel your workouts so you can train hard without fatiguing as easily. This allows you to really fully benefit from your training routines.
Carbs have a protein sparing effect.
They create an anabolic environment that protects your lean muscle while giving you the fuel you need to rebuild after your training sessions.
If we don’t have sufficient readily available energy, protein will be used instead. And, especially if you’re already lean, this means your body will even start to break down muscle tissue to use as immediate fuel.
So consuming enough carbs is key to helping you protect your lean muscle, support muscle growth and recover faster from your training sessions.
And the more active you are, often the more carbs are even necessary to help with body recomposition and fat loss.
So while you may fear carbs because you saw a quick change on the scale due to glycogen and water weight being stored, you need this fuel if you’re serious about those muscle gains.
This scale change due to full glycogen stores is NOT fat being gained. So be prepared for that weight change if you are increasing carbs to go into more of a muscle building focused phase!
#2: Use A Variety Of Rep Ranges.
If you want to lose weight, you can actually do so by simply adjusting your diet.
While training makes it easier, and has been shown to be key for long-term success, you can truly lose weight without changing your activity.
BUT if you want to gain muscle, you’ve got to create a clear plan of action for the gym.
Now the question that often comes up is, “How many reps and sets?”
Do I do lighter weights and more reps or heavier weights and fewer reps?
The simple fact of the matter is – If it challenges you, it will change you.
So while yes, lifting weights makes it so much easier to gain muscle, you can achieve gains even using bodyweight moves by creating progression through tempos, range of motion, instability not to mention simply advancing moves in different ways.
The key is creating that new challenge strategically.
Now in terms of the reps and sets you use…
Well that really depends on so many factors, but the simple answer is USE A VARIETY or rep ranges to get the best results.
This can actually help you even increase training frequency over the week if every workout isn’t leaving you completely destroyed and help you utilize all three drivers of muscle growth.
Program in heavy compound lifts to start a few workouts in that 1-5 rep range. This can help you build maximal strength to lift more even in other moves. And it can help you really apply loads to those big muscle groups to challenge them. The more weight you can move overall, aka the stronger you are, the better the gains you’ll see. So doing some lifts focusing on building strength can improve your muscle gains.
Then program in some other compound accessory exercises to address those muscles further, working in that 6-15 rep range or the traditional hypertrophy rep range. This can help you really continue to challenge those stronger muscles.
To finish you may want to add in some more isolated moves working in that 15-20 or strength endurance rep range even. These moves may create more metabolic stress or they may be moves that isolate smaller muscles where you can only create so much challenge through loads alone.
By working in these different rep ranges, using different types of moves and even tools, you can even better utilize the different drivers of muscle growth as well – from muscle tissue damage to mechanical tension and metabolic stress.
But just remember, whether you’re working in the 1-5 rep range or the 15-20, no loads should feel light. You should always feel like you can’t do more weight in the given rep range, even focusing on working down in the assigned rep range over the week while increasing loads!
#3: Play With Meal Timing.
Meal timing is one of those things I think should oddly be the LAST of your worries BUT I also think it can be a really powerful tool to use to your advantage when working to get the most efficient muscle gains without gaining fat.
I just want to note that you should not stress over your meal timing, especially to start. If you hit your macros and calories overall for the day, you’re going to see results.
So do not stress if one day you can’t adhere to your ideal meal timing.
However, because making sure our muscles have the fuel they need to recover, repair and rebuild is so key, tweaking our meal timing can be super helpful.
Taking in some carbs pre workout can help really prevent any extra muscle tissue breakdown and allow our muscles to efficiently utilize the protein to build.
You have that immediate fuel to power through a tough workout and you immediately replenish those depleted glycogen stores after for the protein sparing effect.
By also consuming protein pre and post workout, you ensure your body has what it needs to rebuild when it is primed to do so.
A big main reason to eat post workout is actually to create an insulin response.
Insulin is an anabolic hormone, meaning it helps promote muscle growth and spiking it halts protein breakdown while encouraging protein synthesis.
Preventing protein breakdown can also aid in recovery.
Basically, post workout your body is primed to use the calories you give it to rebuild so some sort of post workout fuel can be good to help you build muscle and recover.
A simple carb source is key to replenish depleted glycogen stores and help you create that insulin response to build muscle, reduce soreness and help your body recover more quickly.
Fast digesting proteins and simple carbs are ideal.
