Workout of the week: 20-min full-body workout

11th November 2022

ALL LEVELS / full-body workout / 20 minutes

Equipment: Barbell & pull-up bar

Carpe diem. We’ve all heard this Latin aphorism, haven’t we? In case you haven’t, its usual translation is “seize the day” or, in other words, live your life to the fullest. And that’s something we can all agree on, right?

So why should we treat our workouts different? Live your workouts to the fullest with full-body workouts. A full-body workout will hit all of your major muscle groups. And, among other benefits, a whole body approach means you’re not prioritising a specific muscle group over another, helping your build a well-balanced physique.

Here’s a full-body workout to help do all this. It has 2 groups with 4 exercises each. You’ll have to perform each exercise for 40 seconds with no rest between exercises. You get to rest for 30 seconds between each of the 3 rounds. Complete one group before moving to the other, resting for 1-minute between groups.

1st group

Squats
Barbell row
Abdominal row
Burpee pull-up

2nd group

Barbell deadlift
Push-up
Abdominal hollow
Clean and press

Let’s go!

WORKOUT SETUP

2 groups with 4 exercises each
40 seconds each exercise
3 rounds each group
30 seconds rest between rounds
1-minute rest between groups
20 minutes
Equipment: Barbell & pull-up bar

WORKING OUT FROM HOME? NO PROBLEM.

If you don’t have the equipment originally needed for this workout, you can substitute it with these everyday items or use these alternative exercises.

Alternative equipment

Barbell = a broom handle with a gym bag with weights on it

Alternative exercises

Burpee pull-up – if you don’t have a pull-up bar, perform a regular burpee.

WORKOUT EXERCISE LIST

1st GROUP

3 rounds

1 – SQUATS

40 seconds

Stand on your feet, placing them at the same distance as that of your shoulder lines.
Engage the core and go down to the floor, maintaining your knees on the line of your feet. Maintain the abs and glutes tight to control your hip and stabilise the movement. Use your arms to help you with your balance.
Keep your feet attached to the floor and squat as down as possible without lifting the heels or feeling pain in your lower back.
Repeat.

2 – BARBELL ROW

40 seconds

Grab a suitably loaded barbell with a shoulder-width grip. Engage the core and set the shoulders. Lift the bar to assume a standing position – this is your start position.
Keeping the core engaged and the shoulders set, hinge at the hips until the bar is just below the knees. Row the bar towards your belly button and lower again. Immediately deadlift the bar to a standing position – this combination movement completes one repetition.
Return under control and repeat.

3 – ABDOMINAL ROW

40 seconds

Lie on your back with legs straight, feet together. Place arms straight overhead. Flatten your lower back slightly into the floor.
Begin the movement by bringing the knees towards the chest and simultaneously bringing the hands to touch the feet. Although the legs will bend, the arms remain straight. Imagine drawing a semicircle shape with the arms as they come towards the feet to make it easier.
Maintain balance and control as the hands touch the feet.
Return under control and repeat for 40 seconds.

4 – BURPEE PULL-UP

40 seconds

Start in a standing position underneath a bar. Engage the core.
Begin the movement by quickly bending down, reaching the hands towards the floor in front of the feet.
Simultaneously jump the legs back and catch the floor in a push-up position.
Perform a push-up and on the way up, drive the hips up rapidly and drop into a squat position.
As soon as you stick the squat, jump up and grab the bar. Use the momentum of the jump and perform an assisted pull-up.
Return to standing and repeat continuously.

2nd GROUP

3 rounds

1 – BARBELL DEADLIFT

40 seconds

Stand behind the bar with feet hip to shoulder-width apart. The feet should be close to the bar.
From here, bend the knees slightly and push the hips back to bend down and grab the bar, keeping back straight. Once you have the bar, keep the back straight, engage the core, and drive the hips forward and up, returning to standing. Keep the shoulder and core set through the movement.
When you have a full hip extension, keep everything engaged as you slightly bend the knees and reverse the move to lower the bar (either back to the floor or a low hang position).
Repeat.

2 – PUSH-UP

40 seconds

Start in a plank position with arms straight, shoulders above wrists, and body in a straight line.
Engage the core and glutes.
Keeping the shoulders over the wrists, lower the whole body towards the floor, dropping comfortably as low as you can.
Push the body upwards and return to the start position. Repeat.

3 – ABDOMINAL HOLLOW

40 seconds

Lie on your back on a lightly padded exercise mat.
Tighten your abdominal muscles – this will flatten your back to the floor. Hold this flat-back position – this is the abdominal hollow start position.
Raise the arms and legs just a few inches off the floor, while maintaining a flat back. Your body shape should look like a ‘dish’.
Hold this shape and breathe comfortably for 40 seconds.

4 – CLEAN AND PRESS

40 seconds

Select a weight that you can press overhead comfortably with proper technique and load up the barbell.
It is good practice to drill the two movements before combining them into one integrated movement. With that in mind, let’s focus on the clean first.
Clean: lift the bar to the hips – in this variation, this is your start position. Engage the core, set the shoulders and soften the knees. Begin by bending the hips, followed by a rapid hip and thoracic extension (lifting of the chest). The combined action of fast hip and thoracic extension helps to create a catapult-like pull of the bar upwards. As the bar approaches chest height, quickly bend the knees and squat underneath the bar, catching it in a front rack position (across the front of the shoulders).
Press: as the knees bend when you clean the bar, quickly straighten them and use this energy to press the bar overhead. During the press, keep the shoulders set and extend the thoracic spine. The quads, glutes, core and shoulders should all be engaged at the top of the movement.
Lower the bar back to hip level and repeat for reps or time.