The basic total body workout targets all the muscles in the body, including the hips, glutes, thighs, chest, back, shoulders, arms and abs. This routine is short, simple, and a great way for beginners to get started with strength training.
Exercise one to three non-consecutive days a week, taking at least one day of rest between workouts. For best weight loss results, combine this workout with regular cardio and a healthy, low-calorie diet.
Place a ball on the wall behind you and lean against it, keeping feet about shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees and, keeping weight in the heels, lower into a squat, keeping the knees behind the toes.
Repeat for 1 set of 12 reps, and hold dumbbells for added intensity. Using a chair or rail for balance, stand in split stance with feet about 3 feet apart.
While keeping your torso straight, bend your knees and lower body toward the floor without allowing the front knee to bend over the toe. Push through the heel to come back up, and repeat for 12 reps, then switch sides.
Get into pushup position with your hands a bit wider than your shoulders, and your knees on the floor. Keep your back flat while you lower into a pushup until the elbows are at 90-degree angles.
For a back exercise, bend at the waist to about 45 degrees, keeping your back flat and holding medium-heavy weights in each hand. Squeeze the back as you bend the elbows, pulling them up toward the torso in a rowing motion.
Sit or stand, abs engaged, and hold dumbbells just over the shoulders, keeping elbows bent like goal posts. Press the weights overhead, without arching the back, concentrating on the shoulders.
Lower down until dumbbells are at ear-level, and repeat for 1 set of 12 reps. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding medium-light dumbbells in front of your thighs, palms out.
Bend your elbows and curl dumbbells towards the shoulders. Lie on the floor and hold weights straight up overhead, palms facing in.
Bend the elbows and lower the weights down until they're next to the ears. Straighten the arms, squeezing the triceps and repeat for 1 set of 12 reps.
Lie down with the ball under the mid-upper back, keeping hands crossed or behind the head. Contract your abs to lift shoulders off the ball. Lie on your back and cross your right foot over the left knee.
Lift your shoulder blades off the floor and curl the left shoulder toward the right knee, contracting the right side of waist. Hold medium-heavy dumbbells and stand in split stance with feet about 3 feet apart.
While keeping your torso straight, bend your knees and lunge down without allowing the front knee to bend over the toe. Push through the heel to come back up.
Stand with feet hip-distance apart, medium-heavy dumbbells in front of thighs. Keeping the shoulders back, abs in and the back straight, tip from the hips and lower the weights toward the floor.
Lie on the ball with the head, neck and shoulders supported, knees bent and toes lifted. Hold medium-heavy dumbbells on the hips.
Begin the move by lowering the hips toward the floor without rolling on the ball. Squeeze the glutes to raise hips until the body is in a straight line.
Get in to push-up position with the ball under the shins or upper thighs. Place hands on the floor wider than shoulders on either side of the chest.
Keep your back flat and abs in as you lower in to a push-up until the elbows are at 90-degree angles. Lie face up on a bench or step and hold medium-heavy dumbbells over the chest, palms facing in.
Keeping the elbows slightly bent and fixed, lower the arms out to the sides to chest level. Squeeze the chest to bring the arms back up. Sit on an exercise ball and roll forward until you're at an incline.
Holding medium-heavy weights, curl the weights up toward the shoulders and lower back down, keeping a slight bend in the elbows at the bottom of the movement. Bend at the waist, so that the torso is parallel to the floor, back flat and abs in.
Holding light-medium weights begin the movement with elbows bent next to the torso. While keeping elbows stable, extend the arms out behind you, squeezing the triceps.
Author Resource:-
Ronald Pedactor is a fitness trainer. He has been coaching athletes for more then 20 years. He recommends the bestSpinning Bike to achieve your highest biking performance.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.massagebyben.com/articles/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites 