Add full-body exercises to your workout routine to increase your fitness results. Full-body movements are time-efficient, burn calories and are effective strength-training exercises. Many body integrated exercises are performed using the weight of your body. Others increase the challenge by adding resistance in the form of free weights. Because full-body exercises are resistance movements, allow for one day of rest between workouts for muscle recovery.
Functional Fitness
Strength-training exercises that require the use of more than one muscle group are considered full-body movements. The full-body movements are considered functional fitness. According to Fabio Comana, an exercise physiologist and a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, full-body workouts train your body to better handle daily activities such as grocery shopping or house cleaning. These activities require more than one motion at a time. You do not stand still and use only your arms to put away groceries in your refrigerator. You bend, twist, lift and reach as you perform this task.
Inchworm
The inchworm exercise uses most of the major muscle groups in your body. Stand tall with your feet underneath your hips. Bend forward with your legs straight and place your hands on the floor in front of your feet. Walk your hands away from your feet until you are in an upper pushup position with your arms, back and legs straight. Perform a pushup by bending your elbows and lowering your body toward the floor. Straighten your arms to return to the upper pushup position. Walk your feet to your hands. Stand up. Repeat the inchworm 10 to 12 times as you move forward across the room.
Burpee
The burpee is considered a strength-training exercise, but it also elevates your heart rate. The faster you perform the burpee, the faster your heart rate response. Stand tall with your feet underneath your hips. Bend your knees and squat down to place your hands on the floor in front of your feet. Shift the weight of your body onto your hands. Jump your feet behind you, straighten your legs and land your toes on the floor. Perform a pushup by bending your elbows to lower your body and straightening your elbows to lift your body. Hop your feet to your hands into the squat position. Stand tall or perform a vertical jump and then repeat the burpee. Hold a dumbbell in each hand to increase the challenge of the burpee.
Reverse Throw
A standing reverse throw uses a weighted medicine ball as the resistance tool. Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-distance apart. Hold a medicine ball between your hands with your palms facing each other. Straighten your arms in front of your hips. Bend your knees and lower your hips as you swing the ball backward between your legs. Quickly stand up from the squat and press your hips slightly forward as you raise the medicine ball over your head. Throw the ball behind you once the ball passes over the top of your head. Retrieve the ball and complete 10 to 12 reverse medicine ball throws.
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