Build muscle all over, get a stronger core, and rev up your metabolism with this 20-minute workout without weights.
If your home workout is full of burpees, crunches, and planks, it’s time to level up your home routine for more muscle, strength, and a better core.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t necessarily need fancy gym equipment to build muscle all over your body.
You can not only get ripped, build core strength, and rev up your metabolism with simple moves you can do at home without weight.
It’s a high-intensity workout that recruits all your major muscle groups. From your legs, and glutes, to your chest and core, this workout builds a more functional body with massive strength.
All it takes is 20 minutes and 5 moves.
Let’s get started.
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Pushups
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: pushups are one of the best, most essential exercises in existence. They can be modified in tons of different ways and are the perfect complement to any exercise routine.
Target Muscles: Pecs, various shoulder muscles, triceps, and various stabilizer muscles throughout the core.
Parameters: Perform 3-5 sets of 10-15 repetitions per session, aiming for fatigue within this rep range. Rest for 30-60 seconds between sets and exercises.
How to Perform
- Start with your hands and toes on the ground with your hands about shoulder-width apart, and your feet about hip-width apart.
- Slowly lower yourself down toward the ground with the goal of lightly touching your chest to the floor.
- Once you’ve reached the bottom of the rep, push yourself back up into the starting position and repeat until you’ve completed the desired number of reps.
- Ensure that you maintain a flat back and tight core throughout the entirety of the exercise.
Pullups
Pullups are generally considered a very hard movement to master. After all, you’re pulling the entirety of your body weight off of the ground using only a few muscles, so it should be hard! But once you get the hang of this exercise, it is phenomenal for strength-building and athletic performance.
Target Muscles: Biceps; lats; various back, shoulder, and core muscles.
Parameters: Perform 3-5 sets of 10-15 repetitions per session, aiming for fatigue within this rep range. Rest for 30-60 seconds between sets and exercises.
How to Perform
- Grasp the bar (or any safe surface from which you can hang) with both hands.
- Keeping your back and shoulders stable, slowly pull yourself upward until your chin is above the bar.
- Once you’ve reached the top of the movement, slowly lower yourself back down to the starting position and repeat for the desired number of repetitions for the set.
- Use whichever hand position is most comfortable for you: overhand, underhand, or mixed when starting out. Each of these positions brings unique benefits.
Squats
By all accounts, humans have been squatting for thousands of years. We use this movement to pick up objects from the ground and for many other purposes.
Squatting has gotten a bad reputation in recent years as being “bad for the joints,” however, this is misguided information. Squats are an excellent exercise (when done correctly) and can be modified to fit the needs of almost any exerciser.
Target Muscles: Triple extensors (glutes, quads, calves), core muscles (for stability)
Parameters: Perform 3-5 sets of 10-15 repetitions per session, aiming for fatigue within this rep range. Rest for 30-60 seconds between sets and exercises.
How to Perform
- With both feet flat on the ground and roughly hip-width apart, ensure that your toes are pointed forward or slightly turned outward.
- Keeping your back from bending, slowly lower yourself down toward the ground, allowing your knees to bend (as if you are going to sit in a chair).
- Once you’ve reached the bottom of your range of motion, stand back upward and repeat this alternating motion for the duration of the exercise.
Prone Snow Angels
Many of the exercises in this list emphasize some of the major muscles in the body. This exercise focuses on some of the more neglected, minor muscles of the back and shoulders. It is a great movement to increase shoulder mobility and stability.
Target Muscles: Low traps, mid traps, various rotator cuff and shoulder muscles, rhomboids
Parameters: Perform 3-5 sets of 10-15 repetitions per session, aiming for fatigue within this rep range. Rest for 30-60 seconds between sets and exercises.
How to Perform
- Lying on your stomach, extend your arms down next to your pockets.
- Lift both hands slightly toward the ceiling and then make an arcing motion above your head, as if you are making a snow angel.
- Without lowering your arms, reverse the arcing motion and repeat this alternating “snow angel” pattern for the desired number of repetitions.
Isometric Lunges
Lunges are a fantastic lower body strengthening exercise, but they differ from other exercises in that they also help to increase balance.
Furthermore, lunges emphasize single-leg strength and stability, leading to fewer asymmetries across the lower body and a lower chance of falling or developing balance issues later in life.
Target Muscles: Triple extensors (glutes, quads, calves), various stabilizers throughout the body
Parameters: Perform 3-5 sets of 10-15 repetitions per session, aiming for fatigue within this rep range. Rest for 30-60 seconds between sets and exercises.
How to Perform
- Place your right leg a few feet in front of your left.
- Slowly lower your left knee down towards the ground by bending your right knee.
- With your left knee hovering slightly above the ground, hold this position for 15 seconds before standing back up.
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