How To Exercise Effectively At Home
by Chloe Waring in Training
With us all being confined to our homes for the time being, it’s important that we keep moving and exercising even though we can’t go to the gym. You can still keep up your fitness from the comfort of your own home – we can work on our cardiovascular fitness, fat burning, strength, endurance, core strength and stability and you don’t need to worry about buying lots of weights and equipment.
Before starting any workout, it is important to warm up the muscles ready for activity. All exercises should be done in a controlled manner, starting off by just using your own body weight and eventually you may add in some hand weights as you get stronger and used to the exercises. Continuously engage your core to protect the back from any injury by squeezing the stomach as hard as you can during the movement.
Here is a good plan to follow to help you burn calories and get in a full-body workout whilst at home:
- Decide on a workout — Cardio, strength focused or a mix
- Pick 10 exercises — For cardio, focus on exercises where the intensity can be altered e.g. a high-intensity move such as a burpee can be changed to a less intense jog on the spot. If doing strength training, focus on push and pull exercises and core movements, like squats, lunges, press-ups and tricep dips.
- Decide on the duration of each set — Beginners may start with 8-12 reps, while more advanced people could aim for 20+ reps.
- Prepare — Use a timer for any interval workouts by downloading an app, put on a motivating playlist and start warming-up.
- Workout — Complete 1 circuit of each exercise as a beginner and build up to 3-5 rounds to make it more intense.
Example of a Cardio Circuit (No Kit)
- 1 min: Jog on the spot
- 1 min: Sprint
- 1 min: High knees
- 1 min: Star Jumps
- 1 min: Burpees
- 1 min: Jog on the spot
- 1 min: Squat jumps
- 1 min: Mountain climbers
- 1 min: Plank Jacks
- 1 min: Jog on the spot
Example of a Strength Circuit Training (No Kit)
- 1 min: Jog on the spot to warm up
- Squats — 25 reps
- Reverse lunges — 12 reps per leg
- Press ups — 10 reps
- Tricep Dips — 10 reps
- Walking lunge with arms overhead — 10 reps
- Plank
- Glute bridge
- Russian Twists
- Back Extensions
If unsure on any of these exercise type the exercise into Youtube and there will be plenty of tutorials to watch.
If any questions please feel free to send us an email on: info@griffinfit.co.uk
P.s Here’s one of our recorded live workouts that you can watch and follow. There is equipment used in this so for any that need equipment a good idea is to use a couple of Asda bags and fill them with soup tins or anything that can create a weight.
Enjoy