If you’ve read any of my posts that involve workout tips for beginners, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I struggle to keep exercising interesting.
To be more blunt, I work to not get bored.
So I’m always on the lookout to find new and more creative ways to get through my workouts.
This is mostly because it doesn’t take long for me to find exercising boring. Because let’s be honest, it can get boring.
The discipline and the repetition and the routine. It can get dull. And I’ve never been a fan of dull.
We might as well try and keep it interesting. Or at least mix it up enough so that we convince ourselves it’s interesting. It is working out after all.
So in the spirit of keeping bodyweight exercises a little more interesting and having some fun with workout tips for beginners, here are a few variations of some popular movements that you can incorporate into your workouts right away.
Related Article: 5 of The Best Exercises For A Beginner’s At Home Workout
The Push Up Squat
This is a great variation of the same old push up and gets a lot of your body into the action.
So if you’re looking for a way to make your push up routine a little more interesting and possibly a tad more challenging, give this move a try.
Start off by lying down on the floor, face down as if you were going to do a push up.
Your legs should be straight and together. Your hands palms down, next to and a little below your shoulders.
As you push up, maintain good form and exhale on the exertion.
But as you push up, pull your knees up to your chest as you drive upwards through your palms so that you land on your feet.
You’ll have to push a little harder with your arms to help get off the ground as you bring your feet under your torso.
This should have you finishing in a squat position.
Then, put your hands back down in front of you, shoot your legs back out behind you and lower yourself down to repeat the whole movement.
Here’s one of the best workout tips for beginners I ever got: Don’t bang your hands back down on the ground. Just place them in front of you. You don’t need any extra strain on your wrists.
You’re going to be repeating a bunch of these movements for a long time to come. You don’t want wrist pain slowing you down or turning you away from exercising.
Another way to think of it is like a half burpee. Except you’re not standing up or jumping into the air.
This move is focused on an explosive push up and going immediately into a squat.
It’s a great workout for your chest, shoulders, arms, core and legs. I think you’ll find it a challenging variation to a regular push up and keep it from getting boring.
Try and do a set of 10.
Related Article: A Great At Home Workout For Beginners To Start Today
Windshield Wiper Push Ups
This is another fun variation of the standard push up but with a great twist on the end. When I was starting out, I thought this was one of the more interesting workout tips for beginners.
Most push ups have you focused pretty much entirely on your upper body. Particular emphasis on your chest, arms and core.
Here’s how your legs can push their way into a push up with a movement you probably weren’t expecting.
Start off again as if you were going to do a standard push up just like you did for the first exercise above.
As you push up and get into the fully extended upper position, kick up with your legs, keeping them together but swinging them to the right.
Once your legs come down, lower yourself into the bottom of the push up.
Then as you press up again, kick your legs up and together into the air but this time over to the right.
Each time you come up in the movement, you’re swinging your legs together, side to side, like a windshield wiper.
This variation is a great challenge for your chest and shoulders and forces you to work for stabilization with your core as you swing your legs back and forth.
If this move is too difficult right now, try this variation.
As you push up, keeping your right leg straight, raise it up off the ground. Just a few inches will do the trick.
Lower your leg as you come back down and repeat with your left.
This will help you build the core and upper body strength to eventually do the wipers.
And I promise, you mix this one in from time to time, those push ups won’t be boring.
Try and do 5 to each side.
Related Article: Best Bodyweight Exercises To Build A Strong Physique
Single Leg Squat Raises
If you’re a beginner who is coming along with full bodyweight squats and is looking for something to boost your lower body workout, try this.
Set up as if you’re going to do a traditional squat.
So you should be standing straight up with your arms relaxed by your sides. Your feet should be a little more than shoulder width apart.
Go down for your squat, keeping your chest up and your back straight. To get the most of this movement you want to maintain your form.
Come down low enough so that your thighs are about parallel with the ground.
Before you start pressing back up, lift your right foot a couple inches off the ground and press up using only your left leg until you return to a standing position.
Drop down again into a full squat and repeat the press up again this time using only your right leg.
