101 Bodyweight Home Workout Ideas

Looking for a new bodyweight home workout that you’ll love?

We’ve got it for you from Motivate — experts in one-on-one online wellness and personal training. Over the past 4 years they’ve helped thousands of clients with private training in London, and since last spring have trained hundreds of clients digitally.

Today, they’re sharing a bodyweight home workout we can all do from the comfort of our living rooms … or basements … or bedrooms … or wherever you may be!

Most of us are unfortunately still stuck at home, despite the celebration of the New Year and the hope 2021 brings. Despite this, we can still reach our 2021 goals! It is so important to stay active during these strange times, wherever you are. We have a fantastic and effective equipment-free home workout for you by our superstar Tash to try that is suitable for all levels of fitness.

Bodyweight Home Workout Circuit

The workout is in a circuit format, so perform each exercise back to back with as little rest in between the exercises as possible, and repeat the circuit three to four times. In between laps of the circuit, rest between 60-90 seconds.

If you have weights or resistance bands with you at home, feel free to incorporate them!

Bodyweight Squat: 8-10 reps

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This foundational compound exercise works your whole lower body.

• Start standing with your feet hip distance apart.
• Bend your knees and lower yourself as if you are about to sit on a chair, keeping your heels flat on the floor.
• Lower your bum to the ground until it is at least parallel with your knees.
• Pushing through the heels, bring yourself back up to standing.
• Keep your chest proud throughout the exercise and make sure not to arch your back.
• To hit the glutes more with a squat, you can bring your legs slightly further than hip distance apart and point your toes outwards.
• Feel free to add a resistance band above your knees here if you’ve got one to intensify the burn!

Bodyweight Reverse Lunge: 6-8 reps each side

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This is another great exercise for the lower body which is really effective using just body weight as you are placing more load on one leg!

• Start standing with both feet on the floor, hip distance apart.
• Step one foot back into a lunge position, bending at both knees until your back knee nearly touches the ground and both are at a 90-degree angle. Your front knee should be in line with your ankle.
• Pushing through your front heel, bring your back foot up to meet your front foot until you are standing back at your starting position.

Good Morning: 8-10 reps

This is a really effective full body exercise which targets your posterior chain — all the way from your lower back to your hamstrings. 

• Start standing straight with your feet flat on the floor, hip distance apart. Place your hands behind your head.
• Bracing your core, hinge at the hips, bending forwards as you send your bum out behind you, allowing a slight bend in your knees.
• Keep your spine in a neutral position with your neck relaxed.
• You should feel a stretch in your hamstrings here.
• Slowly and with control, bring yourself back to standing.

Push-up: 8-10 reps

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This is a fantastic upper-body exercise that will get your upper-body strength up in no time!

• Start in a high plank position, with your palms flat on the ground directly above your shoulders, shoulder width apart.
• Engage your core and your glutes.
• Slowly bend your elbows and lower your chest to the floor — get as low as you can.
• Push through your palms to straighten back up to high plank.
• If a full push-up is too much for you, you can do this on your knees, or elevated on a bench/sofa, or even against the wall.
• Make sure you keep your back flat throughout the move.

Plank Opposite Shoulder Taps: 10-12 reps

This exercise works your core, shoulders, and chest — a great multitasker!

• Start in a high plank position with your palms flat on the ground, shoulder width apart, and directly above your shoulders.
• Engaging your core and your glutes, bend one arm up to meet the opposite shoulder and place it down with control.
• You want your hips to stay facing the ground as much as possible, so the only part of your body moving is your arm.

Lying Leg Raises: 8-10 reps

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This is the ultimate ab exercise to really strengthen and engage your lower abs. 

• Start lying on your back on the floor, with your arms at your sides and your legs outstretched.
• Raise your legs, keeping them as straight as you can, until your toes are pointing towards the ceiling.
• Lower your legs back down to the ground slowly, with control, until they are hovering just above the ground.
• You want to make sure your lower back stays in contact with the floor the whole time — if it starts to arch, you have lowered your legs too far!

Depending on your fitness level, you should repeat this circuit of exercises between three to five times. If you are finding it too easy, increase the number of reps! To ensure you are progressing with your workouts, repeat this circuit one to two times per week, adding weight or increasing reps every time you perform the same exercise.

And, don’t forget to stretch afterwards!