The following is a eight-minute routine using only body weight that can get you started back on your fitness journey. While this type of program won’t get you contest ready or into the upper echelons of sport, it’s a great way to safely introduce a basic level of physical fitness back into your daily routine.

And that’s what we’re all about: the habit of exercise and the behaviour of movement.

The Pros:

• You don’t need a specialized gym or fancy equipment – this can be done anywhere, anytime
• You can vary the intensity as required – you control of how hard you push yourself, or how easy you go)
• It’s a gateway into introducing more activity without being overwhelmed – you only have to invest eight minutes!

The Cons:

• Unless you’re quite sedentary, 8 minutes of activity may not be enough to change your physique or fitness levels
• If you’ve been very sedentary or you’re really out of shape, this eight minutes is going to feel very tough

Prior to going through the exercise circuit, take a few minutes to warm your body up with movement. A dynamic warm-up is more effective for preparing you for activity than the “old” version of just stretching prior to exercise. This should only take about three minutes (yes, this is part of the eight minutes) and you should break a light sweat.

You can do any activity that you enjoy as long as it keeps your body moving continuously (upper and lower body). Some examples include:

• Jogging on the spot
• Jumping jacks
• Skips, hops, jumps
• Crab walks
• Bear crawls
• Variations of lunges, leg swings, kicks

Now for the actual exercises. Do each exercise one after the other without any breaks between each exercise in a circuit format. Aim for 3 cycles of the circuit. Use only a short 20-second rest break between each cycle. Done in this manner, this will give you a total of five minutes of exercise.

• Burpees (no push ups): 20 seconds
• Side Plank: 2 per side x 10 seconds
• Air Squats: 20 seconds
• Push Ups: 20 seconds

Give the above 8 minute workout a try and let us know how if felt.

Yours in movement,

Team Primal