No More Excuses

To help you find the time, energy, and room within your budget, I’ve designed a workout that uses minimal equipment, can be performed at home, and takes only 35 to 45 minutes to do. A perfect workout solution for our not-so-perfect, hectic lives…happy training!

Tools Needed

•  Stability ball $35-$45
• Exercise tubing with handles $13-$18
• Small dish towel

The Instructions

1. Put on your runners, turn on the tunes, and get your workout tools lined up.
2. Have a large water bottle handy, sipping every 5 to 10 minutes throughout the workout.
3. Warm up for 8 minutes with light jogging on the spot, going up and down the stairs, or skipping.
4. Perform each exercise once for 1 minute 30 seconds, without any rest between movements.
5. Once you have completed the circuit, go through the workout again–twice for beginners and three to four times for advanced exercisers.
6. At the end of the workout, walk around for 3 to 5 minutes, allowing your heart rate to come down.

The Routine

1. Side-out lunge

Perform this exercise on smooth, hard flooring.

Muscles worked: quadriceps, hamstrings, abductor group, glutes, and core

• Position left foot on small dishtowel.
• Slowly slide straightened left leg out, while bending the right knee. When bending knee, keep it behind toes, ideally lined up with ankle, and keep knee tracking with second toe on that foot.
• Maintain a neutral spine throughout, and keep hips and shoulders squared.
• Perform for 1 minute 30 seconds on each leg.

2. One-legged reverse fly

Muscles worked: mid back, rear deltoid, lower back, and core

• Stand on tubing with left foot; extend right leg behind you.
• Cross tubing and grab each handle. Position spine and neck in neutral, and pull shoulders back and down.
• Using mid-back muscles, slowly lift slightly bent arms up (like you’re flying), squeezing shoulder blades together at the top of the movement.
• Perform for 45 seconds while balancing on each leg.

3. Ball pushup

Muscles worked: pectorals, triceps, anterior shoulder, and core

• Kneel on floor with ball in front of you.
• Position hands wider than shoulders, but keep them lined up with shoulders.
• Walk out on hands until ball is under hips (the farther you walk out, the more challenging the exercise becomes).
• Keeping shoulders pulled back and down, slowly come down into a pushup. While keeping core tight, press yourself back up again without rolling the ball.

4. Ball plank with mountain climbers

Muscles worked: Shoulder stabilizers, core muscles, low spine, and glutes

• Position ball against a wall and place elbows on top of ball with feet shoulder-width apart.
• Keeping entire body stiff and in a neutral position, bring one knee in to hit the ball and then back down again.
• Continue alternating knees for 1 minute 30 seconds.