Slick floor bridge curls

Primary muscle group(s): Glutes & Hip Flexors, Hamstrings

Secondary: Abs, Lower Back

The key here is that we are reinforcing how your glutes and hamstrings need to work together in coordination in order to achieve a successful movement. To maintain this high bridge the whole time, will ensure the correct muscles are being activated.

Instructions:

Prep: Find hard slippery floor like a hard wood floor or tile floor that you can wear socks and slide your feet over it. Alternatively, put your feet on some plastic lids and use them on the carpet.

• Lie on a hard wood floor with your knees bent so that your feet (with socks on) are flat on the floor. Keep your back straight.
• Place your hands out to your sides palms flat for stability.
• Draw your heels closer to your hips by pulling with your hamstrings. As your hamstrings pull your heels, keep your glutes flexed to maintain a straight line from your knees to your shoulders.
• Maintain your back, hips and thighs in a straight line and pull your heels until your shins are vertical. Hold for a count of one.
• Return to the start position by lowering your hips back to the floor and your legs to a straight position.
  Pause then repeat.

Long leg marches

Primary muscle group(s): Glutes & Hip Flexors, Hamstrings

Secondary: Abs, Lower Back

This exercise beautifully works the entire posterior chain. It fires your muscles a lot more than you think it does. It looks easy, but you’ll see when you try it.

Instructions:

• Lie on the floor with your legs straight, your arms at the side and your back straight.
• Squeeze your glutes and hamstrings so that your hips, legs and lower back all come off the floor so the only body parts in contact with the floor are your heels, head, shoulders and upper back.
• Maintaining this position, lift each leg in turn while keeping it straight and raise it as far as it will go.
• Pause, lower to the start position, then repeat with the other leg.

High hip bucks

Primary muscle group(s): Glutes & Hip Flexors, Hamstrings

Secondary: Abs, Lower Back

You can use any elevated stable surface like a couch (sofa), low table or stairs. Make sure you ensure its the glutes that really drive the movement here.

Instructions:

Prep: Find an elevated surface like a sofa, low table or stairs.

• Lie on the floor with your heels resting up on an elevated surface.
• Have your knees bent, your arms on the floor and your back straight.
• Drive your hips upwards by squeezing your glutes until you form a straight line from your shoulders, up through your hips and to your knees.
• Pause briefly and return to the start position.
• Keep your hips off the floor for the entire exercise if possible
• Repeat.

Variable wall pushups

Primary muscle group(s): Chest

Secondary:  Abs, Shoulders, Triceps

By positioning in a decline position, we are working the upper portion of our chest. As you fatigue, simply walk your feet down the wall in stages to make it gradually easier to keep reps going. See alternates below if you find this too difficult.

Instructions:

Prep: Find study wall. 

• With your feet against a wall, bring yourself into a push-up position.
• Walk your feet up the wall until you are in a decline press up position.
• With a tight core, allow your feet to support you as you slowly lower yourself towards the floor.
• Pause at the bottom, feeling the stretch in your chest, then push yourself back up.
• Repeat.
• As you fatigue, lower your foot position to gradually make the exercise easier, one bit at a time until your feet are on the floor.

Beginners

Instead of leaning against a wall, place your body on an elevated surface like backwards up some stairs or on a couch (sofa). As you fatigue, transition to having your knees on the floor. See example below.

Advanced

This is a difficult exercise and is naturally more advanced. To make it more difficult, lift your head back slightly to get your chest a bit lower to the ground. You can also experiment with your hands being a little closer together.

Alt bw lateral raises

Primary muscle group(s): Shoulders, Abs

Instead of moving a limb in space to work the muscle, we are moving the body around a fixed limb to train the muscle. Both methods achieve the same outcome which is abduction of the arm which actives the shoulders.

Instructions:

• Get into plank position, supporting your body on your toes. Your body should be straight and elbows at 90 degrees. Keep abs engages and hips lifted off the floor.
• Keeping one arm and shoulder in a fixed position, rotate the body around that shoulder while bringing the other arm out into a mirror relative position of the fixed arm.
• Squeeze the fixed shoulder hard as you pause in this contracted position.
• Slowly return to the start position.
• repeat the movement on the other side.

Beginners

Complete the same movement on your knees instead of your toes.

