Home office, closed gyms and sports centers, non-stop snacking and increasing stress. Sounds familiar? Well, this is a challenging time for all of us, but there are a few things we can do to make it a little easier. Such as home workouts, for which there are thousands of variations online for all levels, interest, pace, and length of free time.
We have now collected 15 from the most popular ones.
1. Full-Body Cardio Challenge
There are numerous options ranging from 10 minutes to one and a half hours of training, choose the most suitable one according to your fitness level and how much free time you have. If you’re a beginner, it’s worth joining a one-month challenge and starting at the base level, day-by-day workouts are getting a bit longer and harder. Doing a cardio challenge will raise your heart rate, get your body used to being fast and build the foundation for further future gains.
2. Resistant bands
Resistance bands are probably the best inexpensive training tool you can get. No matter if you are a beginner or at an advanced fitness level, resistance band exercises will give your muscles a good challenge. One of the advantages of the bands is that you can make a massive muscle work out without putting pressure on the joints. Resistance bands come in multiple levels as light, medium or heavy. You can adjust the amount of resistance during exercise just by switching bands, or by combining multiple resistance bands to increase the challenge. Most of the resistance band kits come with suggested exercises for every major muscle group in your body, but you can find a lot of workout inspiration online, too.
3. HIIT Workout
Interval training (HIIT) uses high-intensity exercises combined with short rest periods to maximize calorie burn and cardiorespiratory fitness.
A HIIT circuit for both beginners and advanced
- for beginners: start with 30 seconds of workout, followed by 30 seconds of rest
- more advanced: do 45 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest
2 to 3 days a week is a solid amount of HIIT, combined with 24 hours of rest and recovery between sessions.
4. Boxing Workout
Boxing workouts not only offer a great way to get out a little extra stress, but it may just be the most intense exercise you can do for your body at home. Good news is that you can complete a whole session without any extra equipment, here is how:
1. Jump rope: is a great way to get the heart pumping at the beginning of a workout sesh, and you don’t actually need a rope to do it. Take a few minutes to jump in place, moving your arms in a small circular motion as you were actually holding a jump rope.
2. Squat Jumps: Spread your feet about hips-distance, bend into a squat and put your arms forward. Then jump up the way you would during a burpee. Do 3 repeats of 10.
3. Complex Circuit: Rotate between these three exercises for 3 minutes: high knees (running in place and bringing your knees up high, keeping your arms in front of you), mountain climbers, and burpees.
4. Variety Of Sit-Ups
Try 4 different types of sit-ups, doing 25 of each at a time.
5. Working out with your kids
If you have kids, it is very important that they also do exercise every day. If you have no garden or yard then indoor. Why not make the daily work out a fun family activity? Exercise for kids should be taken easily of course. Instead of working out, call it as exercise play.
Here are some examples:
Jump rope: If you have no downstairs neighbors who would complain
Headstands: Very activity for your core muscles and to get blood going to the brain.
Animal races: Hop like a frog or bunny; squat and waddle like a duck, etc.
Clean-up race: Set a timer and put a good song on and see who can right the room the fastest.
Pillow fight: No further explanation needed.
Crab, wheelbarrow, and bear-walk: Holding these tough positions will give all of you a real workout.
6. Pilates
Pilates is a whole-body fitness, adaptable to many fitness levels and needs, develops core strength, increases flexibility, improves posture and increases energy level. Unlike some types of exercises, Pilates won’t over-develop some parts of the body and neglect others. Its main training focuses on core strength while trains the body as an integrated whole. Give it a try, there is nothing you can lose. All you need is a mat and some free time.
7. Tabata
Tabata is recommended if you want to get the most out of your body but you have only a limited amount of time. Tabata was first used in Japan as a new way to train athletes. It’s quite a simple basically it is an equation: 20/10 x 8 = 4. The 20 means the seconds of work, the 10 stands for seconds of rest and the eight represents the number of rounds that should be performed. The equation equals four minutes of intense exercise.
8. Full body dumbell workout
Weight training alternating with cardio exercises helps us to keep our bodies in balance very well. Just like in all other work out, diversity is very important, not to over-develop one muscle group or body part while neglecting others. Fortunately, there are plenty of materials available online for a varied dumbbell workout, and you can even take part in an online live personal training session. Remember to warm up very well before you start and then stretch at the end of your workout.
9. Zumba
The most important benefits of Zumba are that it is great for weight loss, tones your entire body, boosts your heart health, helps you de-stress, improves coordination and makes you smile. Many may find Zumba a little too fast and others not intense enough for their muscles. The good news is that there are plenty of varieties available today, so everyone can find the right one for their level. If you have children, involve them too, or do it with your friends together on a video call. Turn up the volume let the Zumba party start!
10. Yoga
Yoga incorporates breathing techniques, meditation and different poses designed to encourage relaxation and reduce stress. Practicing yoga comes with many benefits for both mental and physical health. It helps to reduce anxiety, fight depression and improve sleep quality. You don’t have to worry if you fail to do the poses at first, or if you can’t concentrate and meditate for long. Find a beginner workout and practice regularly, step by step. You will feel the positive effects of yoga after the first few times.
11. TRX
TRX is a type of suspension training that uses bodyweight exercises to develop core stability strength, flexibility and balance simultaneously. It requires the use of the TRX performance training tool but it’s easy to get it online and set it up at home. Working out with the TRX tool is really home-friendly as it does not require much space, not noisy and can be used in countless ways to train your entire body. You can find plenty of TRX tutorial videos on the internet which can help to achieve visible results in a short amount of time.
12. Crossfit
When we think of CrossFit, probably the gym comes to our mind along with a lot of tools. At home and without these tools, CrossFit is a little more challenging, but not impossible. Let me give you an example of a good core workout:
Complete 5 rounds of:
- Ten sit-ups
- Five push-ups
- 45-second plank
- Ten push-ups
- 60-second plank
- Fifteen sit-ups
- Rest 60 seconds between rounds
13. Pregnancy/Postpartum workouts
Doing exercise is very important during pregnancy and after childbirth, but of course in a completely different way. It is crucial to consult your doctor before starting any sports activity or training. Based on his or her professional opinion you can go ahead. It is best to enlist the help of a personal trainer who will build a workout plan for you based on your own needs and the advice of your doctor. You can also work online with your coach from home.
14. Calisthenics
Calisthenics is a form of exercise containing a variety of movements which exercise large muscle group using our own weight. Calisthenics is probably the best way to start home workouts because it doesn’t require any equipment. It’s a full-body workout, calisthenics exercises engage numerous muscles. Compared to any kind of machine in the gyms, you’re targeting 2-3 times as many muscles with calisthenics training. It has one disadvantage that we need to mention: the progress is hard to measure. Unlikely in the gym where you can measure your muscles’ improvement simply less weight. Calisthenics from this point of view can be a bit more challenging, and thus it is more difficult to persevere in it.
15. Classic aerobic
Who wouldn’t remember the most popular workout of the 90s: the classic aerobic fitness. Aerobic is a type of cardio workout, which is known for its numerous advantages just like weight regulation, mood-boosting, fat-burning, reducing chronic pain, being affordable and accessible. It’s simple and not too hard exercises can be done with smaller children or with older family members who are not restricted in their mobility.
