The endgame for most gym goers is to attain total-body fitness. Sound like a plan? We spoke with Stephen Tryens, B.S., CSCS, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and personal trainer at The Sanctuary Wellness Institute, who shares four essential weekly exercises to build full-body fitness.

Making sure your entire body is strong is the ultimate cheat code to aging well and leading an active, independent lifestyle. In fact, a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that men and women who reported higher levels of fitness and physical activity lowered their risk of death by approximately 20% to 35%.

The key to building a strong, toned body lies in choosing the right exercises. Stephen recommends performing compound movements, which work multiple joints.

“[Compound movements] use the most amount of muscles, which burns more calories (and also saves time in the gym),” explains Stephen. “Our bodies rarely move one joint at a time, so why would you train like that?”

The below exercises highlight all planes of movement: the frontal, sagittal, and transverse planes.

“They cover every joint,” Stephen confirms. “Additionally, the pushup and pull-up allow for a lot of scapular movement. The offset carry and pushup are great for core stability in different planes and the pull-up is great for spine decompression after all of the previous lifts.”

Let’s explore how to perform Stephen’s go-to weekly exercises to build full-body fitness.

Squat to Shoulder Press

woman performing dumbbell squatsShutterstock

  1. Stand tall with your feet shoulder-distance apart.
  2. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder level with your palms facing inward.
  3. Keeping your chest tall, descend into a squat.
  4. Lower until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
  5. Press through your feet to stand back up, pressing the dumbbells overhead as you do so.
  6. Lower the weights to shoulder level.

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Pushups

man doing pushups, concept of five-move workout to build total-body strength at homeShutterstock

  1. Begin in a high plank with your hands under your shoulders, keeping your body straight.
  2. Bend your elbows and lower your chest toward the floor.
  3. Press through your hands to rise back up.

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Pull-ups

fit man doing pull-upsShutterstock

  1. Hold onto a pull-up bar with your hands placed wider than shoulder-width.
  2. Activate your core and shoulders as you pull your chest up to the bar.
  3. Continue to lift until your chin clears the bar.
  4. Use control to lower.

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Offset Carries

kettlebellsShutterstock

  1. Hold a heavy kettlebell or dumbbell with one hand by your side.
  2. In your other hand, hold onto a lighter weight at shoulder level in the rack position.
  3. Stand tall with a braced core and walk forward.
  4. Switch sides and repeat.


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Alexa Mellardo

Alexa is a content strategist, editor, and writer based in Greenwich, Connecticut. She has 11+ years of experience creating content for travel, lifestyle, fitness, wellness, F&B, home, and celeb news publications. Read more about Alexa