Bodyweight tricep extensions

Primary muscle group(s): Triceps

Secondary:  Abs, chest, shoulders

This tricep exercise is more for putting the long head of the triceps into greater activation. Allow your head to dip down under the fixed surface to allow your arms to extend further overhead.

Instructions:

• Stand next to a sturdy flat top surface with your feet 1 – 2 metres away and place your hands onto the edge of the surface with palms down.
• Perform a press up movement onto the edge of the surface but also allowing your head and body to dip below the surface. This allows your elbows to move higher towards your head and will stretch your triceps further (especially the long head).
• Use your triceps to squeeze yourself back upwards until your arms are straight.
• Keep your body angled and leaning into the surface the whole time.
• Repeat.

Beginners

Complete the same movement but without dipping your head and let yourself stay a little further upright with your elbows kept a little lower, called the bench tricep press.

Advanced:

You can elevate your feet if able to put more weight onto your hands and more emphasis onto your triceps. Ensure all surfaces are stable and safe.

Alternating Step Ups

Primary muscle group(s): Quads, Glutes

Secondary: Abs, Calves, Hamstrings & Hip Flexors

The step up is a great exercise for engaging the quads. Try to keep your torso as upright as you possibly can. If you crossover your feet behind you slightly when you step back then you can challenge the quads a little extra.

Instructions:

• Stand up straight with a tight core with a study chair, box or step in front of you.
• Step up onto the box with one leg keeping your torso upright.
• With your other leg, bring it up high as you transfer all your weight onto the step. Lift your arms above your head for an added calorie burn.
• Carefully step down to the original standing position.
• Repeat with the other leg.

Beginners

Change the height of the box as needed for easier difficulty.

Advanced

Increase the height of the step slightly. Carry some weighted items like dumbbells, water bottles or weighted bags or wear a weighted backpack to add more difficulty.

Alternating Reverse Lunges

Primary muscle group(s): Hamstrings, Glutes

Secondary: Abs, Calves, Quads & Hip Flexors

By stepping backwards instead of forwards, you experience less stress and anterior pain on the knees. Even if you have knee problems, this is going to work for you, regardless of what level you’re performing it at.

Instructions:

• Stand up straight with a tight core.
• Step back with one leg into a lunge position and allow your torso to move down vertically. Keeping the weight even on both feet.
• Keep your hands on your hips or outstretched in front of you.
• Push upwards and forwards to the original standing position.
• Repeat with the other leg.

Split Squat Jumps

Primary muscle group(s): Hamstrings, Quads

Secondary: Abs, Calves, Glutes & Hip Flexors

With this movement, we really burn it out and aim to be as explosive and powerful as possible to really burn the calories. Your glutes are maximally engaged here.

Instructions:

• Stand up straight with a tight core.
• Lower yourself into a sprinters lunge position as in the previous exercise.
• Explode upwards into the air and swap leg position.
• Lower back into position with the legs swapped.
• Repeat.

Beginners

If you need to, make that switch at a higher position. Come out of the lunge a little more before you swap legs. You can also do the movement as steps instead of jumps if you need to. Aim for power and explosiveness as much as you feel you can safely complete.

Chin ups

Primary muscle group(s): Biceps, Middle Back / Lats

Secondary: Glutes & Hip Flexors

The chin up focuses a little more onto the biceps. Pull movements like this require something for you to pull your body weight on. If you don’t have a pull up bar in your house, no worries. Simply use a dowel or heavy duty pole between two chairs and pull yourself up to that from a floor seated position. See image below for alternative options using doors, tables and railings.

Instructions:

• Standing under a bar, reach up and hold onto the bar with an underhand shoulder width grip.
• Keep your arms straight and hang from the bar so that your arms are taking all of your weight.
• Keeping your body straight and not swinging your weight, pull your body up towards the bar by curling your biceps and lifting your body upwards.
• Continue lifting until your chin is over the bar. You should feel a “squeeze” in your biceps as they contract.
• Once your biceps have completely contracted at the top of the movement, slowly lower your body to the starting position.
• Repeat.

By using an underhand close grip, your biceps are doing most of the lift, rather than your back. It doesn’t matter if you keep your legs straight or bent at the knees with your feet crossed, but i recommend keeping them still and not swinging.

