“Your house or hotel might not have the greatest gym, but everybody has access to a floor,” says Michael Piercy, M.S., C.S.C.S. and owner of the Lab Performance and Sports Science in Fairfield, NJ. “You work with the space you’re given. You can still get a great workout without benches and machines and other equipment.” And, rather than looking at a floor workout as a last resort, think of it as a way to focus on some different muscle groups, perform some new exercises, and even test your movement in different planes.
“When you look at planes of motion, the majority of gym equipment operates in the sagittal [front to back] plane,” says Piercy. Think preacher curls and leg presses. “Working on the floor has the advantage of letting you work in different planes, especially the frontal [side-to-side] and transverse [rotational].” Your body moves through space in three dimensions, he says, so your workouts should, too.
Another advantage of being on the ground is that you’re not fighting against gravity like you are while standing. That changes the force that you’re transmitting, and you’re able to steal some stability from the floor. This doesn’t necessarily make things easier, however.
“Planks and hollow holds are deceivingly more difficult than you’d think,” says Piercy. “They challenge your core in a different way.” That’s even truer when you add weights to the equation—for example, in the high-plank dumbbell drag and the hollow hold dumbbell press.
Lay on your back with your arms at your sides and your legs fully extended. Now, rapidly bring your left leg and right arm up and toward each other, lifting your upper back off of the ground to contract your abs. Lower them back to the floor and repeat on the other side.
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RENEGADE DUMBBELL ROW TO T PLANK
Get into a pushup position with each of your hands on a dumbbell. Brace your core and row one of the dumbbells to your side. Lower it back down and row the other one. Then, take one of your hands off of the dumbbell, and reach toward the ceiling as you transition to a side plank position. Your stomach should be facing outward and your feet should be crisscrossed over one another. During your next rep, rotate to the other side.
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HIGH PLANK DUMBBELL DRAG
Get into a high plank, with both hands on the floor and underneath your shoulders, and a dumbbell resting on the floor next to your left hand. Hold the plank position for a beat, and then reach your right hand underneath and across your body to grab the dumbbell and drag it to the other side. Hold the plank for another beat and then repeat the dumbbell drag with your other left hand. That’s one rep.
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PLANK WITH DB SHOULDER TAP
Get into a high plank position, with your hands directly underneath your shoulders. Brace your core and lift your right hand off of the floor to tap your left shoulder and then return it to the ground. Now tap your right shoulder with your left hand and return it to the floor. That’s one rep.
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SIDE PLANK
Rest on your forearm with your feet crisscrossed and your torso facing outward. Keep your hips up and your body in one straight line. Squeeze your glutes and abs to prevent your body from sagging. Hold this position for 20 seconds and then switch sides.
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HOLLOW HOLD WITH DUMBBELL CHEST PRESS
Assume a hollow hold position—upper back and feet off of the ground, resting on your butt—and hold a light to moderate dumbbell in one hand. Brace your abs to stay stead and slowly press the dumbbell up. Repeat for 12 reps and then switch sides. You can also perform this move with two dumbbells if you’d like.
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The Workout
Try this Piercy-approved on-the-ground workout to torch your core, shoulders, and more. Each move simply requires dumbbells and a little room to operate.
