Simple Exercise Routines for Full-Body Fitness
As it turns out, I may not be an Instagram fitness-influencer (or body-builder), but I’ve found exceedingly simple and effective ways to keep my whole body fit throughout the years. From working three jobs in college to working a full-time day job now (plus multiple “side-hustles”), I don’t always have the time to go to the gym and create ridiculously complex weight-lifting and workout routines— however, I do have time to do the basics (usually), and I wanted to share a few tips. Let’s dive in:
We’re all shaped and built differently. However, using simple exercise tips keeps my body mass and composition consistent, which has been important to me over the years.
Simple exercise tips for full-body fitness
To start, it probably goes without saying that moving your body is important. We weren’t made to sit for hours upon hours at a time, and it’s important for circulatory and heart-health to keep moving. So, I’ve found that even just 15 - 30 minutes a day (every day if you can, 3-5 times a week at least) of brisk walking or “jogging” (if possible, don’t over-extend or do anything that hurts your knee or ankle joints!) helps keep me in a moderate level of cardiac fitness all the time.
TL;DR? You don’t have to train to run a marathon to keep your heart basically healthy. Focus on eating right and walking 15 - 30 minutes a day every day (keeping up a brisk pace), and it can go a long way for basic full-body fitness!
Additionally, I truly never have time for intense or complicated weight training routines, so finding fast, no-equipment ways to tone my entire body is super important to me. That said, I’ve found that planking is the best thing you can do to tone every major muscle group in your body, even if it totally sucks sometimes.
Planking is all about form, and with good form (a good resource on form can be found here), planking is a total body burn exercise that tones your arms, legs, and core muscles with an exceedingly simple movement.
TL;DR? Planking is a great way to focus on your muscle tone fitness while going about your day-to-day routine. Have time to pop a plank for 60 seconds while watching TV? Go for it. While laying by the pool? Yep, do it! And so on and so forth.
Once again— I clearly don’t look like a body-builder or fit the Instagram fitness-influencer body archetype, but I feel good and generally maintain a consistent, healthy body composition (for me, we’re all different!) with an exceedingly simple exercise routine. All in all, it’s not about complexity as much as it is about consistency, and that’s what really matters when it comes to full-body fitness.
Xoxo, MM.