Yesterday I wrote about DIPS being the absolute best exercise known to man. Today I did a workout including those dips, along with step-ups and ab-wheel roll-outs.

This workout may be one of the best you can do.

As the title suggests, an optimal total body workout.

The dips work your upper body pushing muscles through space. You can do these in various ways and can make them more difficult with added load or changing the reps to slower and/or including isometrics .

For your lower body you have the weighted step-ups. You can do these in a number of ways also. Holding dumbbells like I did today or a sandbag or backpack etc.. you can do reps on each leg then switch or alternate with each rep if you want.

With the ab-wheel rollouts you get a great underrated exercise for the midsection and back. I haven’t done these in awhile and I was reminded how great this simple tool is. There are a few variations you can do with the wheel but the basic roll-out on knees is always a good option.

Just as there are many options for each exercise, there are a bunch of different ways you can structure this workout and a weekly plan.

How many sets/reps and other variables need to be adjusted by you to give your body the appropriate stimulus. A good coach can help with that if you don’t have the training intuition to know how to program it yourself.

Depending on your goal for the day and your training in general, you can adjust the rest periods between exercises or do them like I did today in a circuit, moving from one exercise to the next. When finished with the circuit rest a minute then get back at it.

Sometimes I will do these types of circuits in a non-stop fashion, no rest between sets or between circuits. This is a challenge of another level but one definitely worthy of your time.

Challenge yourself with a simple total body training session like this one and see where you’re at.

I call it the optimal total body workout for a reason. Your entire body gets worked with limited equipment and plenty of room for variations and adjustments based on your strength and conditioning level and goals.