3 Unique Bodyweight Exercises For Fat Loss

This is a guest post by one of my dear friends, Kate Vidulich, founder of 1,000 Calorie Accelerators.

Bodyweight exercises are awesome for fat loss conditioning and building muscle – and they will seriously kick your butt.

The #1 reason I love bodyweight training is that it doesn’t beat up your joints as much as traditional weight lifting. Plus it allows for a natural range of motion and improves your athleticism.

But hey, who am I trying to convince? 😉

However, let’s be honest.

If you do the same moves over and over again, it can get boring.

You know it’s not just about doing push up variations, squats and burpees until you turn blue in the face.

Today, I have 3 tough bodyweight exercises that you’ve probably never seen before…

You will be surprised how hard you can work using these exercises in conditioning circuits.

Bodyweight Exercise #1: Sprinting Walkout

This exercise may look simple – but it’s not. Don’t be fooled. You will need single leg stability, glute power and integration of your lower body with your core to rock this move.

Plus, this exercise is highly effective for fat loss because it creates a “metabolic flush” meaning the blood is shunted from your legs, to your upper body and back to your legs again in quick succession.

In fact, the sprinting walkout is a total body fat burner that uses every muscle in your body and the metabolic disturbance will skyrocket your afterburn, so that you continue burning calories long after your workout.

Here’s how to do it:

Movement Prep

• Stand with your feet hip width apart and take a long step back on your right leg and put both hands on the floor – this is your sprinter starting position.

• Your right knee nearly touches the ground and your left thigh is parallel to the floor.

Execution

• Pushing all your weight through the heel of you left foot, drive your right knee forward and flex your hip to 90 degrees.

• Hinge forward at your hips and touch the floor with your palms

• Walk your hands forward until you are supporting all your weight on your hands and toes, in a plank position

• Your body should make a straight line and your hands should line up with your shoulders. Hold for 2 seconds

• Drive your right knee towards your left elbow

• Walk your hands back to start position and repeat

Common Mistakes

• Engage your core throughout so your hips do not drop

• Keep your shoulder blades locked down and back

Bodyweight Exercise #2: Burpee T rotation

This is my favorite twist on a classic bodyweight conditioning exercise… the burpee. You add in the rotational movement to train your core and spice up this old school move!

Here’s how to do it:

Movement Prep

• Stand shoulder width apart, arms down by your side

Execution

• Bend down, putting your hands on the ground

• Kick your legs back so they are extended in push up position

• From this position twist to the right, taking your right arm off the floor and finishing straight above your left arm

• Your body will form a T

• Repeat on the left side

• Jump back so your feet are at your hands again and jump up

• Repeat for prescribed repetitions

Common Mistakes

• Keep your core muscles engaged throughout the exercise

• Keep your hands underneath your shoulders

• Do not allow your back to round from it’s natural arch

Bodyweight Exercise #3: Single Leg RDL with Curtsy Squat

The hardest muscle groups to hit with no equipment are your upper back and hamstrings.

And that’s where this awesome exercise I’ve created comes into play… It has two separate parts, and is the ultimate hybrid move to target your glutes and hamstrings for sexy legs.

Here’s how to do it:

Movement Prep

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart

Execution

• Hinge at your hip and bend your torso towards the floor as you extend one leg behind you. Keep your neck packed in neutral position.

• Squeeze your shoulder blades together and extend your arms into a T formation

• Your neck, torso and extended leg should form a straight line

• If you have great range of motion and balance, that straight line will be parallel to the floor

• The key to perfect form is to keep your body in a straight line

• Try to “pull” yourself back through the heel and squeeze your glutes without tipping over. Be cool lovely people.

• Still keeping your right foot off the floor, perform a curtsy squat

• Return to starting position and repeat for prescribed number of repetitions

• Remember to switch legs

Common Mistakes

• Engage your core throughout the movement

• Avoid rotating your body, rounding your back or shoulders

• Keep your shoulder blades locked down and back

• Try to keep all your weight on the working leg

• Maintain your balance, avoid putting your foot down unless required

Don’t judge these moves before you test-drive them!

How many should I do for each exercise?

Great question. You have two options here. You can go for:

– Repetitions/sets

– Timed circuits

Initially, you should go for reps to nail the technique. Aim for 5-10 reps of each exercise, 2-3 sets and make sure your form is spot on.

Here’s the cool thing…

Once you get the form down, you can use these exact exercises in a density set.

Density training is when you do as many reps as possible in a certain time frame.

The idea is to aim for more reps than your last workout. You work your muscles more, causing more muscle damage. That means more calorie burning after your workout ends, while you’re sitting on the couch.

Get more exercises like this PLUS 1,000 Calorie Accelerators System here.

1,000 Calorie Accelerators is an aggressive 28 day workout plan that gets rapid results, with intense circuits to progress faster yet safely, to burn a whopping 1,000 calories more each day.

Just click the link here and learn how you can take on this 28 day challenge and triple your fat burning to get visibly defined abs.

Rock on!

Kate Vidulich, BSc, ACSM, Master CTT

Exercise Physiologist

photo credit: photo