Especially the older we get, because we don’t utilize protein as efficiently, the more we can benefit from taking in more protein, closer to 40 grams of protein, post workout.
Now what about Intermittent Fasting and fasted training?
You can 100% do IF and gain muscle. However, fasted training may not be ideal if your focus is truly on gaining muscle.
Studies have shown that even moderate glycogen depletion may impact performance.
So if you are training fasted, you may not be able to push as hard as you would had you had full glycogen stores. And being able to create that progression is key.
Not to mention you do risk your body seeking out energy from other sources, breaking down protein and muscle tissue for energy depending on the length of your fast and the fat stores available.
Especially if you are in a deficit, but really want to focus still on building lean muscle, be careful of fasted training.
So if you do choose to do IF consider breaking your fast prior to your training with even a small snack if muscle hypertrophy is your primary focus!
SUMMARY:
While it is possible to gain muscle and lose fat or achieve body recomposition, don’t expect results overnight. Especially the longer you’ve been training the longer it will take often to create those changes.
And as strange as it sounds, when it comes to body recomposition, slow results are often the REAL results.
So while you may want to do what you can to rush the process focus on staying consistent even when it feels like things aren’t building!
Achieve your ideal body composition and lasting results with a workout and diet routine that actually fits YOUR lifestyle.
Cardio is often the most misused fat loss tool. And your exact level of leanness may impact how you implement cardio in your training routine.
For instance, if you’re super lean with your macros and strength training routine all dialed in, but struggling to break through a plateau and get rid of that last little stubborn bit of fat, you may benefit from some low-intensity steady state cardio AFTER your strength workouts.
This can be done in the form of walking or riding…
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It’s a great way to get in a cardio workout any time you need from the comfort of your own home whether you need to do interval work, intense steady state cardio, tempo training or even include that low intensity post workout cardio to help you bust through a plateau and reach that new level of leanness.
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But before I dive more into using that steady state cardio at the end of your training, and other upsides and downsides to different types of cardio for fat loss, I want to discuss the “myth” of the Fat Burning Zone.
The Myth Of The Fat Burning Zone
First off, what is this supposed fat burning zone?
When you do cardio in that lower-intensity, steady state range or that 55-70% max heart rate zone, you’re supposedly in the Fat Burning Zone.
But this name is kind of misleading.
There is not some magical heart rate zone where you ONLY burn fat as fuel.
But this became the name of that lower intensity heart rate zone because, 50% of the calories burned during a session can come from fat whereas at higher intensities that number may only be about 35% of total calories burned.
So yes, “technically” you do burn more calories from fat at that lower intensity…
However, you’re also burning fewer calories during that same length of time.
That’s why a higher intensity session may ultimately lead to more fat burned during the same workout duration.
A higher intensity session means more calories burned. And while only 35% of the total calories burned may come from fat, that could still overall more fat burned in the same length session.
So while using lower intensity cardio sessions may be a great way to achieve body recomposition it isn’t because you’re staying in some magical fat burning zone.
Now let’s talk about how you can use this steady state cardio to achieve some fabulous body recomposition results.
Really quick before I do though, I feel the need to mention that, honestly, too often we turn to cardio to try to rush those results.
However, there is no out exercising or out dieting time.
Strength training may be even more key for fat loss because it aids in muscle growth and retention which helps us avoid the metabolic adaptions often associated with losing weight. By retaining lean muscle mass, we burn more calories at rest and will ultimately look leaner as we lose fat.
Not to mention we can design our strength routines to still work a diversity of energy systems to maintain our overall cardiovascular health.
That being said, it’s never bad to know how to use every tool in your toolbox to create a routine that you ENJOY that matches your specific needs and goals.
So…What is the best type of cardio for fat loss?
Low intensity steady state cardio!
When I’m talking about lower intensity steady state cardio here, I’m talking about cardio that allows you to talk as you perform it.
You aren’t trying to crush yourself with this form of cardio training.
Actually the exact opposite.
You are riding, walking or rowing at an intensity you feel like you can do for extended periods of time with no real strain.
So how can this “easy” form of cardio be better than running or even HIIT?
While running or riding hard for a longer period of time may burn more calorie and therefore more fat during each session, it can also be catabolic to muscle tissue and fight against your body recomposition goals.
Not to mention over time your body adapts and becomes more efficient, which is great for performance but not so great in terms of trying to burn more calories during your training session. So you actually burn fewer calories over time during these same training sessions.
