Tips for a Solid Home Workout

In this time of “stay at home” orders, social distancing and community space closures it’s harder than ever to get our daily dose of exercise. I know that right now, we have more important things to worry about than exercise. We need to find work, we need to care for our families, we need to flatten the curve. BUT, at the risk of seeming out of touch, I’d like to write about exercising at home. Why? Because exercise might be just what we need at this challenging time in our life. Not only will exercising from home help stop the spread but it also helps with:

– Anxiety and depression

– Motivation and giving a sense of well-being

– Sleeping better at night

– Keeping our bodies healthy to better fight COVID if need be

If we can continue to exercise from the safety of our own homes, we will be better off as individuals and as a society. 

Here are some tips on how to create a good home workout:

Use Everyday Objects to Add Weight 

There are so many light, medium and heavy things around the house! Find something that is a challenging but achievable weight for you to lift, hold, push, pull, carry, etc. and use it for your weight lifting exercises. Here are some example:

• Fill an empty jug with water, sand or pebbles. Use a laundry detergent jug or water jug.

• Use a 5-gallon drum, filled as full as you want it. Add to it as you get stronger!

• Cinder blocks. 

• Rocks or bricks from the garden.

• A full bag of dog food (warning, your dog will think it’s dinner time).

• Cast iron skillet (why are these sooo heavy?!!!).

Get Your Heart Rate Up Without Going Anywhere!

• Move to the rhythm of an upbeat song (go ahead, get some tunes going!).

• Speed up a movement. Any old movement like step ups… now just do it in double time while keeping good form.

• Make a movement “bigger.” For example, after a squat, lift your arms up in the air (option to old weight) or kick your leg like a boxer. You’ll be surprised what a little “flair” can add to a movement! 

• Circuit training – Rotate between 3-5 different strengthening exercises without stopping between each exercise. 

Fun Ways to Self Motivate When Working Out Alone! 

• Put on upbeat music. 

• Write down your workout ahead of time and stick to it!

• Time yourself or set a goal ahead of time. Redo the same workout in a month and see if you improved on your last results. 

• A few workout styles to make it fun

  • AMRAP = As Many Rounds As Possible. In an AMRAP workout, select a few exercises and select how many of each of those exercises you will do (For example, 10 reps each). You then set a total workout time (For example, 16 minutes). Each time you finish a round of exercises, count it. At the end of 16 minutes, how many rounds did you complete? 

  • EMOM = Every Minute On the Minute. In an EMOM, start a new exercise every minute. Select a few exercises and decide either how many reps you will do OR for how many seconds you will do the exercise. Each minute starts a new exercise and once you finish it, you get to rest the remainder of the minute, at which point you’ll start the next one. 

  • Circuit training = choose a few exercises and cycle between them. It’s that simple! So, if the options above made your head spin, don’t worry, simple is sometimes best!

• Send your workout to your friends and see what they can do!

Here are some examples of weights that I found around my house: