Staying fit is a lifelong commitment to eating healthy and being active. When you have a busy lifestyle, nothing is more beneficial than a full body workout routine. This allows you to stay consistent in your endeavors and make the most of your time in the gym.

Exercising is goddamn hard. It’s also like a drug you can get addicted to. And when you have a 9-5 blue-collared job to handle, giving your body time to sweat real good can be a tough task.

Better yet, some routines simply rely on body-weight exercises and target every muscle for maximum results. You don’t even have to step foot in the gym!

This exercise will strengthen your internal and external obliques among other core muscles. An added benefit of this exercise is that it requires no extra equipment and can therefore be done anywhere.

 1. The Squat

Squats will help you build your quads, hams and calves, while also strengthening your whole core and enhancing greater overall fat burning.

This full-body compound move will tone your muscles, and build lower body strength. It can also improve your balance and coordination, boost your overall endurance, and make you stronger. Squats create an anabolic environment that promotes muscle growth. If there’s one exercise you should do, it’s the squat.

For the standard squat, your feet should be shoulder-width apart or slightly wider. Extend your hands out in front of you and sit back and down, keeping your head facing forward. Make sure that your back doesn’t round. Keep lowering yourself until your thighs are parallel to the floor (if possible). Press back up through your heels.

2. The Plank

Did you know planks burn more calories than crunches? When you do a plank, your abdominal muscles contract, thereby, helping you strengthen your core and of course, laying the foundation for that six-pack. It also helps reduce back pain.

It’s practically a one-move static exercise that will help you build a core of steel, ripped abs and strong shoulders. Just get into push-up position on the floor, bend your elbows 90 degrees and prop yourself on the elbows, forearms and forefeet, forming a straight line from head to feet, then hold it for as long as you can without moving your waist or butt.

3. Jumping Jacks

This exercise targets the whole body. Jumping jacks are the best cardio exercises. There are various benefits of including it in your everyday exercise program. It makes your heart stronger, builds muscles stronger, helps in weight loss, builds stronger bones and uplift your mood instantly and helps relieve stress. It makes you stronger, flexible by improving your stability and stamina.

In order to effectively do the jumping jacks; Stand straight with your feet together and hands on your sides. Jump along with raising your arms above your head and bring your feet apart. Reverse the movement immediately and come back to the original position. Start doing it faster.  the movement of your arms during a Jumping Jack provides a great stretch for your shoulders. This is one of the reasons you also find jumping jacks used during a warm up for other workouts.

4. Walking

Walking is a great way to improve or maintain your overall health. Just 30 minutes every day can increase cardiovascular fitness, strengthen bones, reduce excess body fat, and boost muscle power and endurance. It can also reduce your risk of developing conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and some cancers. Unlike some other forms of exercise, walking is free and doesn’t require any special equipment or training.

Physical activity does not have to be vigorous or done for long periods in order to improve your health. A 2007 study of inactive women found that even a low level of exercise – around 75 minutes per week – improved their fitness levels significantly, when compared to a non-exercising group.

Walking is low impact, requires minimal equipment, can be done at any time of day and can be performed at your own pace. You can get out and walk without worrying about the risks associated with some more vigorous forms of exercise. Walking is also a great form of physical activity for people who are overweight, elderly, or who haven’t exercised in a long time.

Walking for fun and fitness isn’t limited to strolling by yourself around local neighborhood streets. There are various clubs, venues and strategies you can use to make walking an enjoyable and social part of your lifestyle.

And walking is something you can do anywhere, anytime, with no equipment other than a good pair of shoes.

5. Push ups

push-ups are effective exercise for strengthening chest and arm muscles. push-ups exercise the pectoral muscles, triceps, and anterior deltoids, with ancillary benefits to the rest of the deltoids, 

For someone who is at a more beginning level, start by pushing from the kitchen-counter height. Then work your way to a desk, a chair, the floor with bent knees, and, finally, the floor on your toes."

Here's how to do a perfect push-up From a face-down position, place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Place your toes or knees on the floor, and try to create a perfect diagonal with your body, from the shoulders to the knees or feet. Keep the glutes [rear-end muscles] and abdominals engaged. Then lower and lift your body by bending and straightening your elbows, keeping your torso stable throughout.

There are always ways to make it harder, Once your form is perfect Get into push-up position, then do your push-ups with one arm raised out to the side, balancing on the remaining three limbs without rotating your hips.

6. Lying Leg Raise

Leg raises benefits include strengthening your core muscles, which can help prevent low back pain, according to Mayo Clinic. In turn, with additional core-building moves, you might see that pain dissipate. Choose from multiple types of leg raises to mix things up when you work out.
The lying leg raise is done by lying on the floor on your back. Place your hands under your glutes with your palms facing down. Keep your legs as straight as possible. Slowly raise your legs perpendicular to the floor, then slowly lower your legs toward the floor as far as you can while maintaining a neutral or flat lower back. Do not let your heels touch the floor throughout the set. Despite its simplicity, the lying leg raise is one of the best exercises for abs. It’s also one of the few moves that targets your lower abdominal muscles. When done regularly, it increases the definition and strength of your abs. Changing the position of your legs addresses different muscle groups. As you get stronger, you can increase the level of difficulty by placing a medicine ball between your ankles – it will add some extra resistance to your workout and will make it more challenging.

