How to Tone Your Legs, Arms & Abs at Home

Do as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes!
Time constraints used to leave me feeling I had no time for exercise. It is only natural to think in order to be fit and healthy you have to spend hours sweating it out in the gym. I discovered a way to make the most of what little time I had and designed a way to exercise intensely in a fraction of the time I used to spend in the gym.

The approach consists of just two exercises for the workout and involves exercises that train the whole body. The style of the workout forces the metabolism to speed up and depending on the resistance you use will develop as well as tone the overall body head to toe.

I start workout with a warm up for about 5 minutes, sometimes this is fast walking, skipping, jogging on the spot or some movements with light dumbbells. As long as the body temperature is elevated it doesn’t matter how you warm up. What does matter is to remember to stretch any tight muscles before the start of the workout. The last thing you want is a muscle injury to keep you away from exercise.

The rules for the workout is to do 10-12 reps on both exercises straight after each other followed by a rest of no more than 30 seconds. The aim is to strive for as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes without breaking form and dropping below 8 reps.

With exercises using resistance the same resistance must be used on all the sets for the workout. Opt for a weight that allows you to achieve 12 reps on the first set, if you can only manage 2 or 3 rounds before dropping below 8 reps stop the workout and continue to progress the next time with a little less weight. For intermediates and advanced trainers a 10-20-rep window is an option. Whichever rep window you choose make sure you select the correct weight that allows you to perform the target reps with safe and proper technique.

Exercise #1 Squat and Curl to Overhead Press
Before you begin, a warm up set for the first exercise is recommended, this should be around 50% of the weight you will be using for all your sets. Strong individuals using heavy weights should do a staggered warm up, for example 50%, 65%, and 75% of the working weight.

Begin the starting position standing with a good posture holding the dumbbells at the sides with the palms facing the thighs. Take a deep diaphragmatic breath and initiate the squat by bending the hips and knees keeping the shoulder blades down and together. Squat down as far as you can without breaking form. Slowly rise back to the standing position breathing out slowly. When in the standing position curl the dumbbells towards the shoulders and press the dumbbells above the head turning the palms forward. Reverse the arm action until the dumbbells are by the side of your thighs. This completes one rep.

Exercise #2 Swiss Ball Hamstring Curl
Start by lying on your back on the floor with the arms at the sides with palms facing up; place the heels on top of the ball with toes pointing up. Squeeze the glutes and draw the tummy in as you bring the hips of the floor. Bend your knees to bring the heels towards the glutes and slowly return to the starting position. Don’t allow your hips to drop and maintain the level of your hips throughout the set. Also keep the toes pointing up when bending the knees.

The options to progress on this type of workout would be to either shorten the rest time in between rounds enabling you to achieve more rounds in the 15 minute window or to increase the resistance so the desired reps are more challenging to reach on every round. It is best to swap and change training principles as often as possible to keep the workout demanding. Work as hard as you can on every workout to force the body to change and burn body fat.
Do as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes!