20-minute no-equipment home workout: a full-body circuit

You don't need dumbbells for a strength workout at home. Your own body weight is enough while you're learning technique and can do fewer than 15-20 clean reps. This circuit is built so that all major muscles work in 20 minutes: legs, glutes, back, chest, shoulders and core.

The WHO advises adults to do muscle-strengthening exercises for the major muscle groups on at least 2 days a week. Repeat this workout 2-3 times a week and the strength part of the recommendation is covered.

What you need

• A mat or rug your feet don't slip on.
• A phone timer with 40/20 intervals. Any "interval timer" app or a timer video will do.
• About 2 by 2 metres of free space.
• Trainers are optional. Barefoot is fine if the floor isn't slippery.

Warm-up: 4 minutes

The warm-up gets your joints and muscles ready for squats and jumps. Do each movement for 30 seconds without breaks:

1. Marching in place with high knees.
2. Arm circles forwards and backwards.
3. Side bends.
4. Easy half squats.
5. Slow alternating reverse lunges.
6. Cat-cow on all fours: arching and rounding the back.
7. Jumping jacks or side steps with arms overhead.
8. Hip and ankle circles.

Main part: 2 rounds of 6 exercises

Do each exercise for 40 seconds, then rest 20 seconds and move on to the next. After the sixth exercise, rest 1 minute and start the second round. Two rounds with rest take about 13 minutes, the whole workout with warm-up and cool-down about 19 minutes.

How to do them right

Squats. Feet shoulder-width apart or slightly wider, toes turned out a little. Lower yourself as if sitting on a chair behind you. Knees go the same way as your toes, heels stay on the floor. We cover the technique in detail in the article on squats without mistakes.

Push-ups. Hands slightly wider than your shoulders, body in one line from heels to the top of your head. Elbows go back at about 45 degrees to your body; don't flare them straight out.

Glute bridge. Lie on your back, feet on the floor close to your hips. Lift your hips using your glutes without arching your lower back. At the top your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees.

Reverse lunges. Step one leg back and lower until both knees are bent at roughly a right angle. Keep your torso upright. Alternate legs.

Superman. Lying on your stomach, lift your straight arms and legs a few centimetres at the same time. Hold for 2 seconds and lower. Eyes on the floor, don't crank your neck back.

Plank. Elbows under your shoulders, stomach and glutes tight. If your lower back sags, drop to your knees: a straight plank on your knees is more useful than a sagging one on your toes.

Cool-down: 2 minutes

Breathe calmly and stretch for 30 seconds each: standing quad stretch, seated hamstring stretch, child's pose, chest stretch against a wall. Stretching after a workout helps you calm down and bring your breathing back to normal.

How often and how to progress

Do the workout 2-3 times a week, with at least one rest day between sessions. On days without strength work, ordinary walking is useful: the CDC advises getting 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, and a brisk walk counts.

When both rounds feel easy, change one thing at a time:

1. Add a third round.
2. Increase work to 45 seconds and cut rest to 15.
3. Slow the lowering phase of squats and push-ups to 3 seconds.
4. Swap in harder versions: full push-ups, Bulgarian split squats with your back foot on the sofa, single-leg bridges.

If you want more load without buying dumbbells, the cheapest option is a resistance band. How to choose one and what to do with it is covered in the article on bands.

Common mistakes

• Skipping the warm-up. Jumping and squatting "cold" feels bad, and it's easier to overload your knees.
• Racing for speed. 40 seconds isn't a rep-count contest. Ten clean squats beat twenty with caving knees.
• The same thing every day to exhaustion. Muscles need rest between strength sessions. Without it fatigue builds up and progress stalls.
• Holding your breath. Breathe out on the effort: standing up from a squat, pushing up from the floor.

This article is general in nature and is not medical advice. If you have a chronic condition, an injury, are pregnant or feel pain during exercise, discuss the load with a doctor first. Learn more