You also have to be careful with these intense sessions and schedule them correctly around your strength workouts so they don’t hinder your results.
Same actually goes for high intensity interval training sessions.
While there are a ton of different interval designs you can use to work different energy systems, these quick and efficient workouts will drain you.
They are often touted for their effectiveness for weight loss because you can create a calorie burn equal to those longer steady state sessions BUT in less time.
And they can be fun for those that get bored with steady state cardio since you can use a diversity of moves.
They’ve even been recommended for fat loss because of the “after burn” they create.
The After Burn is technically called EPOC or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.
Basically…The harder you workout the more your body has to work to recover or return to homeostasis after and the more energy we have to expend during the recovery process to return to our resting state.
This means we continue to burn calories even AFTER the workout is over. Hence the name AFTER BURN.
But far too often we really overestimate the calories burned from the after burn. And we would see far more benefit from building muscle with strength training.
This is all why, if you’re looking to tweak your routine and expedite those results, the best cardio to include specifically for fat loss is low intensity cardio session.
Casual cardio that’s almost relaxing in a way.
These sessions are easy to add in without hurting your strength training sessions. And they allow you to ADD in this extra movement during the day to help avoid metabolic adaptations and increase your daily energy expenditure.
They won’t fight against your muscle gains either.
AND they may even help you “spot reduce” those stubborn areas.
Now note, this is NOT a magic pill nor a quick fix. So if you’ve every heard you can’t spot reduce, that is basically true.
But there have been some interesting studies showing that low intensity steady state cardio AFTER a training session working those stubborn areas with that last little bit of stubborn fat CAN help you with fat loss or spot lipolysis.
It’s key to note that this will benefit you most when your diet and exercise routine are fully dialed in and you’re trying to break through that plateau to lose that last little bit from those stubborn areas.
So why or how does it work?
You mobilize more fatty acids from tissues surrounding the muscles worked. So if say you have that last little bit of stubborn belly fat, you may choose to work your abs at the end of your strength session to mobilize those fatty acids.
Then by including that low intensity cardio after you’ll utilize those mobilized fatty acids.
Basically, the studies showed you burned the fat from those surrounding tissues!
And because this cardio isn’t super intense, you won’t drain your energy stores further to hinder you from training hard in your next strength session, which is key to allowing you to build lean muscle to only improve your body recomposition results.
Not to mention this lower intensity cardio won’t put you at risk for as much muscle loss as that higher intensity steady state training would.
So if you’re looking to keep your metabolic rate higher, utilize spot reduction or spot lipolysis as much as possible and allow yourself to work hard during your strength session to lose fat as fast as possible, include these low intensity steady state cardio sessions in your routine a few times a week AFTER your strength workouts.
Ready to dial in your diet AND your workouts to get the best results as fast as possible?
The simple fact is, one size doesn’t fit all. And so many things can work for so many different reasons.
And ultimately what leads to our success, especially when it comes to fat loss, is something that we can do consistently LONG-TERM.
Even then, the exact diet or workout routine we follow will constantly be evolving because nothing in life ever stands still.
Your needs and goals change and so should your routine.
Yet, especially with diet, people become very “passionate” about their specific beliefs. It often stems from their own dietary preferences or unique needs based on specific health issues.
They start to demonize specific lifestyle things and tell others they should too.
And these things can turn into fat loss myths that ultimately hold us back from achieving the balance and sustainable routine WE need to see results.
What worked for your friend may NOT work for you. And trying to fit everyone into the same mold leads to disaster.
That’s why today I want to bust 3 fat loss myths and help you dial in your workout and diet routine so you can truly achieve results through a plan that matches YOUR needs and goals.
Myth #1: Carbs make you fat. Fat makes you fat.
Carbs don’t magically make you gain fat. And neither does fat.
So all of those low carb advocates or low fat advocates that say it’s the only way to lose weight?
It’s just because they’ve found the macro ratio right for them and their body and lifestyle.
But no one macro is evil or bad. Each plays an important role in the optimal functioning of our body.
And depending on our needs, goals and training routine? We may need more or less of one or the other to achieve our ideal body composition and lose fat.
Now if you’re about to be that person to comment about all of the evils of carbs or fats (because I guarantee there will be one of each) and all of the health issues they can cause…
Do you not realize the irony in the fact that you will both not agree on which is actually evil?
There are so many factors that may make eating more or less of a specific macro better or worse for us PERSONALLY.
