7 Exercises to Do Every Day
You do not want a programme. You want a short set of things you can do most mornings without thinking about it, that keeps your body working properly and does not need a plan, a gym or forty minutes.
Seven exercises to do every day, in about ten minutes: cat-cow, glute bridge, bodyweight squat, incline push-up, towel row, dead bug and a heel-to-toe balance hold. Between them they cover mobility, legs, pushing, pulling, core and balance, which is everything a body needs to keep doing well.
One thing first: a daily routine is not a daily workout. The difference matters, and getting it wrong is the reason most people abandon this in week two. There is a short section on it below before the exercises.
What “every day” should actually mean
Plenty of daily exercise lists include jumping jacks, burpees and hard interval work. Doing those seven days a week is not a good idea for a beginner, and the people who try it usually stop within a fortnight because they are permanently sore and quietly dreading it.
Here is the distinction that makes daily movement work:
| A daily routine | A workout | |
|---|---|---|
| Effort | Comfortable, never near your limit | Challenging, close to failure |
| Purpose | Keep things moving well | Force an adaptation |
| Afterwards | You feel better than before | You need recovery |
| Frequency | Daily is fine and useful | Two or three times a week |
The seven below are deliberately chosen to sit in the left-hand column. You should finish feeling looser than when you started, not wrecked. If any of them ever leaves you sore the next day, you went too hard, because that is not what this is for.
We go into the wider question in is it bad to work out every day, which covers when daily training genuinely becomes a problem.
The seven exercises
No equipment beyond a hand towel and something solid to lean on. Do them in this order, since it runs from gentle to slightly more demanding.
1. Cat-cow
On all fours, round your back upwards as you breathe out, then let it gently arch as you breathe in. Eight slow repetitions.
Why daily: your spine is designed to bend and it spends most of the day held still in a chair. This is the cheapest way to give it its range back. Easier: do it seated. Harder: pause two seconds at each end.
2. Glute bridge
On your back, knees bent, feet flat. Press through your heels and lift your hips until you form a line from knees to shoulders. Twelve repetitions.
Why daily: sitting keeps your hips bent and your glutes switched off for hours. This is the direct opposite of sitting. Easier: lift halfway. Harder: hold three seconds at the top.
3. Bodyweight squat
Feet about shoulder-width, hips back and down as though sitting into a chair behind you, then stand through your heels. Ten repetitions.
Why daily: this is standing up from a chair, and you will do it thousands of times a year whether you practise it or not. Easier: squat to an actual chair and stand back up. Harder: pause two seconds at the bottom.
4. Incline push-up
Hands on a worktop, a sturdy chair or the wall. Lower your chest toward it, then press away, keeping your body in one line. Eight to ten repetitions.
Why daily: pushing strength fades quietly and is genuinely useful. Using a raised surface keeps the effort low enough to repeat every day. Easier: use the wall. Harder: use a lower surface.
5. Towel row
Hold a hand towel taut in front of you at chest height, hands wide. Pull outwards against it as though trying to tear it, squeezing your shoulder blades together. Hold five seconds, release. Six repetitions.
Why daily: this is the one every other daily list leaves out, and it is arguably the most needed. Everything about modern life pulls you forwards. Nothing pulls you back except this. Easier: shorter holds. Harder: hold ten seconds, or use a resistance band.
6. Dead bug
On your back, arms toward the ceiling, knees bent over your hips. Slowly lower one arm behind your head and the opposite leg toward the floor, then return. Eight each side.
Why daily: it trains your middle to stay steady while your limbs move, which is what your core actually does all day. Low effort, high value. Easier: move the legs only. Harder: straighten the leg further and move slower. Cue: your lower back stays pressed gently into the floor.
7. Heel-to-toe balance hold
Stand with one foot directly in front of the other, heel touching toe, near a wall or worktop. Hold twenty seconds, then swap feet.
Why daily: balance is a skill, and skills respond to frequency rather than intensity. Twenty seconds a day does more than ten minutes once a week. Easier: hold the support, feet slightly apart. Harder: fingertips only, then nothing, then close your eyes with support nearby.
The ten-minute routine
| Exercise | Amount | Trains |
|---|---|---|
| Cat-cow | 8 slow reps | Spine mobility |
| Glute bridge | 12 reps | Hips and glutes |
| Bodyweight squat | 10 reps | Legs |
| Incline push-up | 8 to 10 reps | Push |
| Towel row | 6 holds of 5 sec | Pull and posture |
| Dead bug | 8 each side | Core control |
| Heel-to-toe hold | 20 sec each foot | Balance |
One round is enough. There is no second round, and adding one turns this into a workout, which defeats the point.
