What is a good home workout with no equipment?

A good no-equipment workout is three rounds of squats, push-ups, reverse lunges, glute bridges and a plank. It takes about 25 minutes, hits your whole body, and you can do it in a living room. Do it three days a week with a rest day between.

Here's the full circuit. Do each exercise, rest briefly, and move to the next. After the last one, rest 60 to 90 seconds and start the next round.

1. Squats: 15 reps
2. Push-ups: 8 to 15 reps (on your knees or hands on a couch if full ones are too hard)
3. Reverse lunges: 10 reps per leg
4. Glute bridges: 15 reps, squeezing at the top
5. Plank: 30 to 45 seconds

Warm up first

Spend three minutes on easy movement: march in place, arm circles, a few slow bodyweight squats and some hip circles. You'll feel looser and the first round goes better.

How to make it harder over time

The circuit stops working once it feels easy, so progress it:

• Add reps each week until the sets get to about 20
• Slow down the lowering phase to three seconds
• Add a fourth round
• Swap in harder versions: feet-up push-ups, split squats, single-leg bridges
• Cut rest between exercises

The goal is to finish each set with a couple of reps left in the tank but not many more.

A simple week

• Monday: the circuit above
• Tuesday: 30 minute walk or easy jog
• Wednesday: the circuit
• Thursday: rest
• Friday: the circuit
• Weekend: something you enjoy, like a hike or a bike ride

That fits within the public health guideline of 150 minutes of moderate activity plus two days of strength work, though you'd want a bit more cardio to hit it fully.

The squats and push-ups also work as a game in League of Fitness, where you race a real opponent for 60 seconds while the phone camera counts your reps. Max mode is the solo version for beating your own best, and no equipment or watch is needed.

What's missing

Bodyweight workouts are light on pulling. If you can, add a doorway pull-up bar, a sturdy table for rows, or a resistance band. If you can't, push-ups and bridges still give you a solid base. For more on building muscle without weights, see this page.

Stop if anything hurts sharply, and check with a doctor before starting if you have heart problems, chest pain with exertion or a medical condition that affects exercise.