Full-Body Workout With No Weights

A great routine to build some muscle with just your own bodyweight.

Post includes 6 exercises + tips on how to challenge yourself as you progress.

Hi everyone! Just showing a great routine which I use regularly to build some all-round muscle from head to toe, in one session. And you don’t need to buy any weights or equipment either, its literally using yourself as the weight resistance! So whether you take this on in the gym, in your garage, at the local park, or even in front of the TV, it will still get you great results!

It’s a really simple routine, incorporating 6 moves to work different major muscle groups, and getting plenty of compound moves thrown in there to stimulate plenty of muscle growth & calorie burn! 60 seconds rest between sets should be a good start point too. I’m gonna list all the moves below, with a quick explanation of each move & suggested sets/reps range, and suggest a more difficult variation for each too, for those who don’t break a sweat straight away. Let’s put some tunes on & get into it…

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Move 1: Squat (4 sets of 12 reps)

A fantastic compound move to work all sorts of muscles & burn plenty of calories too. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart & make sure your feet are either parallel facing forwards, or only slightly pointing outwards, whatever’s most comfortable. This helps to work the muscles we’re targeting, which are the quads, glutes, hamstrings, adductors, hip flexors, LOTS! With your arms crossed & touching your shoulders, and back straight, lower your body by bending your knees until your upper legs are parallel with the floor, hold for a second if you can, then rise back up to a standing position, then repeat.

Make it harder: Jump Squat

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Move 2: Press-up (4 sets of 10 reps)

A staple for any workout routine, and another great compound move to work your chest, shoulders, abs, triceps…. tonnes of muscle building potential! Get yourself into a plank position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart, and your body as straight as possible. Lower your chest by bending your elbows until your chest touches the floor (the lower you can go, the better your muscles will get worked) and push up back to your starting position, and repeat. Press-ups can be pretty tough, so simply start with your knees on the floor instead of your feet if you need to make it a bit easier.

Make it harder: Same position, but with your feet on a box, or a chair!

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Move 3: Pull-up (4 sets of 8 reps)

Ok, this does involve having a pull-up bar, but don’t fret! I’ve written an alternative move just below. Pull-ups are the go-to exercise to work plenty of muscles in your back & arms. Grab the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart once again, and with your body & legs straight, pull yourself up as if pulling the bar towards you, until your chin goes above the bar. Then lower yourself down to the start, and repeat.

If you don’t have a pull-up bar, or pull-ups are too tough for the moment, use a sturdy table instead! You can simply lay on the floor underneath it with your body straight & facing up, and with the end of the table above you, reach up to grab it before lifting your body up until your chest touches the underside of the table, then lower & repeat.

Make it harder: Widen your grip!

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Move 4: Lunges (4 sets of 8 reps)

An excellent move to work lots of muscles in your legs once again. Stand in a neutral position, and literally take a big step forward with your left leg, before lowering your body until your left thigh is parallel with the floor and your left shin is vertical. Then press into your left heel to raise yourself back up to the start position. Then do the same with your right leg. This is one rep!

Make it harder: Jump Lunges

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Move 5: Diamond Press-up (4 sets of 8 reps)

A more targeted move for the triceps, but still working the chest muscles too. Get into a plank position like a standard press-up, but have your hands close together with your index fingers & thumbs touching to form a diamond shape. Then perform a press-up like this! It might be tough at first, and you’ll feel the burn in your triceps before long! Simply drop onto your knees if being on your toes proves too tough.

Make it harder: Raise your legs, just like the harder press-up variation.

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Move 6: Chin-up (4 sets of 8 reps)

This works primarily the biceps, but still gives so many of your back muscles loads of action too. Grab the pull-up bar with your palms facing towards you, instead of a neutral grip. Then with your body & legs straight, pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar, before lowering to the start & repeating. If you don’t have a pull-up bar, you can grab just about anything to do some curls instead, such as a couple of water bottles, or a chair again!

Make it harder: Superset with Pull-ups!

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And that’s it! A great workout routine using no weights at all, which will help you build muscle & get stronger fast. Be advised: completing a full-body workout, even without weights, is a tough ask on the body straight away, so don’t feel like you have to get all of the amount of sets & reps in first time. For example, if 4 sets is pretty hard going, try the routine with just 3 sets of each exercise instead. Or just do as many reps as you can until you can’t maintain good form, then rest before starting another set. Or you could just have a bit more rest time e.g. 90 seconds between sets.

If you get through this workout without being too tested, try some or all of the ‘make it harder’ suggestions, and if that still doesn’t test you (alright tough guy), simply increase the amount of reps until your form starts tailing off, and go from there! You could also increase the amount of sets, but keep an eye on your workout time, just so that we don’t end up working out for too long! A good 45-minute session should be plenty enough to get all of this in.

Anyway, give this session a try & see how much it can help you start to build muscle & get fitter. Just don’t do too many jump squats upstairs if your partner is watching TV downstairs! Loads more workout posts coming soon, you’ll hear from me then. In the meantime check out some of my delicious, nutritious recipes.

Take it easy!