Now if you have a specific health issue?
You may need to eliminate or limit specific things.
That may help you even to lose weight too.
But just to demonize that macro completely if you don’t have any health concerns COULD actually lead to health issues not to mention hold you back from the fat loss results you want.
Now you may be thinking, “But when I cut carbs I lose so much weight on the scale so quickly!”
But that isn’t true fat loss.
When you cut your carbs, you deplete your glycogen stores and lose water weight.
So, sure, you’ll see a quick change on the scale. But it isn’t fat being lost.
And the second you add carbs back in?
You’ll likely gain all of that weight back and more.
Plus this restriction, especially if you love carbs and want to include them at a future date, doesn’t teach you how to actually create a sustainable lifestyle change.
And something we can do consistently is ultimately what helps us achieve the best result.
So don’t demonize a macro because someone else said so. Consider your specific needs and even your training routine.
If you’re less active? You may not need the immediate fuel of carbs so going low carb may help you lose fat.
However if you’re super active and training intensely lifting and doing cardio? Cutting your carbs super low may actually hinder your fat loss results.
Instead you may find going higher carb and lower fat ultimately allows you to feel fueled while achieving your ideal body composition.
It’s why focusing on protein while not demonizing carbs or fat but simply even potentially cycling them based on your training may be best!
Myth #2: Cardio Is Better Than Strength Training To Lose Fat
As much as I love training, as much as I think it can assist in the looking better as you lose fat…
You don’t technically need to work out at all for fat loss.
Working out in general can make the process easier, help us maintain our results long term and can help us create that calorie deficit, but we can’t out exercise our diet.
And often in our attempts to create more of a calorie deficit through exercise, we sabotage our fat loss results.
The focus of our workouts shouldn’t be on how many calories we burned. It should be on moving better and building muscle even so we look leaner, stay healthier and even help ourselves avoid metabolic adaptations as we do lose fat.
So if our workouts aren’t really a tool for fat loss, why are we told we need to do more cardio if we want to lose weight?
Studies have shown you burn more calories during a cardio session. And because of these studies, mainstream media started touting the benefits of cardio for weight loss.
You may even have seen those benefits yourself when you started running after a long time off.
Simply increasing our activity helps us burn more calories. So even without changing our diet at first, we begin to lose weight from those extra calories being burned.
And cardio, especially to start, burns more calories on average than strength training sessions.
However, over time you adjust and adapt to those cardio sessions. It’s why you can run or cycle further faster without fatiguing.
But those gains in your endurance also mean you don’t need or use as much energy.
So even though your watch may say you still burned a ton of calories, your body has become more efficient and you aren’t utilizing as much energy as you did when you first started.
It’s why you may feel like you’re not getting the same results as you once did from those same cardio sessions.
Not to mention, if you’re constantly trying to do MORE in order to burn more calories, you may be holding yourself back and actually creating more metabolic adaptions as you diet and lose weight.
Steady-state cardio can be catabolic to muscle tissue and losing muscle mass can negatively impact our metabolic rate.
Muscle takes more energy to maintain AND it becomes harder to build and retain lean muscle mass as we get older, which may be why we feel like it gets harder to lose weight the older we get!
This is why focusing less on cardio and actually more on strength can be so key.
Not only is it easier to constantly create progressive overload in our strength workouts, BUT we can also help ourselves build lean muscle which will help us keep our metabolic rate healthier and burn more calories even when at rest.
Fighting to maintain that lean muscle even while working to lose fat will help you achieve better body recomposition results and maintain those results long term.
So while you may have turned to cardio in the past, you may actually see better fat loss results by cutting back on cardio as you get leaner while focusing more and more on strength work.
Of course if you love cardio, you do not need to cut it out and the best results happen when we create a sustainable routine, but it may be a reason, besides even better performance for the cardio activities you love, that you do include some strength training in your routine!
(For even more on Is Cardio Key For Weight Loss?, check out this Fitness Hacks Podcast.)
Myth #3: Tracking is restrictive
Tracking is not fun. It’s tedious. Boring. Overwhelming to start. Annoying.
All of those things.
But it isn’t restrictive.
What IS restrictive is our MINDSET toward it.
It’s because we don’t recognize that the tracking is just data.
Just like you measure out ingredients so your cake turns out instead of looking like a burnt mess, you want to measure your food to create the recipe that leads to your body recomposition results.
