We hope you enjoyed the 30 foods for a better body blog. As a follow up, we wanted to share with you some of our favorite work out ideas for when you are at the gym! As a part of the New Year, New You, many people are purchasing a gym membership to work out and stay healthy. Here are the Top 5 Best Exercises you can do – gym or no gym!

1. Planks: Looking to increase your core strength? Planks will do just that. They work your abs, back, arms, and legs, as well as your internal abdominal muscles. Go into a pushup position but resting on your elbows or hands. While keeping your body in a straight line, squeeze your abs and hold for 30-60 seconds. Repeat as many times as you can. If you cannot hold yourself up, rest your knees on the ground and work your way up.
2. Walking or Running Hills: Walking up or running up hills is a great workout as it has such an incline; it will really work your calf muscles! It will get your heart pumping, that is for sure! If you are not ready for the hills and have an hour break at work, pack some tennis shoes and go for a nice walk over your break.
3. Squats: The squat is something you can do with or without weights. It works many body parts including your core, quads, calves, and hamstrings. Whether you use weights or do not use weights, you should incorporate it into your workout as it will strengthen your legs & back.
4. Pull-ups & Chin-ups: Lacking upper body strength can lead to injuries and lack of ability with common everyday movements (ex: lifting anything heavy from the ground) If you are at the gym and cannot do a full pull up or chin up, there are machines that will allow some assistance to decrease your body weight when pulling up. However, you want to make it your goal to be able to increase the amount of pull-ups and chin-ups as it is a great workout to increase your upper body strength!
5. Pushups: Incorporating pushups into your workout routine will help work your chest, shoulders, back, triceps, and abs (core). Doing pushups daily will help decrease the flabby arms and weak chest. If you are unable to do the standard push up, it is okay. You can do the “girl” version which is doing a push up with your knees down. That way, you can strengthen the necessary muscles to eventually work your way toward regular pushups!

There you have it! I hope you enjoyed reading our blog with the top 5 best exercises you can do. I hope this gave you motivation and some ideas to add to your current work out. Good luck and stay healthy!