Bodyweight Circuit Routine – Exercise Descriptions

The first exercise in the circuit is the squat. You may be very familiar with the regular, bodyweight squat, and if you’re comfortable with that, feel free to stick with the basic version. However, I want you to feel free to explore different variations as well.

Here are some variations you can play around with:

Variation	Description
Bodyweight Squat	With your feet shoulder width apart and pointed out slightly, squat down, keeping your knees pointed out. Squat down only as low as you can comfortably go.
Regular Jump	The regular jump is just like it sounds. You’ll jump in place, keeping your legs straight under you.
Star Jump	For this variation, you’ll open your arms and legs (like a star) as you jump. Return to the starting position and repeat.
Tuck Jump	In this variation, tuck your legs in front of you as you jump up.

The bear crawl is the first animal movement of the circuit. As with the squat, you can play around with a couple variations.

The important thing to bear in mind (terrible pun, I know) is to move reciprocally. This means you’ll move your opposite arm and leg at the same time. As you lift your right arm to move it forward, make sure you’re moving your left leg, and vice versa. This is actually how we normally walk.

Here are the variations you can play around with:

Variation	Description
Bear Crawl with Straight Arms	Keep your arms and legs straight as you move your limbs reciprocally.
Bear Crawl with Bent Arms	In this variation, you’ll add a little more difficulty by bending the arms as you move.

The push-up is probably the most commonly practiced bodyweight movement, but believe it or not, most people get one fundamental thing wrong. No matter what variation you practice, make sure to keep your elbows screwed in close to your sides throughout the movement.

Here are some variations you can practice:

Variation	Description
Knee Push-Up	Start on your hands and knees, with your hands directly beneath your shoulders. Tighten your whole body (screw your elbow-pits forward, squeeze your torso and quads, and push your heels back), then slowly lower your chest, while keeping your elbow pits pointed forward. Slowly push your chest back up to starting position.
Full Push-Up	The cues for the full push-up are exactly like the knee push-up, but you’ll start from a plank position. Make sure to keep your entire body tight throughout the movement, and don’t forget about those elbows!
Hollow Body Push-Up	Begin in the regular plank position, with your elbow pits screwed forward, your quads and torso tight, and your heels push back. Squeeze your glutes as you tilt your pelvis posteriorly, and squeeze your abs as you drive your hands into the floor, separating your shoulder blades and rounding your upper back. Keeping this nice rounded position, with your elbows locked out and screwed forward, slowly lower your chest to the ground, then slowly push yourself back up to the hollow body plank position.

The “frogger,” as I like to call it, is a lot like the frog hop kids like to play with, but it’s not just a fun little move for kids. There are a lot of great benefits from the frogger as well.

For instance, if you have any interest in improving your hand balancing skills, the frogger is a great transitional move to build the strength and coordination necessary for handstands. It’ll also help you loosen up your hips if flexibility is a concern for you.

Here are some variations to play around with:

Variation	Description
Standard Frogger	With the standard frogger, you’ll start in a deep squat position, then place your hands about a foot in front of you. Hop your feet forward, so that they land just outside your hands. Continue traveling forward this way.
Frogger with Arm Raise	This variation just adds a little pause between each “hop.” So, hop forward and pause as you raise your arms above your head. You should be back in that deep squat in this “paused” position. Then, drop your hands back to the ground and repeat.
Frogger with Hip Elevation	The frogger with hip elevation is the same as the standard frogger, except you’ll try to bring your hips higher at the top of the hop. This is a variation I use to help my clients work on their handstand skills. Eventually, you’ll be able to bring your hips high enough that you are in a handstand at the top of the hop, as I demonstrate in the video.

The hollow body position is probably one of the best “core strengthening” exercises you’ll ever encounter, and trust me, it’s about as far from a “crunch” as you can get.

In this position, you’ll lie on your back and press your lower back into the ground. You’ll automatically feel a tightening in your abs, especially as you work on extending your arms and legs.

Here are some variations to work on:

Variation	Description
90-Degree Hollow Body Hold	While lying on your back with your lower back pressed into the floor, bend your knees to a 90-degree angle with your feet off the ground. Tuck your chin and lift your head off the ground, and keep your arms straight. You can point your arms in whatever direction is most comfortable for you, but just make sure to keep them off the ground.
Mid-Level Hollow Body Hold	For the next variation, you’ll straighten your legs, which increases the length of the lever. You’ll also widen the angle between your torso and your thighs, from 90 degrees in the previous variation, to about 135-degrees in this variation.
Full Hollow Body Hold	In the full hollow body hold, your arms will be fully extended behind your head, and your legs will be fully extended in front of you. Your arms, legs, and head will be just slightly above the floor, but otherwise, your body is basically straight. Remember to keep your lower back in contact with the floor the entire time.

The monkey is a lot like the frogger, but instead of traveling forward, you’ll travel sideways. We’re not used to moving in this plane, so it might be a little unsettling at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll have a lot of fun with it.

Plus, it’ll open up your hips, and get you more comfortable with new ways of moving your body.

Variation	Description
Standard Monkey	In the standard monkey, start in a deep squat, then place your hands on the ground in front of your body, and to one side. Then, jump your hips and legs to meet your hands. So, if you’re traveling to the right, you’ll start in a deep squat, then place your hands so that your left hand is in front of your right foot, and your right hand is shoulder-width apart from your left hand. Jump sideways so that your right foot lands behind your right hand, and your left foot lands behind your left hand. Repeat so that you are traveling sideways, then go the other direction.
Monkey with Hip Elevation	This variation, much like the elevated frogger position, is all about bringing your hips as high as you can at the top of the jump. Again, this will help you work on your hand balancing skills. In the beginning, your hips may not come up very high, but over time you’ll get more comfortable in that position so that you can bring them higher.
Cartwheel	The cartwheel is a natural progression from the monkey, as it involves the same sideways movement, just with a full turn added. In the video above, I demonstrate three progressions to work on the full cartwheel.