Related to Fitness & Exercise
10-Minute Full-Body Workout
Video Transcript
SPEAKER: Hey, there.
I'm Dr. Michael Smith, WebMD's
chief medical editor
and a certified personal
trainer.
I'm going to show you
a 10 minute total body workout
that's perfect to do
in the morning.
It will strengthen
your entire body,
kick start your metabolism,
and boost your energy all day
long.
You don't need any equipment for this workout. All you need is a mat if you're working out on a hard surface. I recommend warming up with a 10 minute walk around the block first or doing a couple of minutes of jumping jacks.
All right, let's get started. We're going to start with body weight squats. Feet shoulder width apart or just slightly wider, toes pointing outward, reach back with your butt nice and slow, especially in the morning. We want to be kind to those joints.
You're going down so that your thighs, ultimately, are parallel to the floor, but if that's too difficult at first, even if it's quarter squats -- totally fine. The point is to just keep moving for one minute for each exercise. If it helps with your balance, you can even put your hands out here. I like keeping them kind of close.
The weight should be on your heels; never on your toes. All right, five more seconds. One more rep, then we're moving down to the floor for push-ups.
Hands directly under your shoulders. You can be on your toes, or if that's a little too difficult, just on your knees. You want to keep your body nice and straight. One good way to do that is just to squeeze your butt and pull in your abs. In this exercise, you're working out your chest, but also your shoulders and your triceps in the back of your arm.
Make sure that your head stays aligned with your spine. You should feel no strain in your neck. All right, just a couple more.
All right, I'm going to stand back up, go into rear lunge. Just reach back with your leg. We're going to do one leg for 30 seconds. Ultimately, you're going for this thigh parallel to the floor. You want to reach back for enough so that this knee tracks back never passed your toes.
All right, one more, then we're going to switch legs. All right, left leg, nice and slow. Rear lunges are a little bit easier on your knees, but same thing as you did with squats, if you only can go down this far, it's totally fine. Now, you're going to feel this, again, in your quad, there in the front part of your life, as well as in your gluts and your hamstrings.
All right, we're heading down to the floor. Planks -- elbows under your shoulders, squeeze your butt, suck in your gut, keep your body nice and stiff, and there's no movement. You can also do it on your hands if you prefer. Going to hold this for one minute.
We're over halfway done. Make sure to keep your head aligned with your spine. If you need a break, you can even do it on your knees. Just five more seconds.
All right. Now lower yourself to the floor for back extensions. Just kind of hover your hands right above the floor and slowly raise your back. Your upper body just comes off the floor. It's a small, small movement.
You're going to feel up in your lower back. Nice and slow -- this is not an exercise you ever want to do fast. When you're ready, you can even lift your feet off the floor, and in addition to your lower back, you're going to feel much more in your glutes, in your butt.
All right, last one. We're going to hold it. OK, second round -- body weight squats again.
Going to add in the variation now -- feet just wider than hips, toes tracking out, knees up over the toes. As we come up, going to do calf raises. Raise up on your toes.
Now, in addition to your quads and your thighs and your glutes, you're obviously going to feel this in your calf, what we call the gastrocnemius. Hold it for a second up at the top. Now, in addition to when you raise up on your toes, you're creating instability, so it's requiring you're core here to hold you into place.
If you have good balance, you can even challenge yourself when you're ready. Raise your arms up. Creates even more instability.
All right. Now we're moving on back to push-ups. This time, we're going to spread our arms out, our hands wider on the floor. Same movement, though. Again, you can do it on your toes or on your knees.
Nice and slow -- you can speed up if you're ready, but slow works just as good. When you move your hands out, you're putting more of the focus directly on the chest, and not so much on the shoulders and the back of the arms, the triceps, so that's why it's good to mix it up. Last one, all right.
Rear lunges -- little variation again. Back with the right leg, slowly. Right leg raise. Back and forward.
Now, we're obviously working out the legs pretty good here, including the back of the leg and the hamstrings. Going to do 30 seconds here, but by including the leg raise, you're going to feel it right there on the side of your abs, your core, your obliques. All right, last one, back to left leg.
You definitely want to go slow here. That actually will create some instability there and require you to master your balance. Now, on the road, when you're ready, you can actually add in a kick. All right, last one.
All right, down to the floor -- plank. Remember, elbows under your shoulders. Now, turn your hands in.
This time, we're going to add in an alternating side plank. In addition to the core, the abs, the rectus abdominis, the back -- by adding in this rotation, we're hitting the obliques on the side of the abs, even the shoulders. You can do on your hands as well. Couple more.
All right. Now we're going to take it down to the floor -- back extension. Again, hands just hovering right above the floor, head in line with the spine, raising your body nice and slow, hold at the top. When you're ready, you can do what we call the Superman -- arms straight out in front of you, or you can take it back here. You can even leave the feet on the floor or raise them right along with your upper body.
