Today’s full body no equipment workout includes some of my favorite yoga poses to make you strong and get your heart pumping. Plus, we will take some time to increase your flexibility. As usual, I am all about effective and quick workouts that yield results.
Yoga Full Body No Equipment Workout
This 20-minute workout (no equipment) is perfect for beginners and intermediate levels. Don’t let the word “Yoga” fool you! We won’t be doing sun salutations or spending 2 minutes in child’s pose. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I would rather do a workout that is quick and challenging (for best results, I love zone 2 workouts, right at the edge of my abilities).
Keep reading to see what adaptations you can make to find the edge of your abilities, but here’s what you’ll find in today’s video full body no equipment workout:
- Down Dog: Start feeling in your body in down dog.
- Half Splits: Sweep one leg up, bring your knee to your nose, step between your hands, and get into half splits for 30 seconds.
- Lizard lunge: Back to three-legged down dog, knee to nose again, step between your hands, and lower into lizard lunge for 30 seconds.
- Penguin exercise: Back to a three-legged down dog on the same side, knee to nose, step between hands, forward fold to pistol squat to sit your mat. Lower on your back for the penguin exercise, which you will execute for 50 seconds. Rock all the way up, forward fold, back to down to repeat this sequence on the other side.
- Forearm plank: From down dog, move forward into the extended plank (30 seconds).
- Forearm side plank: Lift and lower 30 times on each side.
- Forearm plank: You can do it! Your last 30 seconds in the forearm plank.
- Low lunge: From extended plank to down dog, three-legged down dog, knee to nose, step between your hands to get in your low lunge for 30 seconds.
- Shrimp squats: Shift your weight to your front leg to stand in mountain pose (10 reps). Back to low lunge on your last rep.
- Crescent lunge: Lift in your high lunge and shift your weight forward (chest to tigh 5 times) then lift and lower back knee 10 times.
- Pigeon pose: From Down dog find your pigeon and stretch for 30 seconds. Repeat the sequence starting from the shrimp squat on the other side.
- Dolphin pose: From down dog, bend your elbows for dolphin pose. Lift and lower 10 times, then nose to fingers and back 10 times.
- Turbo plank: From a three-legged dolphin, lift into turbo plank 5 times. Repeat on the other side. Then do another 10 reps of lift to down dog from dolphin.
- Chaturanga: From dolphin, shift your weight on your hand to chaturanga. Find an upward-facing dog and down dog.
Full Body Workout for Beginners
The gentle nature of this yoga routine with no jumping is perfect for beginners or those who simply hate jumping up and down when working out (like me). However, If you find this full body no equipment workout a bit challenging, try these tips to increase your strength and endurance and get through this workout:
- Pause the video: Whenever you need to, pause the video, take a few breaths, and keep going. I do this all the time! Remember to keep track of how many reps you can execute before you pause and notice your progress.
- Modify: Can’t hold your plank? Lower your knees. Can’t do a one-legged squat? Do a regular squat. Whatever it takes to keep moving and improving.
- Find routines to target your weaknesses: Feeling like you have no upper body core strength? Try my Best Yoga Core and Upper Body Workout at Home: Full 20-Minute Routine. Needing more flexibility? Try How to Get Flexible With Yoga With Follow-Along Video. I also offer several mobility workouts that will improve your strength, flexibility, and balance all in one like this Best Yoga for Mobility: Strength and Flexibility Flow.
Whatever you do, consistency is key. If you struggle with staying consistent, join my 5-Day Yoga Habit Challenge for super quick daily routines and helpful tips that will enable you to create good habits.
Are Short No Equipment Workouts Really Effective?
I used to think I had to lift dumbells and jump up and down to get my heart pumping to see results. That’s until I discovered yoga because I wanted to increase my core strength, define my waist and become more flexible. I started with only 15 minutes a day and yes, 15-minute full body no equipment workouts are really effective!
Not only you will see results, but going from 0 to 90 minutes of exercise a week (or 11 minutes a day, six days a week) reduces the risk of early death by 14 percent. Keep in mind that the typical recommendation for optimal benefits is 150 minutes of exercise a week.
When you increase to 3 hours, 27 percent reduced mortality (regular exercisers live up to 10 years longer).
Exercising 6 times a week, even for only 15 minutes can save your life! Strive for a Zone 2 intensity (just hard enough that you don’t want to talk but could if you had to), but any exercise (cardiovascular, weights, walking, yoga) at any intensity will benefit you.
Now, that’s a small change of radical importance!
Benefits of Bodyweight Workouts
I fell in love with yoga at the age of 43. I love not having to jump and lift dumbells, yet see more definition and toning all over my body (see my 1-Year Yoga Transformation: Before and After Pictures).
There are many other reasons why you might want to start relying on bodyweight workouts more:
- Convenience and Accessibility: Bodyweight workouts require little to no equipment, making them easily accessible for everyone. You can exercise almost anywhere, whether at home, in a park, or while traveling, without the need for a gym or specialized equipment.
- Cost-Effective: As mentioned earlier, bodyweight exercises don’t require expensive gym memberships or equipment purchases. You can achieve a challenging workout using just your body, which makes it a cost-effective option for staying fit.
- Functional Strength and Stability: Bodyweight exercises engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously, promoting functional strength and stability. These workouts focus on using your own body as resistance, which improves overall body control, coordination, and balance.
- Versatility and Variety: There is a wide range of bodyweight exercises that target different muscle groups and movement patterns. You can perform exercises like squats, lunges, push-ups, planks, burpees, and many more to challenge various muscle groups and keep your workouts interesting.
- Adaptability for All Fitness Levels: Bodyweight workouts can be tailored to suit any fitness level. Beginners can start with basic exercises and gradually progress to more advanced variations as their strength and endurance improve. Similarly, experienced individuals can make bodyweight exercises more challenging by increasing repetitions, adjusting tempo, or modifying movement patterns.
- Improved Joint Health: Bodyweight exercises are generally low-impact and put minimal stress on your joints compared to heavy weightlifting or high-impact activities. This reduces the risk of joint injuries while still providing effective strength and endurance training.
- Cardiovascular and Metabolic Conditioning: Many bodyweight exercises, such as burpees, mountain climbers, and jumping jacks, elevate your heart rate, providing cardiovascular benefits and improving overall endurance. Incorporating these exercises into a circuit or interval training format can effectively enhance your metabolic conditioning and burn calories.
- Core Strengthening: Bodyweight exercises often engage the core muscles, including the abdominals, obliques, and lower back. Movements like planks, mountain climbers, and leg raises help develop a strong core, which is essential for stability, balance, and overall functional fitness.
- Time Efficiency: Bodyweight workouts can be highly time-efficient. Since they don’t require equipment setup or extensive rest periods, you can perform a challenging routine in less time. This makes bodyweight workouts suitable for busy schedules or when you want to fit in a quick workout during breaks.
In Summary
Full Body No Equipment Workouts are incredibly effective and enjoyable. I think the enjoyment piece is the main reason my results have improved since doing yoga. Whatever activity you pick, pick something you can see yourself doing every day. When you enjoy what you do, you tend to stay more consistent and push yourself more, making a world of difference in your results.
