The 3 L’s of Lean Bodyweight Workout – Long, Lean and Lithe
Build A Long, Lean and Lithe Body – Lean Bodyweight Workout
Love to be Long, Lean, and Lithe? Three Lovely L-words? Dance, yoga, and Pilates involves a lot of stretching and elongating the muscles. This exercise routine builds on that and elongates and tones, stretches and sculpts muscles in one go.
As always start your workout with 3 minutes of light heart work – jumping jacks, leg raises, running on the spot, you know the drill by now. I always add these routines in after I have done my regular bicycle ride. Then do the 5 exercises 3 times over. Cool down at the end with 3 minutes of stretching.
The exercises – do them in this order:
- Walkout
- Triceps Dip and Tabletop Hold
- Downward Dog Push Ups
- Walking Lunges
- Single-Leg Deadlift
This is how you do each of these
Walkout
Repetitions: 5
Stand at the back of your mat with feet shoulder width apart and reach your arms straight above your head, stretching your spine as you do. Keep your back straight and bend forward, hinging at your hips aiming for the mat with your hands. Bend your knees a bit if your hamstrings are tight and to retain balance. Slowly walk your hands forward, moving into a plank (hands on floor, feet on floor and back straight), and holding each step. Feel your calves stretch on each step. Hold the plank for a few seconds (keep breathing for the hold). Then walk your hands back toward your feet, returning to the forward bend. Roll back to standing slowly but letting your head hang to keep your neck relaxed. Back standing raise your arms to the ceiling to finish one repetition.
Triceps Dip and Tabletop Hold
Repetitions: 15, hold for 30 seconds
Triceps dip is often done using a chair – for this one we are going to work from the floor. Get on the floor. Put your hands shoulder width apart on the floor behind you and straighten your elbows to lift your hips off the ground.
Keeping your hips high, breathe in and bend your elbows straight behind you. Breathe out and straighten your arms. This works the large muscle on the back of your upper arm (the tricpes). This is one repetition. After 15 repetitions, press your hips up and straighten you back to come into the tabletop position. Shoulders and knees should be at right angles and your abdomen parallel to the floor (i.e., higher than the top image to the left). Hold for 30 seconds and relax to finish.
Downward Dog Push Ups
Repetitions: 10
For this exercise start in the Downward Dog position. The easiest way to get there is to start on the floor on hands and knees. Lift your knees off the floor until you arrive in an inverted V position stretching your calves and lengthening your spine. Lower your elbows gently to the floor – this is called the Quarter Dog position. Push your hands into the floor to straighten your elbows, and pull your belly button (navel) up toward your spine to move the hips up and back. This returns you to the Downward Dog position and completes one repetition.
Downward Dog image cropped from
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Walking Lunges
Repetitions: 20
Stand upright, feet together, and take a moderate step forward with your right leg, lowering your hips toward the floor by bending both knees to 90-degrees. The back knee should point toward but not touch the ground, and your front knee should be directly over the ankle. Move your arms as if you are walking – i.e, left arm swings forward as right leg goes forward. Press the right heel into the ground and push off with your left foot to bring your left leg forward, stepping with control into a lunge on the other side. This completes two repetitions.
Single-Leg Deadlift
Repetitions: 10 each side
Start with your legs together. Move all your weight onto your right foot, keeping your stomach muscles engaged and chest lifted.
Reach your body forward as you lift your left leg behind you. You will need to move your arms out to the sides for balance as your body and leg make a straight line parallel to the floor. Hold this position for a moment, and stretch through your left heel to engage the back of the left leg. Then lower your raised leg toward the floor as you return to standing upright, resting the left foot lightly on the ground. This completes one repetition. Repeat using the right leg as the lifting leg. Be wary of overbalancing.
Remember to end off with 3 minutes of gentle stretching to warm down. This completes a simple body lengthening lean bodyweight workout. Look forward to the 3 L’s of Lean Bodyweight Workout – Long, Lean and Lithe
Original article and some images from Popsugar.com
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