Exercise routines that you can do at home

Lockdown is here to stay.  Well for now at least, and even when gyms open again there will be a number of restrictions in place that mean visiting the gym won't be the experience you are used to for a while.

But it's always important to stay fit and healthy so while lockdown is still hanging around we have to do this from the comfort of our own home or from the park.

Luckily there are loads of resources available for home workouts and with a bit of imagination, there are loads that we can do with very minimal equipment and using everyday household items to increase the difficulty of the moments.

So what have you got in the house that you can use? I have become the master of this over the last few months.  Trying to find imaginative ways to keep my clients working hard with just the bits they have at home has been fun and surprising.


For increasing weights try -

Use a washing basket filled with books, tins, bricks, or whatever you can get your hands on.  Great for deadlifts and bent over rows.

Grab a backpack and fill it with more heavy stuff - Perfect for weighted walks, squats, lunges, you can even do bent-over row and deadlift it.

Fill plastic bottles with water or sand to use as hand weights or to add weight to any of the above.

To make things a little harder without adding weight try changing the way you do a move or using your furniture to assist.


Add a pulse to any move to increase the intensity and change the stimulus on the body.

Pulsing at the bottom or mid-way through a movement will add to the fatigue of the muscles and really give you a burn. If you haven't tried that yet why not add it to a squat -

Squat down to 90 degrees, stop and then pulse up about ⅔ inches and down again twice before rising all the way back up.  And repeat.


Change the tempo - Going slowly through a move and increasing the time the muscles are under tension can help create more strength in the active muscles.

Ideally, you will focus on slowing down the eccentric contraction of an exercise to start with. This is the lowering down phase.

In a press-up try lowering to the ground for 4-5 seconds and pushing back up for just 1.

Use areas of the house in different ways -

Use the steps in the house for multiple exercises.  Run up for a cardio workout, do step-ups or weighted carries up and down for more strength-based.  Or jump up and down the steps for power and plyometric training.

Use the edge of the sofa to do dips off or feet on to do planks and press-ups.

If you have a sturdy table at home you can lie underneath and perform body rows.

Try this home full-body resistance workout combining a few of the above suggestions to increase the intensity.

50 seconds work, 10 seconds rest of each exercise.
Rest at the end for 45 seconds and repeat 3-5 rounds as you see fit.

*Squat pulses - Wearing a heavy backpack.  Hold the squat at 90 degrees and pulse twice before standing up.

*Negative press-ups - 5 seconds down, 1 up.  This can be performed on the knees.

*Bent over rows - Use a washing basket or backpack filled with weights.  Row up, hold for 1 count, and slowly lower for 5 seconds.

*Split squats, right leg in front - Put the front foot up on the first step.  Wearing a backpack.  Lower down for 5 seconds, raise up for 1.

*Split squats, left leg in front.

*Elbow plank - hold wearing backpack.

 

Arron Collins-Thomas
Founder of TONIQ



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