14 TOTAL BODY WORKOUT at Home: Quick 20-Minute Routine

You don’t need a separate day for arms, legs, and core. With the right total body workout routine, you can train all three in just 20 minutes.

This easy full body workout pairs upper and lower body exercises back to back, so while one muscle group works, the other recovers. Just grab a pair of dumbbells, and you’ll move through two quick sets with zero wasted time.

Here’s the full routine:

Let’s start things off simple. For this one, you’ll just do regular jumping jacks to get your blood pumping before we grab any weights.

Keep your shoulder blades pulled down so your arms stay strong and controlled rather than just flailing around.

Instead of jumping this time, you’ll step side to side while swinging your arms across your chest. If high-impact moves bother your joints, this one’s for you.

It loosens up your shoulders and gets your upper body involved early, which you’ll appreciate once the presses kick in later.

Now you’re adding some lateral movement, because your body doesn’t just move forward and backward all day.

You’ll shuffle to one side, hinge down, and reach for your toes. It might feel a little awkward at first, though, so don’t worry if your coordination needs a few reps to catch up.

Do your hips feel stiff from sitting all day? This one’s all about opening them up before the real work begins.

You’ll draw big half circles with your knees, which warms up the hip joint through its full range of motion. Try to make each circle as wide as you can.

For this one, you’ll do bodyweight squats to prime your legs for the weighted exercises later on.

One thing to watch for: don’t swing your hips forward at the top. Keep tension on your glutes the entire time, because that habit will make a big difference once you add dumbbells.

Fair warning, this one looks easy but will humble you real quick if your hamstrings are tight.

You’ll hinge at the hips with your fingertips behind your head, and that glute squeeze at the top is the key part. 

It’s the same movement pattern you’ll need for the deadlifts coming up later in this total body workout routine.

For the last warm-up, you’ll mimic a jump rope without actually holding one. It sounds a little funny, but it works!

By now your whole body should feel loose and ready to grab those dumbbells. If not, take an extra few seconds here.

This is where the real work kicks in. You’ll combine a reverse lunge with an overhead press, so your legs and shoulders are working together in one fluid motion.

Make sure you’re sitting back into that lunge and pressing through your front heel. If you find yourself leaning forward, that’s a sign you need to shift your weight back a bit.

Before you start bridging, take a second to tuck your pelvis and press your lower back flat into the floor. That setup is everything for this one, so don’t skip it.

From there you’ll lower the dumbbell behind your head and then drive your hips up, so your lats and glutes get hit in the same rep.

You’ll do two deadlifts back to back, then finish with a front raise at the top. The combo keeps your posterior chain and shoulders working without any rest between patterns.

Really sit into your heels and send those hips back during the hinge. If you feel it more in your lower back than your glutes, you’re probably not hinging deep enough.

This one asks a lot of you all at once, since you’ll go from a plank to a lunge to a back row in one sequence. It’ll take some coordination, though!

The key is keeping your chest lifted when you step forward. If you’re hunched over, you won’t be able to drive your elbow back properly for the row.

Pair a deep squat with a hammer curl and you’ve got a move that covers your lower body and biceps in one shot, which is why it fits so well in an easy full body workout like this.

Lock your elbows in place when you curl so the work stays in your arms. If your shoulders start creeping up, that’s a sign to lighten the weight.

Find regular push-ups a little boring on their own? This variation keeps things interesting by flowing right into a downward dog stretch at the top.

You can absolutely drop to your knees for the push-up portion, since this total body workout is about meeting your body where it is. No need to force reps with bad form.

For the final exercise, you’ll step wide into a side lunge, come back to center, and press both dumbbells overhead. It hits your inner thighs, glutes, and shoulders all in one sequence.

Don’t lock your elbows out at the top of the press, though. Keep a slight bend so you protect your joints and finish this total body workout at home feeling strong, not sore in the wrong places.