The best home workouts don’t necessarily need all the latest equipment—skip the dumbbells and kettlebells—all you need is your body weight and a little bit of inspiration. At-home bodyweight workouts are an extremely effective way to keep up with your fitness routine. Whether you’re looking to spice up your workout or incorporate gains from home and the gym, at-home workouts are an effective way to get moving. Let’s turn up the intensity.
2020 has shown us some ingenious at-home workouts, and we narrowed down three that are guaranteed to make you feel the burn. Clear out some space in your living room and get moving!
Elevate Your Home Workouts for Full Body Gains
Elevated home workouts are an effective way to use your body weight for a full-body workout.
Your home bench, chair, or couch is your new best friend. Elevated workouts that use a bench, chair, or couch as a platform give you a greater range of motion. These workouts increase the level of difficulty when it comes to balancing or something simple like a push-up. You can target crucial muscle groups like your abdomen, arms, and legs.
A bench workout uses a range of motion: from lunges, planks, and step-ups to crunches. Try using a chair, couch, or a stair for a set of step-ups. It targets the butt and hamstrings while also focusing on balance. Have you already done this? Pick up some weights (or even heavy books) and get to work.
Turn Chores Into Fitness Challenges
Have you gone to the grocery store and now have a load of heavy groceries? Make it a one-trip kind of day by challenging yourself with a heavy farmers walk. Just place your hand on your hip, grab a grocery bag or two in one hand, and walk slowly and mindfully from the car to the kitchen. Keep your back straight and your muscles engaged. You will find your upper body, forearm, and thoracic muscles like your triceps, biceps, shoulders, and back feel that good burn.
Incorporate an extra challenge by trying to engage your core muscles throughout the walk—it’s harder than it sounds.
Is it spring cleaning yet? Tidying up the home is an excellent time to incorporate fitness into your routine. Whenever you have to pick something up from the floor or are vacuuming, try a perfect squat and a lateral squat walk.
Don’t Forget the Resistance Bands
If you’re looking to turn up the intensity in any single at-home workout you do, put on a resistance band. Resistance bands exert a particular amount of force on your muscles when stretched and can be used in different places on the body. They provide either light or heavy resistance to target specific muscles. They protect your joints and maintain constant tension on the muscles throughout the entire movement of an exercise.
For squats, lateral squat walks, side-lying hip abduction, glute bridges, and one-arm bicep curls, the bands help to stretch and engage your muscles, giving you more muscle definition. Best of all, resistance bands are affordable, lightweight, and can turn the heat up on almost any movement, which makes them incredibly versatile.
Want More Tips and Tricks to Get the Most Out of Your At-Home Workout?
If you feel that you’re not meeting your fitness goals and want to see some gains, our personal trainers are ready for the task. Contact our team to get in touch with a personal trainer. Or call (805) 966-6147 to reach your fitness goals.
We recommend checking in with one of our personal trainers for some guided exercises not found on the web.