WATCH: 4 dynamic exercises for a full body workout at home

Missing the gym? Watch our video tutorials created by the Sussexsport team for tips on how to keep your workouts going at home. Here’s Duty Manager Aaron with 4 dynamic exercises for a full body workout at home, no weights or kit required!

1. Lateral Skaters

You’ll feel this exercise in your lower body, working your legs and glutes.

Your quads will do the majority of the work, but your hamstrings, glutes and calves also get a decent workout too. Whilst the drill mainly increases lower body power, it is considered a full-body, dynamic movement. This exercise is a great option for High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and as a nice conditioning exercise.

In addition to muscle strengthening, this exercise comes with the added benefits of improving your agility, balance and coordination, which activates your core.

Lateral skater jumps are especially good for runners, as they will help work on ankle stabilisation.

How to do it:

• Start standing with your legs hip-width apart, with hips and knees slightly bent
• Shift your weight onto your left leg and pick your right foot up from the ground
• Bend your left (standing) knee to lower your hips a few inches, then push explosively off your standing left foot to jump to the right-side landing on your right leg
• Bring your left leg towards your right ankle without it touching the floor
• Repeat to the other side; you should jump as far as possible so that when you land, you immediately take off again to the other side
• Increase your range of motion by touching the floor with your hand for every repetition. The deeper you go, the more you’ll activate your hip muscles.

Start off easy by tapping your back toe down onto the ground to increase stability, or remove the jump.

To make this move a bit tougher, jump farther, faster, and squat lower. If using for conditioning you might want to reduce distances/height and go for 30 seconds movement, with 30 seconds recovery. If the outcome is to improve power, then perform greater distances/height and perform 2–4 sets of 6 repetitions on each leg.

2. Scramblers - Inchworms

The inchworm works the arms, chest and upper back as well as the core. It is called the inchworm because it mimics the up-and-down motion of a worm moving across a flat surface. The exercise requires no additional equipment, meaning you can do it almost anywhere. Include this as another HIIT exercise or include this in your warm up to a strength training session. To use as part of your warm up, complete 2 sets of 6–10 repetitions.

How to do it:

• Stand tall, feet roughly hip-distance apart. Check your posture — your ears should be aligned over your shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles, your abdominals engaged
• Take a breath in, then as you exhale, look down at the ground and start reaching your hands toward the floor in front of your feet, allowing your back to bend forward, rolling down one vertebra at a time. Allow your knees to bend slightly, as needed, to enable your hands to reach the ground
• Place your hands on the floor in front of your feet. Inhale and walk your hands forward, one at a time, allowing your heels to lift off the floor as your body begins to straighten. When your hands are directly under your shoulders, check your form — you should be in a full plank position with your core, chest, quads, triceps, and shoulders engaged, your body forming a straight line from heels to head
• Keep your legs relatively straight and begin walking your feet forward, one at a time, toward your hands. This should provide a nice stretch through your hamstrings, calves, and glutes as your hips start lifting toward the ceiling. Exhale as you step forward
• Stop when your feet are as close to your hands as you can comfortably bring them. Remember, you can bend your knees slightly to ease the stretch on your hamstrings, but try to keep them as straight as possible
• Return to standing by slowly rolling your back up from the hips, straightening one vertebra at a time. Inhale as you go. When you’re back in the starting position, you’ve completed one repetition. Continue for time or repetitions, depending on your workout.

To give your upper body and core an even greater challenge, the key is to extend the plank, flattening out your body even farther than in the standard plank. The rest of the exercise remains the same. The trick here is that you have to have a strong core and shoulders to perform the movement safely, so work up to this gradually.

When you reach the plank phase of the inchworm, with your hands positioned under your shoulders, double-check that your core is engaged and your hips are aligned between your knees and shoulders. From here, step your hands farther forward, one at a time, making sure you keep your core strong and straight.

Start by just taking one step forward with each hand. If that feels comfortable, keep walking your hands forward (you may need to work up to this over time), until your torso is almost touching the ground. Whenever you feel like your shoulders or core may not be able to support the exercise safely or your form is being compromised, stop walking your hands forward and enter the next phase of the inchworm by stepping your feet toward your hands.

3. Mountain Climbers

Mountain climbers are a full-body, calisthenic exercise that challenges and improves mobility and improves cardiovascular fitness. For conditioning, work faster, ensuring good technique. If you’re focusing on mobility, slow the movement down and complete 2 sets of 6–10 repetitions on each side.

The primary muscles used when performing mountain climbers include the abdominals, glutes and leg muscles.

How to do it:

• Start in the plank position — body completely straight and straight arms, like at the top of a pushup
• Bring one knee as close as you can to the elbows
• Keep your hips low and in line with your back, feet and head
• Maintain a flat back
• Return your leg to the starting position by extending the knee and bring the other leg towards your other elbow
• Don’t let your elbows bend. Keep them locked out to help stabilise your body
• Make sure to not lift your hips too high. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles
• Don’t round your lower back. Squeeze your abs to help prevent movement.

To progress, pick up the tempo. This is where the cardio element of the exercise kicks in and you really reap the benefits. Begin at the upright plank position again. Start by pulling your right leg up to your chest area and immediately return it to the starting position. Without hesitation or rest, pull your left leg up to your chest and then return it to the starting position.

If you need to adapt the exercise, try using a chair for support as demonstrated below.

4. Explosive Step Ups

These will increase your lower-body strength and power, particularly in the glutes and quads, while helping single-leg strength and stability.

In the video we have used a chair, but please make sure that whatever you step up on to is stable and safe.

Increase your overall power and speed with this dynamic exercise. This exercise will improve your jumping ability, acceleration and skating stride power. Also, the single-leg nature of the exercise equalises strength on both legs to improve agility in all directions.

How to do it:

• Stand to the right of your chair/step/box
• Place left foot on surface
• Stomp on surface with your left foot and immediately contract left quad and glute to explosively drive body up
• Fully extend left leg and drive right knee up until thigh is parallel to ground
• Bend left knee and hip to lower to starting position
• Repeat for desired number of reps
• Switch round and perform set with your right leg.

If you want to make this exercise a bit more challenging, do the beginner variation above while holding dumbbells, or food tins or cartons if you don’t have any weights at home.

How did it go? Let us know how you’re getting on and ask us questions on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. And don’t forget to use the hashtag #StayInWorkOut!