Full-Body Workout

A full body workout involves circuit training, hopping from machine to machine, spending hours in the gym, right? Wrong. Fitting in a good, full body workout can be as simple as incorporating a small change in the way that you are doing the move. When doing arms, why not tone the core at the same time? When working your glutes and quads, why not incorporate shoulders into the movement? It is very easy to jazz up your basic weightlifting moves. Here are some examples of what I mean:

• Bicep curls: Take a basic exercise like a bicep curl. Grab a bosu, flip it upside down where the hard flat side is facing up, stand on the bosu while you do your bicep curls. Wow! That definitely will increase the difficulty of the exercise. Because you are standing on an unstable surface, you will have to tighten your core muscles to balance on the bosu trainer.
• Squats with weights/barbell: When doing squats for your quads and glutes, hold either the handweights or the barbell at shoulder level. Do your basic squat. At the top of your squat, when legs are straight, add in a shoulder press. Lower the weight back down to shoulder level and go right into your squat again. Repeat the sequence.
• Wide leg squats: Here is another variation on the basic squat. Stand with legs wide apart. Turn toes outward and lift up right heel. Squat down. OUCH! Can you feel what you are working? You are working glutes, quads, inner thighs and calves. Talk about multitasking! Do the set with the right heel propped up and then do the next set with the left heel propped up. I recommend not adding any upper body to this move because you are working so many parts of your lower body. Hands on waist will be fine.
• Standing lunges: One of my favorite multitasking moves is to do side shoulder raises while performing stationary lunges. Holding two handweights, elbows bent in a right angle, step forward with your right foot. Do a stationary lunge. As your body lowers towards the ground, your arms will raise to the sides. Do the first set with the right foot forward and then switch it out with the left foot forward. You can be very creative with this movement in that there are many upper body moves that you can perform while doing stationary lunges. Why not add in bicep curls? How about shoulder presses?
• Chest press: Usually you don’t think about working your glutes and hamstrings while doing a chest press, do you? Grab a medicine ball and some handweights, and get ready to burn. Position yourself on the medicine ball with the top of your back resting on the top of the ball. To properly target your chest muscles, you will need to hold your body up so that your back is straight; mimicking lying on a bench. You will need to squeeze your glutes up, tightening your hamstrings and butt muscles. Proceed with the chest presses, keeping your glutes raised high up towards the ceiling.

Be creative in your workouts, and you too can discover sneaky ways to add in additional muscle groups to basic movements. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Remember that when you are trying out a new move for the first time, it is safer to perform the exercise either without weights or with extremely light weights until you know that your form is correct and until you are comfortable with the movement.