You can do squats and push-ups just about anywhere — including your living room!
Image Credit: Antonio_Diaz/iStock/GettyImages When the desire to exercise hits but you don’t have access to a gym, free weights or even resistance bands, you have a built-in system that allows you to still get a great workout: your body. What’s more, you can make a super simple body-weight workout tailored to your fitness level and goals.
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Combine two of the most accessible and versatile moves around — squats and push-ups — to strengthen both your upper and lower body. They're both functional movements, meaning they have help you build strength and injury-resistance for your everyday tasks.
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Plus, you'll be in good company. The American College of Sports Medicine listed body-weight exercise as the top fitness trend for 2020. Try this 20-minute workout with only push-up and squat variations for an effective and efficient full-body workout.
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Try This 20-Minute Squat and Push-Up Workout
The below routine is a circuit workouts, meaning you’ll complete a series of exercises in quick succession to challenge your endurance and improve muscle tone. The American Council on Exercise describes it as a high-volume — meaning lots of reps — and low-weight session. Squats and push-ups fit right in! When you incorporate different squat and push-up variations, you emphasize different muscles, providing you with a comprehensive workout. For example, in this routine, triangle push-ups target your triceps, while Spiderman push-ups work your obliques. And while squats focus on lower-body endurance, jump squats improve lower-body power.
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Warm-Up
Do: 3 to 5 minutes of walking or marching in place.
Main Workout
Do: each exercise for 1 minute each, back to back with no rest. Rest for 60 seconds, then repeat the circuit one more time.
Move 1: Body-Weight Squat
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Lower Body
Stand with your feet hip-width apart, arms at your sides. Bend your knees and hinge your hips to squat down. Reach your arms in front of you. Aim to get your thighs parallel to the floor or below, depending on your mobility. Press through your heels to return to standing.
Show Instructions
Move 2: Push-Up
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Upper Body
Get into a high plank with your hands under your shoulders and legs extended out straight. Bend your elbows at a 45-degree angle to your torso and lower your chest to the floor. Press back up to straight elbows.
Show Instructions
Tip To make push-ups easier, try the incline modification with your hands braced against a wall or on a chair. You can also modify by dropping to your knees.
Move 3: Jump Squat
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Lower Body
Sit down into a squat by bending your knees and hinging your hips back. Extend your arms out in front of you. Swing your arms back behind you as you jump up into the air so that your feet leave the floor. Land back into the squat to protect your knees and go right into the next rep.
Show Instructions
Move 4: Spiderman Push-Up
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Core and Upper Body
Start in a high plank with your hands under your shoulders and legs extended out straight. Bend your elbows into a push-up and simultaneously pull your right knee toward your right triceps. Return the leg back to the floor as your press back up. Repeat on the other side.
Show Instructions
Move 5: Plie Squat
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Lower Body
Stand with your feet wider than your hips and toes turned out slightly. Bend your hips and knees to squat down. Your back should be straight and your chest lifted. Press back to standing.
Show Instructions
Move 6: T Push-Up
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Core and Upper Body
Perform a standard push-up. At the top, lift your right arm up and rotate into a side plank, stacking your hips over each other. Return to a high plank. Repeat, but this time, lift your left arm and stack into a side plank on the other arm.
Show Instructions
Move 7: Split Squat
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Lower Body
Stand with your feet staggered, one a few feet in front of the other. Squat down by bending the knee and hip of the front leg. Your back heel will lift slightly as you lower down. Do 30 seconds with one leg forward, then switch.
Show Instructions
Move 8: Decline Push-Up
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Upper Body
Place your feet on an elevated surface (coffee table, couch, stair, step) and your hands on the floor. Perform a push up in this position and press back up.
Show Instructions
Tip If decline push-ups are too difficult, stick with regular, incline or knee push-ups.
Move 9: Single-Leg Squat
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Lower Body
Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Lift your right leg off the ground and out in front of you. Bend your left knee to go as low as you can and rise back up, maintaining your balance. Do 30 seconds before switching to balancing on the right leg.
Show Instructions
Tip If single-leg squats are too advanced, rest your right foot on the ground for more stability and lessen how low you go in your squat. Or stick with regular squats.
Move 10: Close-Grip Push-Up
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Upper Body
Get into a push-up position, but place your hands closer together under your chest. Bend your elbows to lower your chest. (You might not be able to go as low as you did with standard push-ups.) Press back up.
Show Instructions
Related Reading This Circuit Workout Is the Perfect Way to Start Strength Training
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references
American College of Sports Medicine: WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF FITNESS TRENDS FOR 2020
American Council on Exercise: The Benefits of Machine-based Circuit Training
references
American College of Sports Medicine: WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF FITNESS TRENDS FOR 2020
American Council on Exercise: The Benefits of Machine-based Circuit Training
You can do squats and push-ups just about anywhere — including your living room!
Image Credit: Antonio_Diaz/iStock/GettyImages
Image Credit: Antonio_Diaz/iStock/GettyImages
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Lower Body
Stand with your feet hip-width apart, arms at your sides. Bend your knees and hinge your hips to squat down. Reach your arms in front of you. Aim to get your thighs parallel to the floor or below, depending on your mobility. Press through your heels to return to standing.
Show Instructions
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Lower Body
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Upper Body
Get into a high plank with your hands under your shoulders and legs extended out straight. Bend your elbows at a 45-degree angle to your torso and lower your chest to the floor. Press back up to straight elbows.
Show Instructions
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Upper Body
To make push-ups easier, try the incline modification with your hands braced against a wall or on a chair. You can also modify by dropping to your knees.
Sit down into a squat by bending your knees and hinging your hips back. Extend your arms out in front of you. Swing your arms back behind you as you jump up into the air so that your feet leave the floor. Land back into the squat to protect your knees and go right into the next rep.
Show Instructions
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Core and Upper Body
Start in a high plank with your hands under your shoulders and legs extended out straight. Bend your elbows into a push-up and simultaneously pull your right knee toward your right triceps. Return the leg back to the floor as your press back up. Repeat on the other side.
Show Instructions
Sets
2
Time
1 Min
Region
Core and Upper Body
Stand with your feet wider than your hips and toes turned out slightly. Bend your hips and knees to squat down. Your back should be straight and your chest lifted. Press back to standing.
Show Instructions
Perform a standard push-up. At the top, lift your right arm up and rotate into a side plank, stacking your hips over each other. Return to a high plank. Repeat, but this time, lift your left arm and stack into a side plank on the other arm.
Show Instructions
Stand with your feet staggered, one a few feet in front of the other. Squat down by bending the knee and hip of the front leg. Your back heel will lift slightly as you lower down. Do 30 seconds with one leg forward, then switch.
Show Instructions
Place your feet on an elevated surface (coffee table, couch, stair, step) and your hands on the floor. Perform a push up in this position and press back up.
Show Instructions
If decline push-ups are too difficult, stick with regular, incline or knee push-ups.
Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Lift your right leg off the ground and out in front of you. Bend your left knee to go as low as you can and rise back up, maintaining your balance. Do 30 seconds before switching to balancing on the right leg.
Show Instructions
If single-leg squats are too advanced, rest your right foot on the ground for more stability and lessen how low you go in your squat. Or stick with regular squats.
Get into a push-up position, but place your hands closer together under your chest. Bend your elbows to lower your chest. (You might not be able to go as low as you did with standard push-ups.) Press back up.
Show Instructions
This Circuit Workout Is the Perfect Way to Start Strength Training
American College of Sports Medicine: WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF FITNESS TRENDS FOR 2020
American Council on Exercise: The Benefits of Machine-based Circuit Training
