Bodyweight Fat-Burning Workouts That Don’t Require A Gym Membership

Young man workout in fitness club. Profile portrait of caucasian guy making plank or push ups exercise, training indoors

iStockphoto / Milkos


It’s May, which means very warm weather is right around the corner, depending on where you live.

Beach season, pool parties, volleyball, shirtless jogs around campus – whatever the reason may be, some of you may be looking to drop a few pounds and trim up for summer.

Now, the most important components of any good fat loss program are proper diet, strength training, and some cardiovascular work, either sprints or long distance cardio, whichever you prefer.

All of those variables can be endlessly tweaked and changed, and we can debate over the best methods until the cows come home, but any good program ultimately boils down to those simple components.

I’ll be the first to say that I think resistance training in a gym is your best bet, but if that’s not an option, I’m going to give you some killer bodyweight circuits you can try that will send your heart rate through the roof.

You probably won’t make any tremendous strength or size gains, but you will sure as hell improve your conditioning and burn some serious calories.

If you’re back home on spring break and don’t have a gym to use, or you gym is closed for Easter, or maybe you’re just too lazy to drag your ass to the gym, sometimes you have no choice but to get in a workout without any equipment.

Maybe you don’t even go to the gym, but want to drop some weight – I don’t care. These workouts are for you.

For each exercise, work as hard as you can at it for 60 seconds – don’t worry if you need to rest, just do as much work as you can.

Rest 10-15 seconds between exercises, and two minutes at the end of the round. Grab some water, and do it again, until you’ve completed the whole circuit 2-3 times.

You pick a circuit and do it three times before you call it day, or do one round of each to mix it up if you get bored.

If you don’t know an exercise, YouTube is a great place to find video demos for any of these.

These circuits are also a great way to finish your workout in the gym if you want to challenge yourself and get away from the treadmill or stair-mill.

Bodyweight Fat-Burning Workouts

Circuit 1

Bodyweight Squats x 60 seconds
Mountain Climbers x 60 seconds
Glute Bridges x 60 seconds
Pushups x 60 seconds
Bicycle Crunches x 60 seconds
Alternating Lunges x 60 seconds
Russian Twists x 60 seconds
Burpees x 60 seconds

Circuit 2

Jump Squats x 60 seconds
Lying Leg Raises x 60 seconds
Decline Push-Ups x 60 seconds
Side Plank x 30 seconds/side
Jumping Jacks x 60 seconds
Side-to-Side Lunges x 60 seconds
Crunches x 60 seconds
High Knees x 60 seconds

There you have it. Two perfectly great options to burn fat without having to join a gym or buy a ton of at-home exercise equipment.