Let’s start with a few assumptions…

You don’t have the luxury to spend hours in the gym.

You find it hard to stick with an exercise plan, long term. The good news is that you’re not
alone. But we have found the solution for you and desperate others: We call it the
Bodyweight 200, and it addresses all of the above obstacles. In fact all you need are only
two pieces of equipment—a Swiss ball (try Reebok stores) and a chinup bar (or your curtain
rod, if it’s strong enough to support your body weight)—to perform this 20-minute, total-body
routine designed by Craig Ballantyne, author of Turbulence Training.

You’ll be able to do the entire workout in the comfort of your own home, and you only need
a spare 30 minutes. And don’t be fooled by the lack of weights—the 200 stands for the
number of repetitions you do. All it will cost you is the time it takes you to do it.

This 200-rep programme burns fat and builds muscle in a little over an hour a week

Do this workout 3 times a week leaving at least a day’s rest in between. Perform the
exercises as a circuit, doing 1 set of each movement for the prescribed number of reps.
Complete them in the order shown, without resting. Too easy? Rest 1 minute and then
repeat the circuit.

The workout
1 Prisoner squats (30 reps)
2 Pushups (30 reps)
3 Jumps (10 reps)
4 Swiss-ball leg curls (10 reps)
5 Swiss-ball pikes (10 reps)
6 Step-ups (20 reps)
7 Pullups or chinups (5 reps)
8 Forward lunges (30 reps)
9 Tucked-elbow pressups (20 reps)
10 Inverted rows (15 reps)
11 Prisoner squats (15 reps)
12 Pullups (5 reps)

Exercises

Prisoner squat

Stand with your hands behind your head, chest out and elbows back (A). Sit back at your
hips and bend your knees to lower your body as far as you can keeping the natural arch of
your spine (B). Squeeze your glutes and push back to the starting position. According to a
study, bodyweight squats are so effective for improving balance and core stability, they’re
recommended for spinal cord injuries.
Pushup

Assume a classic pushup position with back and legs straight and your hands beneath your
shoulders (A). Brace your abs and keep your body rigid. Now lower yourself until your chest
almost touches the floor (B). Then push up until your arms are extended. An American
Journal of Sports Medicine study found that pushups strengthen your rib cage and reduce
strain on your upper traps, helping a stiff neck or shoulders.

Jump

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Now dip down at your hips and knees (A) and
then explode up (B), jumping as high as you possibly can. Land softly and then lower
yourself and repeat. A Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research study found that jump
squats improved the study group’s 1 rep max for squats and achieved faster 20-metre sprint
times.

Swiss-ball leg curl

Lie on the floor with your calves resting on a Swiss ball and your arms outstretched.
Squeeze your glutes to raise your hips off the floor until your body is in a straight line from
your shoulders to your ankles (A). Pause, then bend your legs to roll the ball towards your
backside (B). Straighten your legs to roll it away, then lower your body to the floor. These
activate maximum muscle fibres in your hamstrings.

Step-up

Holding your arms straight out in front of you, place one foot on a step or bench that’s about
two feet (or 60cm) off the floor (A). Push down through your heel to lift your other leg (B),
and then return to the starting position. Complete all your reps with one leg before switching
legs and repeating the movement.

Pullup/ chinup

Hang from the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart (A). (Use an
over-hand grip for the pullup and an underhand grip for the chinup.) Pull your chin up past
the bar (B), and then lower your body back down. If that’s hard, perform negative chinups:
Use a sturdy box or bench to boost your chin over the bar. Then lower your body as slowly
as you can.

Forward lunge

From a standing position (A), take a large step forward with one leg. When your front thigh
is parallel to the floor and your back knee is off the floor (B), hold for 1 second. Then return
to start and repeat with your other leg. A Tsuruma Health Science Society study found this
was effective for activating over 60 per cent of the muscle fibres in your quads.

Tucked elbow pressup

Assume a pushup position (A), but keep your elbows tucked in against your sides as you
lower yourself until your chest is about an inch (or 3cm) off the floor (B) and then push
yourself up. This places extra tension on your triceps and inner chest which will increase the
size of your arms and carve out a solid path between your chest muscles, making your pecs
look much fuller and the gap between them deeper.

Inverted row

Set a chinup bar at hip height inside a door frame. Lie underneath the bar with your heels
on the floor and grab the bar, your hands 1 or 2 inches (or 5cm) beyond shoulder-width
apart (A). Keeping your body in a straight line, pull your chest up to the bar using your back
muscles (B). Slowly lower yourself until your arms are straight. This is the definitive move
for determining upper back strength in elite rowers.