We aren’t measuring necessarily to cut things out. But simply to make sure we get the right portions to match our needs and goals.
Tracking isn’t just for weight loss. It can help us gain muscle, fuel better. Recognize foods that may even be giving us digestive issues.
We can track to make sure we’re even optimally fueling for our sport to set a PR in our next race.
So we need to separate tracking from restriction in our minds.
We have to remember that we are each unique and one size doesn’t fit all. So don’t fall prey to fat loss myths that would lead you to create restrictive diets or train for hours upon hours doing cardio.
Focus on smalls sustainable changes based on your current routine and get ready to be consistent as those results take time to add up!
If you’re ready to dial in your workouts and your diet so they work together to get you the best results possible, check out my Macro Hacks!
I love giving clients no excuse to skip their workouts. Even if you have very little space and just your own bodyweight, you can get in an amazing full body routine.
Below are 5 moves that can be combined for a killer full-body workout and I’ll share a few ways to modify each to meet your current fitness level.
So even if you’re working out in your living room, you can build strength and muscle!
The key to challenging yourself with just your own bodyweight is using unilateral moves, a combination of both rotational and ANTI-rotational exercise, increasing the range of motion of basic exercises, creating hybrid exercises and even moving in every plane of motion.
And with these 5 moves, I’ll show you how to use all of those forms of progression!
5 Bodyweight Exercises To Use At Home:
Exercise #1: Airborne Lunge
Want a more glute-focused variation of the pistol squat? Or maybe something just a bit more accessible to use in your routine?
Then you’ll love the Airborne Lunge.
If you find the single leg deadlift easy and want to work your quads and hamstrings while targeting your glutes a bit more, this unilateral move is an amazing way to do just that.
It’s also a great way to work through a full range of motion and, because it is a unilateral move, it adds in that balance challenge. Also, you now have to support all of your weight on one side, which increases the “load” you have to carry on both legs.
To do this move, you’ll stand on one leg with your other knee bent to pull your heel up toward your butt. Start by hinging at the hips. This isn’t a squat it is a hip hinge movement, so you will lean forward as you sit your butt back.
Then sink down dropping that other knee down toward the ground. Keep your heel pulled up toward your butt so you can’t push off that other foot as you touch your knee down.
Also, avoid reaching that other knee back too far. Focus on loading that standing glute and sinking to touch the knee down then driving back up through your standing heel. Squeeze your glute at the top and only touch the foot down if you need to balance.
To modify, you do not have to sink as low or you can hold on to a doorway or counter or stair rail.
You could also take a cushion or pillow to give yourself something to lower down to and even do an eccentric only variation. Lowering down using this move, then touching your foot down to stand back up and reset.
And the single leg deadlift is always an option, with a slower tempo, if you do have knee pain with flexion.
To advance the Airborne Lunge, you can also use a slower tempo and even a pause at the bottom.
Exercise #2: Row Push Ups
If you want a push up variation that works not only your chest, shoulders and triceps but also your back, you need to try this hybrid push up variation – the Row Push Up.
This is also a great anti-rotational core move, which will target your obliques and improve your shoulder stability. You’ll even feel your GLUTES working to help you fight the urge to rotate as you row.
While tempting, it is key with this move that you don’t rush the row because you start to lose balance. And unlike the standard push up, where your feet will be together, you want to place your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart so you can really focus on fighting rotation.
When you do this push up, fight to keep your body from rotating as you row your hand up toward your chest. And don’t just simply lift your hand, focus on feeling your back pull your hand up. This is a great way to work on that scapular movement as you stabilize in that plank position.
It will improve your shoulder and scapular stability.
For the full, advanced, variation, you’ll perform a push up in between each row. A great way to modify the movement to start is to first do a row on each side then a push up instead of a push up after each row.
If you can’t yet do a full push up, I recommend modifying off an incline or, if you don’t have an incline, you can do the move completely from your knees.
It’s even possible to do a hybrid of knees and feet, performing the push up on your knees then moving to your toes for the plank row.
To advance the move, play around with tempos, full hand release at the bottom or even do the same but different as a decline variation.
But do not rush through the row thinking it is a simple hand lift.
Exercise #3: Side Lunge to Curtsy Lunge
Improve your hip mobility and build leg strength through multiple planes of motion by combining the side lunge and curtsy lunge into a series.
A great way to progress moves, and create a new challenge for your body, is to slightly alter the plane of motion you are working in and even combine moves so that you are working the same muscle groups but in different ways.