7. Abdominal Crunches

Who doesn't want firm, flat abs? Experts say that when done correctly, the familiar crunch (along with its variations) is a good choice to target them.

     Abdominal crunches are an excellent means to burning calories in the body. According to studies conducted, it has been established that a half hour of crunches has the ability to burn an amazing amount of calories – 300 to be exact! Of course, with the 7 Minute Workout, you will not be performing abdominal crunches for a half hour at a time; however, when you do perform them, you will burn calories.

    Abdominal crunches are a highly effective way of improving the balance because they aid in strengthening up the muscles in your abdominal cavity.

     Abdominal crunches are highly important in improving posture. If your posture is optimized, you will find that you not only function in a more effective manner in daily activities, but, that you do not suffer from any type of pain in the lower back or back muscle injuries.

For a standard crunch, says Cotton, begin lying on your back with feet flat on the floor and fingertips supporting your head. Press your low back down and begin the exercise by contracting abdominals and peeling first your head (tucking your chin slightly), then your neck, shoulders, and upper back off the floor.

Be careful not to pull your neck forward by sticking the chin out; don't hold your breath, and keep elbows out of your line of vision to keep chest and shoulders open.

For his part, Petersen teaches his clients to do crunches with their feet off the floor and knees bent. He says that with feet kept on the floor, many people tend to arch the back and engage the hip flexors.

"Crunches can be excellent, but if they're not done correctly, with the back arching, they can actually weaken the abdominals," Petersen says.

To work the obliques (the muscles on the sides of your waist), says Cotton, take the standard crunch and rotate the spine toward one side as you curl off the floor.

"Twist before you come up," he says. "It's really important that the twist comes first because then it's the obliques that are actually getting you up."

But keep in mind that you won't get a flat stomach with crunches alone, says Cotton. Burning belly fat requires the well-known formula: using up more calories than you take in.

"Crunches work the ab muscles; [they're] not to be mistaken as exercise that burns the fat over the abdominals," he says. "That's the biggest myth in exercise going."

The Side Bridge exercise is one of the most important exercises for lower back rehab. It is part of what Professor McGill, a world authority on spine biomechanics from the University of Waterloo, refers to as the “big three”. A set of three exercises he recommends in the early stages of low back rehabilitation.  The other exercises in the big three include the Curl-Up and Bird-Dog exercises.

The Side Bridge is critical to low back stability for two reasons.

First, it targets the often overlooked quadratus lumborum muscle (QL), a lateral trunk muscle that runs from the iliac crest to the lower ribs with it’s fibers cross-linking the vertebrae. Most stability exercises focus on the trunk extensors  and the abdominals. But McGill and his colleagues have also shown the quadratus lumborum (QL) to play a critical role in lumbar stability (1).

Second, the EMG (Electromyography)profile of the side bridge demonstrates a high ratio of muscle activation to spine load. As discussed by McGill in his classic text, the architecture of the trunk muscles are such that muscle contraction is also associated with spine compression (1). More muscle contraction creates greater compression.

Under normal circumstances this compression can help to stabilize the lower back. However, with an injured spine higher levels of compression can create further damage and impede healing. This needs to be considered when prescribing exercises for the low back pain patient. Especially in the early stages of acute low back pain.

Take your side plank to the next level with this effective variation. Holding the elbow side plank is a challenge, but by lifting your pelvis up and down you work your abs and arms in a whole new way. This exercise really targets the obliques to define the waist while toning the upper arm; talk about a fitness win win. Here's how to do the exercise.

Lunges

"Lunges work multiple larger muscle groups at the same time

They build lower body strength and help to maintain muscle mass and bone density in the lower body."

Lunges target the following muscle groups:  In particular study published in 2006 in ACE Fitness found that the forward lunge is one of the most effective exercises for working the hamstrings, gluteus maximus, and gluteus medius. The study found that the forward lunge activated these specific muscles more than body-weight squats, leg presses, and hip extensions. 

A very good work out on the core that helps you strengthen your lower body and mobility in your hips.  In order to do this; Lower your hip until both keens bent in 90-degree angle. Step forward with one leg while keeping your upper body straight and relaxed. Come back to original position keeping the weight in your heels.

 Pull-Up

For decades pullups have been regarded as the measuring stick for complete physical health or strength. Ever since the iconic black and white portrait of Arnold Schwarzenegger doing pull ups went mainstream, the amount of pull ups you can do in one set has become an indirect representation of just how strong you supposedly are. 
 pull ups serve as the foundation of upper body functional strength. It’s an exercise that has the potential to provide several benefits ranging from something as simple as improving grip strength, helping to achieve a better posture, and even in some cases reducing back pain. 
Research published in peer-reviewed journal PLOS One found that people with better handgrip strength had a healthier heart structure and heart function because they were pumping more blood per heartbeat.
To complete a pull-up with good technique, place your hands shoulder width apart on a bar with your palms facing towards or away from yourself. Then pull your body weight up towards the bar, so that your chin is over the top. If you find that your legs are swinging when completing this exercise, cross your feet over to prevent unnecessary movement.
By doing the best exercises for each part of your body, as described here, you will be more likely to improve your major muscle groups. However, you should remember that variety is key when it comes to resistance training – so make sure you always do a selection of exercises for each part of your body, and exercise different muscles rather than focusing on one particular part all the time.

By: Bobe Nkwain Chiambah