If regular two legged squats have been getting easy or “dull” for you, I’m pretty sure these single leg press ups should change things up considerably.
When I was starting out, this was one of my favorite workout tips for beginners and I still use these today and probably always will.
When you first start trying these, you might want to work on your balance. Have a stool or a chair close by to steady yourself but don’t use it for leverage.
Eventually, you won’t need it at all.
This is a great movement to boost lower body strength and help you with balance and coordination.
Also, it keeps your bodyweight squats from getting too boring. Nobody likes boring.
Especially since nobody is crazy about leg day.
OK. Maybe you like leg day but I’m not nuts about it.
This move keeps it interesting. Well, as interesting as leg day can be.
Try and do 10 raises with each leg.
Related Article: The Plank Workout Challenge For Beginners
Put Them Together As A Routine
You can put these moves into your current routine to mix up whatever you do for these muscle groups or you can put the three together for a fun beginner workout on its own.
Lets take a look at it as a routine.
- Push Up Squats 10 Repetitions
- Single Leg Squat Raises 10 Per Leg
- Windshield Wiper Push Ups 5 Per Side
That is a great beginner routine that will work your upper body, core and legs.
If you’re looking for an effective full body workout and don’t have much time, this will do it for you.
And an added benefit is that you can do it anywhere. You only need your bodyweight. No equipment required.
That’s convenient. This often works for me when I catch myself in a rush and want to get in a quick workout.
Try and go through the whole routine 3 times with a minute rest in between each exercise.
That should keep you motivated.
If you want to make it a little more challenging you can even…
Make It Metabolic!
Wait. What is that?
Great question.
This routine can be turned into a great metabolic workout for beginners.
If you haven’t heard of a metabolic workout before and want to know what it is, here’s a general breakdown for you.
A metabolic workout tends to involve compound exercises. Compound exercises utilize multiple joints and multiple muscle groups at the same time.
So for example the push up squat in this routine is a great compound exercise incorporating the legs, chest and core. As you can imagine, it works multiple joints for these muscle groups to work together.
A good metabolic workout will have you boost your metabolism with a good calorie burn. Your metabolism is generally measured by how many calories you burn while at rest.
The faster your metabolism the more calories you burn. The more calories you burn the better your chances of burning fat and losing some weight.
Metabolic training tends to incorporate large muscle groups in the body. Though it can be done with smaller muscle groups as well. It utilizes high intensity and you’ll definitely feel the burn in the muscles you are working.
The high intensity also means you’re able to workout for a shorter period of time to achieve the same results.
The benefits of a solid metabolic workout routine for beginners include improved cardiovascular performance and strength training. There also tends to be a boost in fat loss as a result of increased calorie burns.
Some studies indicated that following a good metabolic workout routine, a percentage of the increased levels of calorie burns continue while at rest. This has been referred to as the “afterburn effect”.
Also known as the excess post exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC. It’s really just a fancy way of describing the increased number of calories burned after exercise.
Related Article: At Home Bodyweight Strength Training For Beginners
Any Tips For Beginners to Make This Workout Routine Metabolic?
Another great question.
If you’re looking to turn this into a metabolic workout routine for beginners the best place to start is with your rest period in between exercises.
This is one way to boost the intensity. So instead of resting for a minute between each movement, take the rest out completely from in between exercises and go straight through from one movement to the next.
Save the rest for after completing all three exercises.
Here’s one of the best tips for beginners, whatever you do don’t slow down. You want to maintain a steady pace.
By boosting the intensity in this fashion you’ll reap the benefits of this bodyweight strength training routine in less time and effectively turned it into a great metabolic workout.
The Wrap Up
So there you have it.
A few easy alternatives for bodyweight exercises to keep things a little more interesting so your head stays in the game.
You can even take these three exercises and make a great beginner full body workout with them.
If you’re able to jump right to the metabolic workout, I’d imagine you’re not quite a beginner and may be ready soon to take this workout to the next level by adding weight and additional sets.
That should not only keep it interesting, that will definitely make it a challenge.
At that point you won’t be such a beginner anymore. You’ll be on your way to the next level. Way to go!