This lunge series is a great way to target not only your entire leg but specifically your glutes and adductors.
If you’re just starting out with this move, you may tap your foot down between reps as you come center or not sink as deep in the lunge.
As you work to advance the lunge series, perform a bigger range of motion, lunging deeper, and avoid touching your foot down between lunges. This forces you to perform a more powerful push out of each lunge to work your legs while also forcing your core to work to keep you balanced.
If you find you have to do a stutter step to push back up and center, you’ve performed too big a range of motion for your current fitness level.
To advance the move, you could slow down the tempo or add in a pulse to each lunge. You can even combine other lunges into the series or find ways to increase the range of motion even using a stair!
If you struggle to properly load your glutes during these moves, touching your hand back toward your heel in the side lunge or using a slight hip hinge, leaning forward to sit your butt back, can help.
Also watch that you don’t rotate open with the curtsy lunge but instead really focus on crossing your leg behind.
If you have knee pain you can reduce the active knee flexion even doing taps from more of a skater squat position.
Exercise #4: Mountain Climber Turkish Bridge
This is a killer rotational core move that will work everything down your frontside AND your backside while improving your shoulder stability!
Glutes, abs, obliques, quads, arms, back…it’s all working! This move does require more shoulder stability though to start so please implement it slowly if you’ve had previous shoulder injuries!
To do this move, start in the plank position and pull one knee across toward the opposite elbow. Really think about pulling that knee in with your abs and not just flexing at your hips. Think about rotating your entire torso to engage your core.
Then, as you extend your leg back out, rotate open toward the ceiling to actually kick that leg behind you so you will place that foot flat on the ground. You will keep that knee bent, almost as if doing a donkey kick as you rotate open.
As you rotate, you’ll place the foot of the bent knee down on the ground and really engage your glutes to move into a Turkish Bridge position. Squeeze your glutes to drive your hips up. Make sure to engage your back to support your shoulder as you reach your other hand up toward the ceiling. Focus on keeping that shoulder over your hand.
If you let your hand sneak out beyond your shoulder, it can place more strain on your shoulder and neck.
Pause for a second, squeezing your glutes, then bring that leg back across as your rotate closed to drive your knee back in toward your elbow.
To modify, you can do this off an incline or you can perform it from more of a bulldog, tabletop bridge position.
Exercise #5: Leg Lowers Plus
This is an advanced core move that works your abs in a stabilizing fashion (as you lift and lower your legs), but also through spinal flexion because of that bonus lift at the top.
It is a very advanced variation of the pelvic tilt progression so if you can’t perform the basic straight leg lowers without your hands behind your lower back, you haven’t YET earned this move.
You will want to start with bent knees and perform a bent knee curl at the top.
The key with this exercise is to engage your core to brace and protect your lower back as you lower your legs down. You will do this by posteriorly tilting your pelvic and pressing your lower back into the ground
When you lower your legs toward the ground, flex your glutes even at the bottom.
Lift your legs back up toward the ceiling and then, as if they are attached by a string, press them straight up toward the ceiling flexing your spine to lift your butt up.
Do not swing or use moment to lift as much as you can avoid it. I know it’s tempting to get a bigger range of motion since the lift can feel really small.
You can have your hands on the ground beside you and even push down into the ground to help you better engage your abs for that little plus lift at the top.
Or you can have your hands behind your head and even lift your head up to work your core more.
If you feel your lower back with basic leg lowers, keep your knees bent as you lower and curl in. And think about curling your knees in toward your head for the plus. Move slowly so that you aren’t using momentum!
2 Full-Body Bodyweight Home Workouts:
Not only can we slightly tweak moves to match our needs and goals, but we can also adjust our IMPLEMENTATION of the same basic moves.
Below are two different ways to use these moves to build full-body strength. One is interval based while the other is a rep ladder. Both will help you increase your training density to build strength using just your own bodyweight!
WORKOUT #1: The Bodyweight Strength Ladder
Start with 10 reps of each move (or per side) on the first round through the circuit. The next round through, perform 9 reps. Then 8,7,6…until you perform one rep on the final round. Rest only as needed. As the reps go down, progress movements as needed so they are still challenging. Time how long it takes you to beat that time next time through!
