Bodyweight training has one enormous advantage over everything else: there is no setup cost, so the gap between deciding to train and training is about four seconds. That matters more than the extra load a dumbbell would have given you.
The workout
20 minutes, no equipment
3 rounds| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bodyweight squat | 3 | 15 to 20 | 30s |
| Push-up | 3 | 8 to 15 | 30s |
| Reverse lunge, each leg | 3 | 10 | 30s |
| Glute bridge | 3 | 15 | 30s |
| Plank | 3 | 30 to 60s | 30s |
| Dead bug, each side | 3 | 10 | 30s |
Run it as a circuit: one set of each movement in order, then repeat the whole list twice more.
Scaling each movement
The mistake people make with bodyweight work is assuming there is one version of each exercise and that they either can or cannot do it. Every movement here has a dial.
Push-up
- Easier: hands on a kitchen counter, then a chair, then a step. Raising your hands is a far better regression than dropping to your knees, because the movement stays the same.
- Harder: feet on a chair, or slow the lowering to four seconds.
Squat
- Easier: sit back to a chair and stand up without using your hands.
- Harder: pause for two seconds at the bottom, or move to split squats.
Plank
- Easier: forearms on a chair seat.
- Harder: lift one foot an inch off the floor for five seconds a side.
What bodyweight training does not do well
Worth being straight about this. Pulling is the gap. Without a bar, a set of rings or something sturdy to lie under, there is no good way to train your back with bodyweight alone, and the rows in the other guides on this site exist for a reason.
If you train this way for months, that imbalance shows up as rounded shoulders and a weak upper back. A cheap doorway pull-up bar or a single kettlebell solves it, and the 20 minute kettlebell workout is where to go next once you have one.
Running it as a habit
Three times a week is plenty. The value of this session is not that it is optimal, it is that there is no excuse available: no travel, no equipment, no weather. On the days you do not want to train, do one round instead of three and call it done. The streak is worth more than the session.
Fit Forged suggests workouts, it is not a doctor. Check with a qualified professional before starting a new training programme, particularly if you are pregnant, injured, recovering from surgery or managing a health condition. Stop if something hurts.
Today's workout is already decided
Tell Fit Forged how long you have and what equipment is around. It hands you one session, planned down to the last rep, so you never run this decision again.
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