What to leave out of a daily routine
Several exercises that appear on other daily lists genuinely should not be done every day by a beginner.
- Jumping jacks and any jumping. Repeated impact seven days a week is hard on knees, ankles and anyone below you in a flat. Fine occasionally, poor as a daily habit.
- Burpees. Demanding enough to need recovery, which is the definition of something that does not belong here.
- Anything heavy. Loaded squats or presses done daily is how beginners accumulate fatigue without noticing.
- Sit-ups and crunches to failure. Your lower back will register the complaint before your abs do.
- Long planks. Holding until you shake is a workout, not a daily habit. The dead bug does the same job at a lower cost.
How this fits with proper training
This routine is a floor, not a ceiling. It keeps you moving well, and it will make a genuine difference if you currently do nothing. It will not build much strength on its own, because the effort is deliberately too low for that.
If you want strength as well, the honest structure is:
- This routine most days, as the daily baseline.
- Two proper strength sessions a week, where you actually work hard. Our 15-minute full-body workout or the 4-Week Beginner Program both cover that.
- Walking, as much as fits your life.
On the days you do a real session, you can skip this or do it as a warm-up. It works well as one. See our warm-up guide for the difference.
How to make it stick
- Attach it to something you already do. After brushing your teeth, before the kettle boils, while the shower warms up. A routine with a trigger survives; one that relies on remembering does not.
- Leave the towel out. Visible equipment, however trivial, is a prompt.
- Accept partial days. Three of the seven still counts. The habit matters more than the completeness.
- Do not track it too seriously. The moment this becomes a streak you can break, missing one day starts to feel like failing.
Common mistakes
- Treating it like a workout. If you finish out of breath, you have misunderstood the assignment.
- Adding rounds. One round, every day, beats three rounds twice a week and then nothing.
- Doing it at a different time each day. The time matters less than it being the same time.
- Expecting it to replace strength training. It will not, and it is not trying to.
- Skipping the towel row because it feels like nothing. It is doing more for your posture than any other item on the list.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best exercises to do every day?
Cat-cow, glute bridges, bodyweight squats, incline push-ups, towel rows, dead bugs and a heel-to-toe balance hold. Together they cover mobility, legs, pushing, pulling, core and balance, and all seven are gentle enough to repeat daily without needing recovery.
Is it OK to exercise every day?
Moving every day is fine and beneficial. Training hard every day is not, at least for a beginner, because muscles adapt during recovery rather than during the session. Keep daily work comfortable and save hard effort for two or three sessions a week.
How long should a daily exercise routine be?
Around ten minutes. Long enough to cover the main movements, short enough that you will still do it on a bad morning. A routine you can complete in the time it takes a kettle to boil is one that survives.
Will doing these every day help me lose weight?
Not much on its own, and any article promising otherwise is overselling. Ten gentle minutes burns relatively little. What it does do is keep you moving and make a proper training habit easier to build, and overall activity across the week is what actually matters.
Should I do jumping jacks every day?
Better not to, as a beginner. Repeated daily impact is hard on knees and ankles, and it is noisy if you share a building. If you want your heart rate up daily, brisk walking or marching on the spot does the same job without the impact.
Do I need a rest day from this routine?
Not from this specific routine, because it is deliberately light enough to repeat. You do need rest days from harder training. If this routine ever leaves you sore, you are doing it too intensely.
Can I do these in the evening instead of the morning?
Yes. The best time is whichever one you will actually keep to. Attaching it to an existing daily habit matters far more than the hour on the clock.
Start tomorrow morning
Leave a towel somewhere you will see it, and run through the seven once before you do anything else. It takes ten minutes and it should leave you feeling better than when you started.
Do that most days for a month and the change will not be dramatic. It will be that stairs feel easier, your back complains less, and you stop noticing the stiffness you had stopped noticing anyway. That is what a daily routine is for.
Where to go next
- Is It Bad to Work Out Every Day?, the honest answer
- 15-Minute Full-Body Home Workout, for your two proper sessions
- What to Do on Rest Days
- Low-Impact Workout for Beginners
- Beginner Exercise Library, for form on any of these
- Home Workouts for Beginners: The Complete Guide
Explore more in Beginner Basics.
Further reading: NHS, Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64.
