Andy Speer's Quick Total-Body Workout
Two dumbbells, a bar, your body, and 15-30 minutes of steely resolve are all you'll need for the best workout of your week. This is what full-body training should feel like!
Performix athlete Andy Speer is a trainer with a long history not only in strength training, but also competitive gymnastics and track and field. He knows how to make you move in ways that will test your upper-body strength as well as your legs and lungs.
Andy Speer Athlete Profile Performix
Watch the video - 3:25
You've heard of "back pocket" workouts that you save for when your normal gym time isn't available or there are lines at all your favorite equipment? This is that kind of workout. You can do it in 15-20 minutes or stretch it out as long as 30, depending on how much time you need to rest and how many rounds you perform. But don't expect it to be easy. You'll only perform high-tension, big-payoff moves that force you to dig deep and make multiple muscle groups play nicely together.
Do it twice a week for strength, once a week for intense full-body conditioning, or every once in a while for fun, but do it, because it's a challenge worth of a few of your precious minutes.
Andy Speer's Quick Total Body Workout Performix
Watch the video - 1:33
Renegade Row to Push-up
It starts with a push-up on dumbbells. Easy enough, right? OK, now row. If renegade rows feel easy, you're cheating. Keep your abs tight—OK, now tighter—and your hips and shoulders level with the ground during the row. Don't be afraid to go fairly light on the rows at first, because your core is working overtime and you don't want to throw your balance off. Push down hard into the resting dumbbell while you row the other, switch, and then go right into another push-up between the dumbbells.
Renegade Row to Push-up
Single-Leg Skater Squat
This is the pistol squat's less flashy but equally tough sibling. It looks a lot like a reverse lunge, but there's one major difference: Your back toes don't get to help you. That may not sound like a game changer, but it is. While pressing your front foot firmly into the ground, reach back with your rear leg, trying to touch only your knee to the ground. The top of your back foot can graze the ground, but not the bottom—no cheating!
Single-Leg Skater Squat
Elevated Pike Push-Up
This isn't just some wimpy regression of the handstand push-up. It's a bona fide upper-body builder in its own right, and the bigger your upper body is, the harder this move becomes. Use a box, a high step, or any piece of gym equipment that will allow you to position your body in a perfect 90-degree angle: legs parallel to the ground, torso perpendicular to it.
The first time you try to find the correct angle, you'll probably miss it by quite a bit, so perform the move near a mirror or have someone give you feedback. Then, well, just push! As much as possible, keep your elbows in front of your body, rather than flaring them dramatically out to the sides. This will make you stronger and keep your shoulders in a safe position.
Elevated Pike Push-Up
180 Jump
You've heard of doing jump squats for conditioning, but adding a turn demands more power production, more coordination, more core work, and more conditioning. The key: Don't just flop from one side to the other. Stick the landing every time, then bounce right back around. If that means you don't hit the 12-rep target the first time you perform the workout, them's the breaks. Each jump counts as a rep, so you're turning around six times total.
180 Jump
Hollow Rock
The hollow rock is one of the fundamental moves of gymnastics training, because it trains you not only to work your core—including your six-pack muscles—but also to control it while your body is moving. Those who stick with this move see incredible carryover to their pull-ups, big lifts, and overall core strength. It's a burner, but the payoffs are huge in both function and physique.
To perform it, start from either a lying or sitting position, and form your body into a C-shape: legs long and arms overhead. If you need an easier option, point your arms toward your feet. Then start rocking, using your lower back as the fulcrum and squeezing your abs and glutes for all they're worth. Your legs go down, your torso goes up, but your body does not bend or break. You're rocking as solid as a boat.
Hollow Rock
If that's too much, practice the hollow hold, where you maintain the C-position with your lower back flush to the ground. Build up to 30-second holds, then attempt the rocks again.
Pull-Up Grip Switch
Coaches talk about what a great core exercise pull-ups are, but once you can knock out a few reps, it doesn't always feel that way. Doing your pull-ups after hollow rocks will definitely make you realize just how fundamental your abs are to this classic bodyweight move, and when you add the grip switch into the mix, let's just say it'll get your attention.
Pull-Up Grip Switch
To perform the grip switch, do an overhand pull-up, then a rep where you quickly switch one of your hands around the bar at the top. Then perform a full pull-up in that mixed position, and then another switch, and so on. All told, it ends up being nine reps organized like this:
- Overhand pull-up
- Switch rep
- Mixed-grip pull-up
- Switch rep
- Underhand chin-up
- Switch rep
- Mixed-grip pull-up
- Switch rep
- Overhand pull-up
Easy enough? Now go do another round, or two, or four. Legs burning, core on fire—this is what full-body training should feel like.