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The Minimalist Routine
Four exercises, done as a circuit, two to six times. It is the r/bodyweightfitness wiki's bare minimum: the least you can do and still get the benefits of training. The whole routine is on this page.
Who wrote it
The routine comes from the r/bodyweightfitness wiki, which states its own attribution: it is almost entirely derived from u/m092's Concept Wednesday post on minimalist training, reproduced there in a shorter form. It is their work, not ours, and everything in the next two sections is theirs.
The routine
One set of each exercise, in this order, is one circuit. Take little to no rest, then go again. Two to six circuits.
| # | Exercise | How |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walking Lunges | Long steps, knee tracking over the foot. |
| 2 | Push-ups | Hands on a table or your knees to make it easier; diamond or pseudo planche to make it harder. |
| 3 | Rows | Non-negotiable, and the one thing you need somewhere to do. See below. |
| 4 | Plank Shoulder Taps | Straight-arm plank, tap the opposite shoulder, do not let the hips rotate. |
How often, and how many circuits
You can do this every day. If your goals include strength and muscle growth, three times a week with gradual progression to harder exercises is better, and on the other days the routine suggests mobility work or easy cardio if you want to do something.
On circuits: at least one, because anything beats nothing, and results generally improve with more volume. If you are at six and it is starting to feel easy, the routine's advice is to move to harder progressions rather than add a seventh, even if that means doing fewer circuits for a while.
Reps, and when to make something harder
The routine deliberately does not fix a rep range. Work in whatever range you like. What it does give you is the bar for progressing: you should generally be able to do at least three sets of 8 to 10 reps before you significantly increase an exercise's difficulty.
Its own progression suggestions: push-ups go to diamond push-ups, then pseudo planche push-ups. Rows go to pull-ups and harder pull-up variations. Lunges go to squats, then cossack squats, then pistol or shrimp squats.
Where to do rows without a bar
This is the only equipment question the routine has, and it treats it as solvable rather than as a reason not to start. Its own list:
- Under a sturdy table
- A broomstick across the seats of two chairs
- Towels hung over a pull-up bar
- A rope over a tree branch, a swing set, or one of the swings
- Gymnastic rings, if you want to buy something
- A knot tied in a bedsheet, with the knot shut inside a door
Keep the total volume of push-ups and rows roughly equal over time. The routine names doing far more of one than the other as its main injury risk.
Optional extras
The routine lists these as things to consider adding, not as part of it: supermans or bird dogs, dead bugs, a hip hinge, squats, calf raises, more core work, and walking or hiking.
Doing it in Ægir Iron
It ships in the app as The Minimalist Routine, so you can load it rather than copy it out. You pick your circuit count and whether you run it three days a week or every day, and you can add the optional core and leg extras. The app has no circuit primitive, so your circuits are written as that many sets of each of the four in order, which is the same arithmetic, and the instruction to keep moving rides on every row.
Two things that are ours rather than the routine's, and the app says so too. The eight-week length is our reading of a block, because the routine publishes none: it is something you do, not something you finish. And the rows carry the 8 to 10 range as a working target, because a template has to write a number down, while the routine leaves the range to you and only names 8 to 10 as the bar for progressing. Logging, the volume chart and the progress graphs are free.