How To Complete The 10-minute Total Body Workout Exercises

The biggest challenge for beginners is the technique of certain exercises. I think this is really important to make sure you get the most out of your training, so I have included a description of how to complete each exercise below and also some ways to make it harder or easier.

Squat

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and toes facing forwards. Keeping your back straight imagine you are sitting on a chair behind you and lower your bum towards the floor bending the knees. Make sure not to allow your knees to pass over your toes and keep your chest and head up looking forward. Once your knees are at least 90 degrees, push through the heels to stand up straight. To make it easier you can actually use a chair sit and stand from and to make harder you can hold weights while squatting.

Alternate Lunge

Start with feet together, take a step forward with the right leg keeping both feet facing forward. As you step forward you rear knee should come close to the floor but do not allow it to touch and the front knee must not pass forward in front of your toes. When your knee is about an inch from the floor stand back up and repeat on the opposite leg. 

Burpee

Start laying face down on the floor with your palms planted either side of your shoulder. When ready push up until in the push up position and then pull the legs into your chest. Thrust upwards pushing through the legs and jump as high as possible. Upon landing get your self back into the start position as quickly as possible and repeat. To make this harder you can complete the push up section one handed or add ankle or wrist weights, to make easier simply avoid the jump in between.

Box Jump

Stand with feet shoulder width apart about a foot in front of the piece of equipment you are going to jump onto. When ready bend your knees and perform a two-footed jump onto the box and then back down again. To make harder increase the height of the box or lower to make it easier.

Completing resistance based exercises not only increases strength but its been shown to burn more calories than a traditional cardio workout - as you burn calories for up to 48 hours after the exercise has stopped. So its a workout that never stops going!

See Also: No Time for the Gym? Use Kettlebells for a Full Body Workout

If your reading this thinking it sounds too easy then adapt it to suit your needs. You could simply decrease the rest period between sets to increase the amount of circuits you can complete in ten minutes. OR secondly if you like to work towards a goal or take on a challenge see how many reps of each exercise you can do in 2 minutes with a 1 min rest between exercises and try to improve it each time.