Beginners

If you can’t pull your bodyweight, use your legs or a resistance band attached between the bar and your knees to assist in lifting your body weight. Or pull using a table top with an underhand grip and your feet on the ground (same as workout A, see below).

Advanced

As your strength increases, you can add weight by using a weight belt.

Inverted Wide Rows

Primary muscle group(s): Lower Back, Middle Back / Lats

Secondary: Abs, Biceps

This is more of a horizontal pull instead of a vertical pull.

Instructions:

Prep: You need the edge of a table, counter top or low bar. Something solid and mid height to grab onto from below.

• Lay on the floor on your back under the table, grab the edge of the table with a wide overhand grip.
• With your lats and middle back, pull your chest up to the underside of the table. Keep your abs tight to support your spine and maintain a straight line from your shoulders to your heels.
• Lowever yourself in control and repeat.

Beginners

To make it easier, bend your knees and put your feet on the ground. The more you bend your legs, the easier it becomes (see below).

Back Widow

Primary muscle group(s): Middle Back / Lats, Upper Back & Traps

Secondary: Shoulders

You’ll see all the muscles in the upper back flexing here. The rear delts also get a good workout here. A simple looking exercise but very effective.

Instructions:

• Lay on the floor on your back. Position your elbows at a 45 degree angle to your torso with your forearms off the ground.
• Drive your elbows into the ground behind you to lift your upper back off the ground.
• Pushing through the elbows will engage the rhomboids, rear delts and upper back to do the movement.
• Keep your lower body and feet flat on the ground.
• Squeeze and hold for a moment in peak contraction.
• Repeat

Ab Halos

Primary muscle group(s): Abs, Obliques

Secondary: Glutes & Hip Flexors, Quadriceps

With this exercise, we aren’t just getting activation of the lower abs, we are also getting a bit of bottom up rotation to engage the obliques as well.

Instructions:

• Lie on your back on a mat with arms either side to support your pelvis.
• Legs straight out in front of you, ankles together and feet slightly off the floor.
• Bending your knees slightly and raise your legs by flexing the hips until they are completely flexed.
• As you raise your legs upwards to a near vertical position, bring your hips off the floor and draw a half circle shape (half halo) with your feet in the air.
• Contract your oblique muscles hard and deep to get good activation.
• Reverse the halo drawing and alternate back and forth keeping your legs elevated.

Beginners

For an easier version, bend your legs more and achieve the same movement with bent knees instead of straight legs (see below)

Knee Tucks

Primary muscle group(s): Abs

Instructions:

• Sit on the floor with your upper body leaning backwards and your hands down on the floor to support you.
• With your legs slightly bent, raise them off the floor and draw them into your chest by contracting your abs. Bring your upper body inwards slightly at the same time to help reduce the distance between your knees and chest.
• Have as little weight on your hands as possible during the movement and just have your hands down for stability and support.
• Repeat moving your upper body and legs in and out with your abs.

Advanced

If you want to make it more difficult, raise your hands off the floor and hold them out straight in front of you (see below). This requires more stability and balance to achieve the movement in a controlled way. If you find yourself losing balance too much and you aren’t getting many reps done, then do the easier version and come back to it later.

Sit up Elbow Thrusts

Primary muscle group(s): Abs, Obliques

Secondary: Glutes & Hip Flexors, Quadriceps

Instructions:

• Lay on your back on the floor with your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent at 90 degrees.
• Perform a sit up with your hands in front of you together and as you reach the top of the movement, rotate your torso to bring one elbow towards the opposite knee. This provides a bit of oblique work for you.
• Lower yourself back to the floor and repeat with a rotation to the other side.

Beginners

For an easier version, don’t go all the way down the floor, just as far as you feel you can while being able to still come back up again.

Reverse Hypers

Primary muscle group(s): Lower Back

Secondary: Glutes & Hip Flexors, Hamstrings

An awesome exercise. Lift your legs by first squeezing your glutes for the initial movement, and then allowing your lower back to take over for the rest.

Instructions:

• Lie face down on a bench or sofa with your upper thighs and lower hips falling off the end. You must be able to bend at the waist freely.
• Start with your body in a straight line head to toe.
• Place your arms across your chest, behind or at the side of your head.
• Contracting your glutes and lower back to bring your legs upwards just above horizontal.
• Pause, lower your legs and repeat.