CIRCUIT: 10-1 rep per side Airborne Lunges 10-1 rep per side Row Push Ups 10-1 rep per side Side to Curtsy Lunge 10-1 rep per side Mountain Climber Turkish Bridge 10-1 rep Leg Lowers Plus
WORKOUT #2: The One-Minute Max Out
Set a timer for 1 minute intervals of work and complete each move back to back without resting. Perform as many reps of each move as you can in that time and record how many you do each round to try and beat it. Rest for 1 minute between rounds. Complete 3-5 rounds through. Beginners can start with just 30 seconds per move.
CIRCUIT: 1 minute Airborne Lunges 1 minute Row Push Ups 1 minute Side to Curtsy Lunge 1 minute Mountain Climber Turkish Bridge 1 minute Leg Lowers Plus 1 minute Rest
Want to learn how to get amazing results dialing in your bodyweight workouts AND your nutrition? Check out my Macro Hacks!
Looking for a calorie-torching HIIT workout you can do anywhere, no equipment needed? Then you’ll love these 4 Full-Body HIIT Workouts using just your own bodyweight!
Whether you have 5 minutes or 30 minutes, these high intensity interval workouts have you covered!
So whether you need a quick option to do at home on a busy day, or a way to burn fat while you travel, you have 4 killer workout options below!
4 Bodyweight HIIT Workouts
You’ll find each workout in the videos at the times below. And for quick reference, I’ve written out the workouts below as well!
1. The 30 Minute 30s Blast! (0:10) 2. The 5-Minute Full-Body Cardio Burner (3:34) 3. The 10-Minute Cardio Pyramid (4:32) 4. The 30/15 Full-Body Blast (6:54)
The 30 Minute 30s Blast!
Complete 4 rounds through each circuit, moving from exercise to exercise without resting. Bring your heart rate down between rounds with the active rest movement. If needed, fully rest during that time instead of performing the exercise. Or perform a modified variation that allows you to recover. Rest 1-2 minutes after completing all rounds of a circuit before moving on to the next one.
CIRCUIT #2: 30 seconds Sumo Squat Jumps 30 seconds Criss Cross Push Up Hop 30 seconds Low Side To Side Lunges 30 seconds Lateral Crawl Shoulder Tap 30 seconds Two-Way March “Active Rest”
CIRCUIT #3: 30 seconds Double Hop Burpee 30 seconds Climber Push Up Rolls 30 seconds Lateral Hops 30 seconds C-Sit Rotational Knees 30 seconds Fighter Practice “Active Rest”
The 5-Minute Full-Body Cardio Burner
Set a timer for 20 second intervals of work and move from exercise to exercise without resting. Complete 3 rounds through.
CIRCUIT: 20 seconds per side Curtsy To Skip 20 seconds Downward Dog To Knee Tuck Push Up 20 seconds In and Out Squats 20 seconds Rotational Row Sit Up
The 10-Minute Cardio Pyramid
Set a timer for 30 second intervals of work and move from exercise to exercise without resting. You will go through the exercises to the “active rest” then go backward through the moves. If needed, fully rest during the 30 seconds of active rest.
PYRAMID: 30 seconds Double Hop Burpee 30 seconds Criss Cross Push Up Hop 30 seconds Squat Cross Jacks 30 seconds Lateral Crawl Shoulder Tap 30 seconds C-Sit Rotational Knees 30 seconds Lateral Hops 30 seconds Climber Push Up Rolls 30 seconds Rotational Row Sit Up 30 seconds Sumo Squat Jumps 30 seconds Two-Way March “Active Rest” 30 seconds Sumo Squat Jumps 30 seconds Rotational Row Sit Up 30 seconds Climber Push Up Rolls 30 seconds Lateral Hops 30 seconds C-Sit Rotational Knees 30 seconds Lateral Crawl Shoulder Tap 30 seconds Squat Cross Jacks 30 seconds Criss Cross Push Up Hop 30 seconds Double Hop Burpee
The 30/15 Full-Body Blast
Set a timer for 30 second intervals of work with 15 seconds to transition between moves. Complete 4-6 rounds through. Rest an additional 45 seconds between rounds if needed otherwise only rest the 15 seconds between moves!
CIRCUIT: 30 seconds Double Lunge Burpee 15 seconds Rest 30 seconds Push Up Scorpions 15 seconds Rest 30 seconds In and Out Squats 15 seconds Rest 30 seconds Lateral Crawl Shoulder Tap 15 seconds Rest 30 seconds Elbow Bicycles 15 seconds Rest
