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NO EXCUSES WORKOUT: TEN EXERCISES YOU CAN DO ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME

In an ideal world, you’d always be able to make it to the gym or your favorite boutique fitness studio to get a workout in, right? Unfortunately, we all know life doesn’t work that way. If you want to prioritize fitness or are starting a weight loss journey but struggle to know what to do when you can’t stick to your normal routine, try these ten exercises. No excuses – there’s no equipment required and you can do them anywhere at any time with just your body weight!

Top 10 exercises

  • 1. Mountain climber: Featured in our JNL Fusion Program, this is an all-time favorite at-home workout move that challenges your whole body. Get ready to blast your core and max out your heart rate with mountain climbers. To perform this fast-paced move, start out on your hands and knees with your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips. Bring your left foot forward until it’s under your chest while you extend your right leg behind you. Jump and switch legs, keeping your hands on the floor and your core engaged. See how many you can do in a minute! You’ll be feeling like you’re in boot camp in no time.
  • 2. Burpee: Burpees are pretty infamous, and with good reason – they’re tough a great cardio blast, and they get your heart rate up quick! Do you know what else they are? Effective and easy to do anywhere. To do a burpee, squat down and place your hands on the floor and jump back into a plank position. Lower down and press back up to do a pushup, then jump your feet forward into a squat position. Finish the burpee by jumping up into the air and raising your arms over your head. If you’d prefer to keep things low impact, just stand up forcefully and lift your arms. Depending on your fitness level, you might consider adding in some jumping jacks or lunges between movemens to challenge yourself. Try one of our JNL Fusion workouts to see what other moves to add to your next burpee superset.
  • 3. Plank: They don’t call planks a total body exercise for nothing! This core blaster will not only work to strengthen your abs, low back, and glutes, you’ll also feel it in your arms and legs, too. To get into a plank, lie facedown with your legs extended and hands next to your shoulders. Press up into a pushup position, with your hands positioned underneath your shoulders and arms extended (elbows should be soft, not locked), and toes making contact with the ground. You want to have one nice long line along the body, so your hips should neither be sagging down or lifted up higher than the rest of your body. You can also opt to lower down to your forearms for this movement. Hold the position for 60 seconds or as long as you can! To try some additional plank variations, check out our Figure 8 Ultimate Abs Extreme workout.
  • 4. Wall sit: Everyone’s biggest nightmare from gym class has returned in the form of the wall sit! Love it or hate it, this do-anywhere move is sure to get your quads burning in no time. All you need is a wall – literally! To perform a wall sit, just slide your back down a wall until your thighs are parallel to the floor and your knees are at a right angle, directly above your ankles. Keep your core engaged and back straight. Aim to hold the position for 60 seconds. For an extra challenge, hold some weight while doing this or use one of our Body FX bands around your thighs, and feel your quads shake!
  • 5. Calf raise: You can perform a calf raise anywhere, with or without a step. If you have a step, stand on the step facing forward so that your heels hang off the back of the step, stretching your achilles. Press up onto the balls of the feet, lifting the heels and feeling the calves engage. Slowly lower back down. No step? No problem. You can also perform this motion standing flat on the floor, you’ll just have a smaller range of motion. If you have weights handy, you can add a dumbbell to each hand to increase the challenge. Try our 1 Minute Calves workout to learn additional calf moves that do not require any equipment!
  • 6. Superman: This low-maintenance move requires no equipment and is perfect for strengthening your lower back, glutes, arms, and legs. Lay face down on the floor with your arms and legs extended. In one motion, raise your arms and legs off the floor so that only your stomach is touching the ground. If this exercise bothers your lower back, limit your range of motion and only lift as high as you can go with no pain. Keep your glutes engaged throughout the movement! This move is also featured in our JNL Fusion workouts. Check out the Ballistic Backside video to see how to incorporate supermans into your next equipment-free workout!
  • 7. Tricep Dip: To tone up the backs of your arms, all you’ll need is a step, bench, or chair. Sit near the step or bench with knees bent slightly, then grab the edge of the step and straighten your arms. Lower down until your arms are bent at a 90-degree angle, bringing your body weight into your arms. Straighten your arms back out and press your heels into the floor to drive up. Repeat! We also have a 1 Minute Triceps video with additional tricep moves that do not require any equipment!
  • 8. Arm circles: Arm circles are a simple but effective exercise that you can use to tone your arms with no equipment. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and core engaged. Lift your arms out to the sides in a “T” shape. Begin making small gentle circles (about 1 foot in diameter) with your arms while keeping your core engaged. If you have a dumbbell, water bottle, or can of soup handy, you can make this movement a little more challenging by adding some weight. You’ll feel the burn in your shoulders and arms in no time but aim to keep it going for 20 to 30 seconds at a time.
  • 9. Bicycle: Looking for a belly fat buster that you can do anywhere? The bicycle is an effective move that targets each layer of the core. To do a bicycle, lie on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor, and hands behind your head with elbows out wide. Bring your knees toward your chest. Straighten your left leg out, pressing away from you, while lifting your upper body and bringing your left elbow towards your right knee. Alternate as if pedaling a bike. For more equipment-free ab exercises, press play on the Figure 8 10 Minute Abs workout!
  • 10. Hip bridge: Hip bridges are a great way to strengthen your glutes and core, and they’re easy to do anywhere. To perform a hip bridge (also known as a glute bridge or shoulder bridge), lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet hip-width apart. Your arms should rest gently at your sides. Press your hips up into the air and engage your glutes; only your feet, shoulders, arms, and head will touch the floor. You can lower back down slowly and lift back up, or alternate lifting one foot off the ground and then the other to isolate the glutes. Play with the placement of your feet for additional variations – bringing your feet out wide will engage the outer hips, for example. For more at-home lower body moves, check out our Rhythm Fit Lower Body workout.