You don’t need equipment to get a great full body workout– these moves will prove it. 

Doing the right no-equipment exercises will let you target muscles you don’t regularly use when working with barbells, resistance bands and machines. If you’re looking for a challenge, here are some of the toughest body-weight exercises put together in a sequence. 

1. Pistol squat

Let’s start with the hardest. The pistol squat is a single-leg squat that calls on your flexibility as well as stability and balance. Here’s how to do it

• Begin standing with your feet together and parallel.
• Extend one leg straight in front of you, with your heel hovering off the floor. Raise your arms straight out in front of you.
• Keeping your core tight and your spine straight, bend your standing leg and lower your body, keep your other leg extended in front of you. Keep standing foot flat on the floor.
• Bend your standing knee as far as you can. The aim is to get your extended leg parallel to the floor. Straighten your standing leg to return upright, keeping your extended leg straight. Switch legs and repeat.

2. Burpees

You probably guessed that burpees would make the list. They’re hard and I’ve yet to meet someone who likes doing them. However, they’re a great cardio exercise and they work every muscle in your body, strengthening your arms, legs, booty, glutes, abs, and more. Here’s how to do it:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, weight in your heels, and your arms at your sides.
• Push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body into a squat.
• Place your hands on the floor directly in front of your feet. Shift your weight onto your hands.
• Jump your feet back into a plank position. Your body should form a straight line from your head to heels. Don’t let your back sag or your butt stick up in the air, these will disengage your core.
• Jump your feet forward so that they land just outside of your hands.
• Reach your arms overhead and jump up into the air.
• Land and right away lower back into a squat for your next rep.

3. Mountain climbers

It doesn’t take long to feel the burn when doing mountain climbers. They provide upper and lower-body strengthening with a hit of cardio. Here’s how:

• Start in a plank position with arms and legs long. Keep your abs tight. 
• Pull your right knee into your chest and squeeze your abs while keeping your plank in good form.
• Quickly switch and pull the left knee in. At the same time, push your right leg back into plank position. 
• Continue to switch knees using a “running” motion. 

4. Broad jumps

Remember long jump from track? That’s essentially what you’re doing – jumping forward as far as possible, starting in a standing position. How to get started:
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Arms in the air.

Begin by swinging your arms back behind your body as you bend your knees and push your hips back.

Swing arms forward as you drive your feet into the ground, push hips forward, and explode forward off the ground.

Land on your feet and drop back down into the starting position. Repeat.

5. Jump squats

Jump squats offer lower-body and cardio in one. You don’t need to do a ton of them to get the job done. In fact, you can add them between reps of other exercises. Here’s how to do them:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Start by doing a regular squat, engage your core, and jump up.
• When you land, lower your body back into the squat position to complete one rep. Make sure you land with your entire foot on the ground. Be sure to land as quietly as possible, which requires control.
• Do 10 reps.

Written by Mia St. Aubin who was a guest speaker at our March client Zoom seminar.