Short on Time? Focus on These 3 Moves for a Full-Body Workout

Work runs late, errands are still waiting, and the full-body workout you planned suddenly has to fit into a much smaller window. If you’re following a full-body plan, that can make it feel like your choices are to rush through the whole session or skip it.

But a busy day—or even a hectic stretch of life—doesn’t have to derail your training. You can simplify the workout and still give your body an effective muscle-building training session. When I need to scale back my routine, I focus on the movements that hit the largest muscle groups possible, then adjust the workout to the time and energy I have that day.

Build Your Workout Around Three Exercise Categories

For a full-body workout, I recommend prioritizing one lower-body exercise, one upper-body pushing exercise, and one upper-body pulling exercise. For the lower body, think squat, lunge, leg press, or deadlift variation. A push could be a bench press or shoulder press—basically, a chest or shoulder move. For a pull, we’re talking about an upper back exercise like a row or pull-up. 

Those three categories give you a straightforward way to train the major areas of your body. The lower-body move works the quads, glutes, and hamstrings, with the emphasis depending on the exercise; if it’s a free-weight exercise, you’re probably getting some good core work in, too. Pressing exercises work the chest, shoulders, and triceps, and often the upper traps. Pulling exercises train the back and involve the biceps and forearms. 

Between three exercises, particularly if they’re all compound (multijoint) movements, you’re essentially hitting your entire body. 

Your Three-Exercise Full-Body Workout

Putting the workout together is simple: choose one exercise from each of the three categories. Start with this basic template, then use the exercise menus below to make your selections:

1. Lower Body: Choose one exercise
2. Upper-Body Push: Choose one exercise
3. Upper-Body Pull: Choose one exercise

Lower Body Exercises 

• Back Squat
• Goblet

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