When you come up, exhale. When you relax, inhale. One more and hold it at the top.
All right. Well done, everybody. You had a full body workout in just 10 minutes. Great job. Now, make sure to cool down and stretch for a few minutes before you start your day.
You don't need any equipment for this workout. All you need is a mat if you're working out on a hard surface. I recommend warming up with a 10 minute walk around the block first or doing a couple of minutes of jumping jacks.
All right, let's get started. We're going to start with body weight squats. Feet shoulder width apart or just slightly wider, toes pointing outward, reach back with your butt nice and slow, especially in the morning. We want to be kind to those joints.
You're going down so that your thighs, ultimately, are parallel to the floor, but if that's too difficult at first, even if it's quarter squats -- totally fine. The point is to just keep moving for one minute for each exercise. If it helps with your balance, you can even put your hands out here. I like keeping them kind of close.
The weight should be on your heels; never on your toes. All right, five more seconds. One more rep, then we're moving down to the floor for push-ups.
Hands directly under your shoulders. You can be on your toes, or if that's a little too difficult, just on your knees. You want to keep your body nice and straight. One good way to do that is just to squeeze your butt and pull in your abs. In this exercise, you're working out your chest, but also your shoulders and your triceps in the back of your arm.
Make sure that your head stays aligned with your spine. You should feel no strain in your neck. All right, just a couple more.
All right, I'm going to stand back up, go into rear lunge. Just reach back with your leg. We're going to do one leg for 30 seconds. Ultimately, you're going for this thigh parallel to the floor. You want to reach back for enough so that this knee tracks back never passed your toes.
All right, one more, then we're going to switch legs. All right, left leg, nice and slow. Rear lunges are a little bit easier on your knees, but same thing as you did with squats, if you only can go down this far, it's totally fine. Now, you're going to feel this, again, in your quad, there in the front part of your life, as well as in your gluts and your hamstrings.
All right, we're heading down to the floor. Planks -- elbows under your shoulders, squeeze your butt, suck in your gut, keep your body nice and stiff, and there's no movement. You can also do it on your hands if you prefer. Going to hold this for one minute.
We're over halfway done. Make sure to keep your head aligned with your spine. If you need a break, you can even do it on your knees. Just five more seconds.
All right. Now lower yourself to the floor for back extensions. Just kind of hover your hands right above the floor and slowly raise your back. Your upper body just comes off the floor. It's a small, small movement.
You're going to feel up in your lower back. Nice and slow -- this is not an exercise you ever want to do fast. When you're ready, you can even lift your feet off the floor, and in addition to your lower back, you're going to feel much more in your glutes, in your butt.
All right, last one. We're going to hold it. OK, second round -- body weight squats again.
Going to add in the variation now -- feet just wider than hips, toes tracking out, knees up over the toes. As we come up, going to do calf raises. Raise up on your toes.
Now, in addition to your quads and your thighs and your glutes, you're obviously going to feel this in your calf, what we call the gastrocnemius. Hold it for a second up at the top. Now, in addition to when you raise up on your toes, you're creating instability, so it's requiring you're core here to hold you into place.
If you have good balance, you can even challenge yourself when you're ready. Raise your arms up. Creates even more instability.
All right. Now we're moving on back to push-ups. This time, we're going to spread our arms out, our hands wider on the floor. Same movement, though. Again, you can do it on your toes or on your knees.
Nice and slow -- you can speed up if you're ready, but slow works just as good. When you move your hands out, you're putting more of the focus directly on the chest, and not so much on the shoulders and the back of the arms, the triceps, so that's why it's good to mix it up. Last one, all right.
Rear lunges -- little variation again. Back with the right leg, slowly. Right leg raise. Back and forward.
Now, we're obviously working out the legs pretty good here, including the back of the leg and the hamstrings. Going to do 30 seconds here, but by including the leg raise, you're going to feel it right there on the side of your abs, your core, your obliques. All right, last one, back to left leg.
You definitely want to go slow here. That actually will create some instability there and require you to master your balance. Now, on the road, when you're ready, you can actually add in a kick. All right, last one.
All right, down to the floor -- plank. Remember, elbows under your shoulders. Now, turn your hands in.
This time, we're going to add in an alternating side plank. In addition to the core, the abs, the rectus abdominis, the back -- by adding in this rotation, we're hitting the obliques on the side of the abs, even the shoulders. You can do on your hands as well. Couple more.
All right. Now we're going to take it down to the floor -- back extension. Again, hands just hovering right above the floor, head in line with the spine, raising your body nice and slow, hold at the top. When you're ready, you can do what we call the Superman -- arms straight out in front of you, or you can take it back here. You can even leave the feet on the floor or raise them right along with your upper body.
When you come up, exhale. When you relax, inhale. One more and hold it at the top.
All right. Well done, everybody. You had a full body workout in just 10 minutes. Great job. Now, make sure to cool down and stretch for a few minutes before you start your day.