Is your gym still closed?
Keeping ourselves fit is of vital importance to our physical and mental wellbeing. But if your gym is closed, or you don’t have room for exercise equipment, you may be at a loss.
Don’t worry, we are here to help. Read on for our top home workouts so you can start getting more exercise in no time.
Home Workouts
All six of our top home workout exercises can push you to your limit, without the need for a spotter. The only equipment you will need is a basic skipping rope and a set of dumbells. So no matter your budget or available space you should be able to get exercising.
1. Press-Ups
Press-ups focus on many muscle groups for the best growth. It also helps strengthen the joints of your shoulders. This is an easy exercise to do at home.
If you’re planning more strenuous shoulder exercises, later on, this is great preparation. You should start with these to build up to things like incline bench presses.
Take up the press-up position keeping your hands a shoulder’s width apart, palms flat on the floor. Keep your back straight to form line from your heel to your head.
Lower your body until your chest is about an inch off the ground, then drive yourself back up again. Once your arms are back to full extension, you’ve done one rep.
2. Burpees
When it comes to home fat burning, you’ll find few moves that are better than a burpee. It’s a great way to burn off that fat without needing any equipment. Put these into your routine to get up your heart rate and give yourself a mental challenge.
From a standing start, squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Then place your palms flat to the floor. From that point, kick out your feet as far back as you can, but keep your arms extended.
Once your feet touch the ground, jump back into your squatting position. From there, jump up to your standing starting point. When you land the jump, go straight back into your squat and that will be one rep.
3. Plank
When you keep doing crunches, you’re putting pressure on your spine. If you do it wrong, you can also end up with an odd-looking set of distended abs.
Planks are better for working your core that will keep you injury-free. They’ll also leave you with flatter ab results once you get that far.
Get down into the press-up position but rest your forearms flat on the floor, not your palms. Keep your back straight and tense up your glutes and abs. Hold this for a set number of seconds and don’t let your hips sag. 20 seconds is a good starting goal.
4. Skipping
Skipping is a no-nonsense workout that can be an efficient form of cardio. In fact, studies have shown that only 10 minutes of skipping with a rope can equate to 30 minutes spent jogging.
Take hold of the rope handles and use your wrists to flick the rope over your head. Jump over the rope once it gets to your feet. To make it more intense you can vary the speed with which you swing the rope, or cross your arms over your chest in an “X” shape.
5. Dumbbell Squats
Squats are a great allrounder when it comes to exercises. They’re one of the best for improving and building general, all-round strength.
The dumbbells also help improve your technique and movement range at low weight. You should only move onto barbell squats when you can do dumbbell squats like a pro.
Take a dumbbell in each hand and keep your feet shoulder-width apart. Put your head up and keep your back straight so you sit back into the squat. The dumbbells should sit about an inch off the floor.
You want to try to keep your knees over your toes and your chest outwards. Don’t lean forward or arch your back as you go down. Breath out, straighten your legs, and return to your upright starting position.
6. Standing Shoulder Press With Dumbbell
This is a shoulder sculpting exercise that is safer than lifting from the back of your neck. If you’re a beginner, you should aim to keep the strain from your joints.
This will help protect you from injuries like shoulder impingement syndrome. Misses sessions and trying to make up for it when you’re early in your lifting ability can be costly.
Stand with two dumbbells held at shoulder height using the overhand grip. Your palms should be facing forward. Make sure your elbows aren’t pointing out at your sides too.
Push the weights up over your head until you’ve got your arms at full extension. Then, going slow, return back to your starting position at shoulder height. This is one rep.
Build your Program
Each of these exercises focuses on different muscles. By combining them, you’ll have a comprehensive program that works every part of you. And it’s easy to do from home with no equipment needed.
The first step to putting your plan together is to work out your baseline fitness. A good place to start is to check your weight and body fat percentage. Before you start exercising, it’s a good idea to chat with your doctor. If you have health issues, or aged 45+ you should get medical clearance.
The AHA recommends at least 30 minutes of medium-intensity exercise for heart health. This can be running, jogging, or even going for a walk. You can do this around your neighborhood or using a treadmill if you have one.
When setting up your daily program, try to fit in as many of the 6 workouts as possible. For a 7 day program, go light-intensity for 4 days, and heavy-intensity for 3. This keeps you moving forward but will give your body the rest it needs.
To cool down, don’t come to an abrupt stop. Wind your exercise down and return to light-intensity exercise for 5-10 minutes. Finish off by stretching out all your muscles to prevent stiffness and acid build-up.
Home Workouts the Easy Way
By incorporating these easy home workout exercises into your home exercise regimen, you’ll be shedding lbs at home in no time. Tailor your workouts to the areas you want to work on but be sure to keep on top of your daily cardio, and not push yourself too far.
If you want to track your weight loss, or muscle gain, check out our guide to choosing the best body fat scale.