5 Best Home Workouts Essential for Your Fitness Goals.
Time is the biggest excuse that most people make as to why they are not working out or doing an exercise. We are going to kill this excuse by showing you alternative, the best home workouts.
Yes I want you to start working out at home; you can even incorporate it as part of your morning routine. This can be done by you whether you lack time, don’t know where the gym is, or don’t know what a gym looks like.
There shouldn’t be an excuse to not workout at your home or backyard. You’ll actually save time and its will take just a fraction of your time and day.
But what kind of workout can you do? They are simple and if you are disciplined you’ll be a different person. You won’t break your back doing this but you’ll break a sweat therefore take a shower after doing them.
So let’s find out what these workouts are one by one.
1. Jumping Rope
Maybe you’ve never jumped rope in your whole life and the only thing you know about it is from your child.
But it doesn’t matter whether you know or don’t know you how to start jumping rope. If you have never done it before you will stumble but don’t trip yourself. You can easily teach yourself to start skipping.
The first thing you got to have here is the jump rope, borrow one from your daughter or you can get this jump rope on Amazon.
There is a reason why athletes especially boxers utilize this workout. If you want to lose fat, start jumping rope. If belly fat is what you want to get rid of, a jump rope will also be an effective workout.
According to Science Daily, this aerobic exercise can achieve a burn rate of up to 1,300 calories per hour of vigorous activity, with about 0.1 calories consumed per jump.
For how long should you do it? I recommend 10 minutes daily to start with. As Science Daily clearly outlines that ten minutes of jumping rope can roughly be considered the equivalent of running an eight (8) minute mile.
Jumping rope is the cheapest way to exercise and you can carry a jump rope wherever you’re going, so there isn’t an excuse to not workout because you’re travelling.
2. Pushups
This is probably the most famous and best home workouts out there. You can do it in your room or backyard daily for 10-30 minutes.
As a starting point I recommend you start small that is 5-10 reps and gradually increase the reps as you progress.
For example week one do 5 reps daily and by week two increase the reps to 7. This is how you’ll start to progress and see growth. Within a matter of time you will be doing 100 pushups.
Progressively adding reps to your pushup set each day, you’ll significantly improve your upper body strength without having to lift a ton of weight according to MBG.
Pushups are great for anyone wanting to have a broad chest and strong arms and legs.
As Gains Madness explains, pushups are one of the most effective chest exercises in the world. They’re beneficial for building muscle mass on the chest. They target the upper, middle, and lower pecs so you can build a fuller, thicker, more solid and tighter chest without even needing to lift a single weight.
But you have to know how to do a pushup well; there are different forms of pushup. But for a workout at home the traditional pushup is the best. The greatest advantage to this pushup is that it works your whole body from the abs, arms, and legs.
You can do a pushup anywhere you want but you need to know how to do it right. This is how you do a proper traditional pushup.
3. Sit-ups
A great home workout as all you will need is a mat to lie on and you start doing sit ups. A sit up involves lying flat on the back, lifting your torso to a sitting position, and then lying flat again without changing the position of your legs. This is done with your knees bent.
You will start by doing an achievable number of reps that you will increase as you progress. If you have never done this type of workout before expect some pain in your stomach area. This pain is usually cramps and the result of not warming up before doing sit-ups.
If you experience pain do massage the affected area and if the pain doesn’t subside applying ice can alleviate the pain. But to prevent all this always warm up and say no to overtraining.
Sit ups main role is to work on your abs if that is what you seek. It’s a great abs workout routine.
According to WorkoutUni, if you want abs, then sit-ups are an excellent place to start. They mainly target your rectus abdominus, the most superficial ab muscle that gives you the six-pack look.
If you have back problems and concerned with back pain I recommend not taking up sit-ups. They are other different workouts that can be used for your abs like bicycle crunches.
4. Squats
A squat involves lowering your hips from a standing position and then standing back up.
If you have never done a squat before don’t do 100 of them but if you’re familiar with it then 100 squats will be easy.
They are the best leg exercise that improves and boosts your leg muscles. They are one of the best home workouts for athletes and bodybuilders as it also help in whole body muscle building.
The best way to achieve results is by positioning your arms correctly as you do the squats. You will have to extend your arms out straight in front of you, parallel to the floor, palms facing down. Or, if it’s more comfortable, pull elbows close to body, with palms facing each other and thumbs pointing up as outlined by Greatist.
With a squat you have to do it to avoid problems like back pain. As Mercola explains here a safe squat involves you
- · Warming up first
- · Standing with your feet just over your shoulder width apart
- · Keeping your back in a neutral position, and keep your knees centered over your feet
- · Slowly bending your knees, hips and ankles, lowering until you reach a 90-degree angle
- · Returning to the starting position and repeating 15-20 times, for 2-3 sets for beginners (do this two (2) or three (3) times a week)
- · Breathing in as you lower, breathe out as you return to a starting position
By doing it gradually, it will help you become comfortable with the squats.
5. Using an Abs Roller
A roller is a circular device which you can use for your home workout routine. It involves two handles that are connected to a wheel.
You first kneel on the floor preferably use a mat to avoid injury to your knees. Take the abs roller by the handles and place it under your shoulders. The wheel should be touching the floor.
Before starting the exercise ensure your back and arms are straight. When all this is done roll the wheel slowly forward and then pull back to your starting position.
It might seem simple due to the device and how easy the process sounds. But this is the toughest of all these workout routines, but very effective if getting abs is one of your main goals.
As a study done by San Diego State University found, the abs roller exercises produced way more muscle activity in your abs and oblique’s than traditional crunches.
It will wear you down but totally worth it, but getting the right device is important and I recommend this abs roller on Amazon.
If you have never used it before it will be a little tricky. I don’t want you to break anything especially yourself.
So check out this video explaining how to use it effectively as a beginner.
Conclusion
A good home workout can do wonders for you; you might not even have to visit the gym. But it is the toughest because you have to be disciplined to do it every day.
I still recommend you to visit your local gym; you can actually complement your gym workout with some home workouts.
As for the workouts you can do them all together or just pick one and stick with it. If you are just starting out don’t do them all pick one and do it consistently.
If you do more than one you’ll lose motivation fast and just give up. But it should align with your fitness goals.
Do you want to gain muscles/big arms? Do pushups. Do you want to lose that belly fat? Start jumping rope.
Do you know of any other best home workouts that deserve a mention? Then do tell and share in the comment section below.
Talk soon.
-Michael Kamenya