How Many Exercises Do You Need to Get in Shape?

No matter where you go looking for workout routines these days, you’re bound to find a fitness expert or a bodybuilder who’s going to deliver a mish-mash of exercises and training tips to you, and each of them is going to tell you their workout routine is the best for helping you to get in shape, and stay in shape.

Here’s the thing: A lot of exercises can get you in shape, and a ton of exercise routines and combinations can have you occupying the top 10 percent of the fittest-looking people on the planet. You may need certain exercises added to your routine if you want the precisely crafted musculature of a competitive bodybuilder, but simply getting in shape is a much simpler matter, and only really requires your workout to have three features.

1. Two compound movements for your lower body

Aside from helping you move around, your legs contain the most powerful muscles in your body, and do the bulk of the work in supporting you as you lift objects off the ground and carry them around.

To make sure that you can lift and carry a respectable amount of weight, a combination of at least two exercises like deadlifts, squats, and lunges, will ensure that you’re prepared to grab the weight and move around with confidence.

These multi-joint exercises will force your leg muscles to work your body through a full range of practical motion, which will allow your strength improvements to translate neatly into real-world settings.

On top of that, a strong pair of legs will ensure that you have a stable base of support for the rest of your training, including your upper-body exercises, and the cardiovascular exercise that you require.

3. Four compound movements for your upper body

In order to truly have an upper body that’s in shape, you need to be able to control the movement of your body by pulling it toward an object, and pushing it away from an object. Likewise you need to be able to use all of your upper body muscles to control an object you’re pushing away from you, and pulling an object toward

This means that you should perform an exercise like push-ups or dips, so that your chest and triceps are simultaneously involved with pushing your body. Likewise, pull-ups or chin-ups will include both your back and biceps as you learn to pull yourself off of the ground using nothing but your ons strength.

Plenty of military recruits have achieved excellent upper-body strength and endurance simply through the use of push-ups and pull-ups. However, in order to realize the full potential of your upper-body muscles, you should add a compound open-chain movement, where you’re lifting weight other than that provided by your own body.

Therefore, any sort of row that involves your back, biceps, and posterior delts, and any pressing movement that includes your chest, triceps, and anterior delts, will ensure that your muscles are prepared for lifting and controlling whatever objects you encounter throughout your day.

3. One leg-based cardiovascular exercise

As fun and efficient as exercises like rowing and swimming are, it’s useful to engage in a practical form of cardio that will allow you to train your heart by using your legs in an upright position while under the effects of gravity. 

Running, skiing, biking, or the elliptical machine allow you to train your body while moving your legs in a pattern that approximates real forward progress, while also preparing your heart and muscles for different speeds and stress levels.

Ideally, you will also take your legs through different speeds and exertion levels so that your body is being trained both aerobically and anaerobically. That way, if you need to run in the direction of danger, or run away from it. 

Well-Rounded Fitness

That’s really all there is to it. Being in basic shape is very different from acquiring the level of conditioning required to play a specific sport, or from rounding out all of your muscle groups so that you look like you wouldn’t look out of place on a bodybuilding stage. 

All you really need to do is take each of your muscles through a practical pattern of movement against resistance, and get your heart pumping through the movement of your legs. If you follow these tips on a regular basis, you will undoubtedly find that you’re in better shape than the overwhelming majority of the people you interact with on a daily basis, both inside and outside of the gym.

Summary:

1. It can be far easier to get in shape than most fitness experts will lead you to believe.

2. Regularly performing two compound lower-body exercises will ensure that your body has a strong, stable, and capable base.

3. You can train all of the critical actions of your upper-body muscles with four multi-joint exercises — two closed-chain and two open-chain — so that you know you are capable of controlling your own body and other objects.

4. Engaging in cardiovascular exercises that utilize your legs in an upright position will help to prepare your body for scenarios it is likely to experience in everyday activity.