Hi, welcome to the WCT 30 Day Exercise Challenge For Busy People.
This is a 30-day program designed to get you started on a simple, yet effective exercise regimen that you can perform at home with no equipment.
Each session should take you approximately 5-30 minutes to complete: The workouts will progressively increase in volume and will take longer to perform as you progress.
The goal is to perform this program in 30 consecutive days.
At the end of the challenge, you will be much stronger and familiar with key functional exercises.
The Exercises
The program includes three of the highest yield exercises:
- The Push-up
- The Squat
- The Plank
Do not underestimate them! There is a reason why they have been popular for decades.
Using these three exercises, you will be training your full body on a daily basis.
Every session gets progressively more difficult as the repetitions increase each day. You can take as many sets as necessary to accomplish the required repetitions.
For the Push-Up, use whatever variation is appropriate for your skill level.
Err on the side of using an easier variation as the difficulty ramps up quickly.
This video shows the standard push-up, as well as push-up progressions and regressions.
The same goes for the Squat. Err on the side of using an easier variation if you are new to this movement.
This video will go through Basic Squat Progressions:
The Basic Plank variation should be sufficient for most people.
Warning: You may want to take Before and After photos.
So without further ado, here is the challenge…
The WCT 30 Day Challenge
Day 1: 5 Squats 5 Push-ups, 5 second Plank
Day 2: 7 Squats, 7 Push-ups, 10 sec Plank
Day 3: 9 Squats, 9 Push-ups, 15 sec Plank
Day 4: 11 Squats, 11 Push-ups, 20 sec Plank
Day 5: Off
Day 6: 14 Squats, 14 Push-ups, 25 sec Plank
Day 7: 17 Squats, 17 Push-ups, 30 sec Plank
Day 8: 20 Squats, 20 Push-ups, 35 sec Plank
Day 9: 23 Squats, 23 Push-ups, 40 sec Plank
Day 10: Off
Day 11: 26 Squats, 26 Push-ups, 45 sec Plank
Day 12: 29 Squats, 29 Push-ups, 50 sec Plank
Day 13: 32 Squats, 32 Push-ups, 55 sec Plank
Day 14: 35 Squats, 35 Push-ups, 1 min Plank
Day 15: Off
Day 16: 36 Squats, 36 Push-ups, 65 sec Plank
Day 17: 37 Squats, 37 Push-ups, 70 sec Plank
Day 18: 38 Squats, 38 Push-ups, 75 sec Plank
Day 19: 39 Squats, 39 Push-ups, 80 sec Plank
Day 20: Off
Day 21: 41 Squats, 41 Push-ups, 85 sec Plank
Day 22: 42 Squats, 42 Push-ups, 90 sec Plank
Day 23: 43 Squats, 43 Push-ups, 95 sec Plank
Day 24: 44 Squats, 44 Push-ups, 100 sec Plank
Day 25: Off
Day 26: 45 Squats, 45 Push-ups, 105 sec Plank
Day 27: 46 Squats, 46 Push-ups, 110 sec Plank
Day 28: 48 Squats, 48 Push-ups, 2 min Plank
Day 29: Off
Day 30: 50 Squats, 50 Push-ups, 2 min 30 sec Plank
If you have gotten to this point, congratulations! You are a much stronger version of yourself.
You can repeat the program as many times as you’d like. Start over on Day 11 using a more challenging variation, or add 5-10 lbs to each exercise to increase the difficulty.
You will keep making progress as long as you are abiding by the 3 Essential Principles of Exercise Routines.
But That’s Not All…
We also have an extremely comprehensive guide on more bodyweight exercises so that you can never run out of exercises to choose from.
We also teach you how to create a home workout program that can be done in as little as 15-20 minutes a day!
What other excuses do you have to not workout?
Comment below and let us know!
Alex Robles, MD, CPT / Brittany Robles, MD, MPH, CPT
Alex & Brittany Robles are physicians, NASM Certified Personal Trainers, and founders of The White Coat Trainer: a resource dedicated to improving the health and fitness of busy professionals using time-efficient strategies. Their advice has been featured in My Fitness Pal, Prevention, Livestrong, Reader’s Digest, Bustle, The Active Times, and more. Learn more about them here.
Can you break up pushups into sets or do you have to do it all at once ?
Hi Jeff,
You can take as many sets as necessary to accomplish the required repetitions