Full-body workout: 7 Best Exercises

A full-body workout uses a variety of muscle groups in a person's body rather than targeting just one area. No exercise works all muscles at once, but full-body workouts typically work across the upper body, lower body, and core, strengthening these muscles.

Below we will look at some interesting exercises sure to give you an amazing full-body workout.

Best Exercises for a Full-Body Workout

These are the seven best exercises you can perform for a full-body workout.

1) Burpees

Here's how you can perform this excellent fat-burning full-body workout.

Start by getting into a squat position keeping your knees bent, back straight, and your feet about shoulder-width apart.
Now quickly lower your hands to the floor in front of you, keeping them just inside your feet.
Shift your weight from your legs to your hands and kick your feet back, so you're on your hands and toes in a pushup position.

Maintaining a straight body, perform one pushup. Don't let your back sag or stick your butt in the air.
Perform a frog kick by bringing your feet back to their original position through a jump.
Stand up and, put your arms above your head, quickly jump into the air while standing in the same position.
As soon as you land, bend your knees into a squat position and do another repetition.

2) Squats

Squats mainly target your glute muscles, quads, hamstrings, adductors, hip flexors, calves, core, and back muscles. Squats are a highly functional exercise, as it is a movement required by humans in daily activities. They are also a great full-body workout to include in your daily routine.

To perform a basic squat,

Start by standing straight, keeping your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart.
Your chest should be up, your abdominals engaged. Now shift your weight onto your heels as you push your hips back into a sitting position.
Lower your hips (taking care that your knees are not coming forward past your toes) until your thighs are parallel or almost parallel to the floor.
You will feel the squat squeezing your thighs and glutes.
Pause briefly, exhale, and bring yourself back up to the starting position.

Squats are great for strengthening your glutes, quads, hamstrings, and core (Image via Pexels @Andrea Piacquadio)

3) Pushups

Pushups are a great full-body workout that help you build strength and muscle and lose fat. Here's how you can do a pushup:

Get down on the floor on all fours, with your hands directly under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Now move your hands slightly outside your shoulders.
Keep your elbows slightly bent. Extend your legs back such that you are balanced on your hands and toes, with your feet hip-width apart.
Now, contract your abs and tighten your core by pulling your belly button in towards your spine.
Breathe in as you slowly bend your elbows and lower yourself to the floor until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle.
Breathe out while contracting your chest muscles and pushing back up through your hands, returning to the starting position.

4) Lunges

Lunges involve many muscles that work to mobilize and stabilize the body. These are great full-body workout to add to your regimen. They target your glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, core muscles, and spine. Here's how you perform a lunge.

Stand upright with your feet hip-width apart; you may place your hands on your waist (optional).
Take a step forward; this should be longer than a walking stride so that one leg is ahead of your torso and the other is behind. Your forward foot should land flat and remain flat while it's on the ground, and your forward calf should form a right angle with your forward thigh.

Your rear heel will rise off the ground, with your rear calf perpendicular to your rear thigh.
Your trunk should be upright and your core engaged.
Now forcefully push off from your front leg to return to the starting position in one go.

5) Hollow Body Hold

Hollow body hold is a great full-body workout that targets your core strength. It is very effective at activating certain deep core muscles apart from targeting your quads, hip flexors, abdominals, and obliques. Here's how you can perform this exercise.

Lie down on the floor with your legs extended and your arms by your sides.
Contract your abs and engage your core by driving your lower back into the ground. Squeeze your inner thighs together. This will help you initiate the move. Your entire lower back should be touching the floor. There should be no space between your lower back and the floor.

Keeping your abs contracted the entire time, raise your legs 2-3 inches above the floor.
Raise your head 1-2 inches off the floor and extend your arms overhead and behind you. Make sure that you keep pressing the lower back into the floor.
Hold for 30 seconds (or more) and release by lowering the legs and shoulders to the floor.

6) Thruster

Thrusters are an incredibly beneficial full-body workout since they combine two very useful movements in daily life. They improve coordination, muscular endurance, balance, and work out both the upper and lower body. Here's how you can perform a thruster.

Using an overhand grip, hold a barbell and stand, keeping your feet and hands shoulder-width apart.
Your shoulders should be back and down, your spine in alignment.
Bend your knees ever so slightly to avoid locking them. Keep your feet under the bar.
Bring the barbell up to your collarbones or above your shoulders with your elbows underneath or facing forward.
Your core should be engaged as you expand your chest and slowly lower your body into a deep squat position.

You may drop your glutes lower than parallel to the ground if you're flexible enough, you may turn out your knees for stability.
Pressing your weight through your heels and the outside of your feet into the floor, bring your elbows up as you quickly and powerfully return to the standing position. Now, extend the bar overhead.
When your arms are directly overhead, extend your head forward so that your ears are in front of your biceps.
Bring your head back into line with your arms and slowly lower the bar to collarbone height to complete 1 rep of this full-body workout.

7) Medicine ball slam

Medicine ball slams are a great full-body workout that hit every major muscle group. Both your upper and lower body are engaged in this excellent full-body workout.

Stand with your knees slightly bent, holding a medicine ball above your head with your arms extended.
Bend forward at your waist and use your core muscles to slam the ball against the floor with as much force as you can muster, about a foot in front of you.
Allow your arms to follow through so that you don't fall forward. Catch hold of the ball on its way back up and repeat.