We know that juggling a busy lifestyle and hitting the gym as much as you would like can be difficult to manage. As such, to help keep you moving when you don’t have time to go to the gym, here are 10 of the top exercises you can do anywhere at any time. So, you do not have to sacrifice your fitness goals and continue to build strength, muscle and fitness levels.
- Squat Jump
Biggest Benefit: Strengthens the lower body.
Jumping squats are great for building leg strength; this exercise can be performed anywhere and targets the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes1. Due to the high intensity of a jumping squat, they can also improve cardiovascular fitness. They are an effective way to burn calories and lose fat whilst building stronger and more powerful lower body muscles.
- Mountain Climbers
Biggest Benefit: Works almost every muscle group.
Mountain climbers combine cardio and strengthening into one workout, meaning they effectively raise the heart rate, burn calories and support good heart health due to the constant leg switching.
- Burpee
Biggest Benefit: High cardio benefits.
Burpees are powerful exercises, a full body workout and often considered to be one of the best ways to exercise outside of the gym. One of the biggest benefits of burpees is that the whole body is challenged: all the major muscle groups, the lungs, the heart, and overall strength.
- Glute Bridge
Biggest Benefit: Targets the glutes.
Glute bridges are an extremely effective way of building the glute muscles, whilst strengthening the lower back and hips. In addition to the lower body area, bridges are a great way to improve core stability, which is important for people with office jobs who sit at a desk all day.
- Side Plank
Biggest Benefit: Challenges the core.
Side planks are a simple and effective exercise to develop and maintain a strong, stable core and work the glutes, hips and shoulders at the same time. This exercise focuses on the obliques, the muscles that sit on either side of the torso and are vital in stabilising the spine, pelvis and overall mobility.
- Leg Lifts
Biggest Benefit: Improves balance and posture.
Leg lifts isolate the ab muscles, rectus abdominis and external obliques, meaning they are perfect for building and maintaining strength in the core area. Core strength is vital to overall health and fitness and plays a pivotal role in balance, posture and everyday movements.
- Push Ups
Biggest Benefit: Reduces risk of cardiac illnesses.
Push-ups are extremely good for the body; fitness experts claim that if people only do one exercise going forward, push-ups are the best choice. While they have many upper body strengthening benefits, they are also significantly beneficial for cardiovascular health, and research suggests that they reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke2.
- Curtsy Lunges
Biggest Benefit: Improves muscle imbalances.
Curtsy lunges are great for targeting smaller areas of muscles that may not be activated in another exercise. The quads and small stabiliser muscles will be working hard in curtsy lunges, and building these muscles will help muscle imbalances and improve overall body mobility and strength.
- Donkey Kicks
Biggest Benefit: Builds the glutes.
Donkey kicks are one of the most effective ways to build the glute area and are easy to do anywhere. In addition to being great for building bigger glutes, they can massively improve hip movement and correctly adjust the pelvis for better overall posture.
- Jackknife
Biggest Benefit: Core strength and stability.
The Jackknife is a combination of strength and flexibility; it engages the core and helps improve the flexibility of the spine and hamstrings. As one of the most effective core exercises out there, doing the exercise regularly will help grow and strengthen the abs.
No matter where you’re working out, it’s important to help your body recover! As such, you should aim to consume protein as soon as possible after a workout to aid recovery. Whether that’s a high-protein snack, like the Protein Cookie or a protein shake, increasing your protein intake post exercise will help your body to rebuild muscles.
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[2] https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/muscles-worked-push-ups#benefits