While I always advocate working out with your trainer and scheduling an appointment at the gym, sometimes you simply don’t have the window of opportunity to get there and workout, but you do have that extra hour to workout at home. Here are the best exercises at home for those days you simply don’t have the time to make it to the gym. I’ll keep it simple, since most of you won’t have equipment at home. However, if you choose one piece of equipment that travels and stores well, while also being inexpensive, consider resistance bands and a yoga mat, so you don’t have to lay on the floor.
Go back to the basis.
The basics include body weight exercises and the makings of a boot camp. Start with squats, do as many as you can and add five more as your ultimate goal. Push ups, walking lunges, plank and jumping jacks are next. If you don’t have resistance bands or dumbbells, use large laundry detergent containers filled with water, milk jugs, kitty litter buckets or even large cans as weights. You may already know the weight you need or can judge how much water to fill it with by your effort.
Do interval training.
Getting done quickly may or may not be your goal, but either way, High Intensity Interval Training—HIIT— is excellent. You’ll need a slightly lighter weight for interval training to help ensure that you maintain proper form. Use dumbbell lunges with a twist, pushups, step ups while holding weights and bent over lateral raise as your strength exercises. Do a strength training exercises for one minute, quickly move to 30 seconds of jump squats or mountain climbers. If you need to rest between sets, don’t rest longer than 15 seconds.
Don’t forget walking more.
You can get your chores completed and get exercise at the same time if you’re mindful of working out. A pedometer will help. These little tips can help year around, even if you’re working out at the gym regularly. Take the stairs and not the escalator or elevator. Don’t even try to get on the escalator and walk up or you’ll be disappointed by a few people who won’t share your enthusiasm for stair climbing. Carry your packages yourself and don’t take a cart to the car. Park further from the store and walk more. Put on the music and dance your way to a cleaner house. Not only will you get the job done faster, you’ll enjoy it more.
- Talk to your personal trainer to get ideas for exercise combinations you can do at home. HIIT training is quick and effective. Using exercises from your normal workout ensures you know the proper form.
- You don’t have to workout a full session all at once. You can break the workout down to several sessions that are at least 10 minutes long.
- Incorporate dance into your workout. Not a slow dance, but one that gets you moving. Plan your routine first, to put your whole body into the moves. Create a song playlist that motivates and invigorates.
- Get the family involved. Make exercising a game to do with the kids. You can also exercise with your partner to make it more fun. Of course, schedule a time or add an impromptu workout rather than waiting for the right time, which may never come.