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As this blog will show, workouts at home don’t have to consist solely of boring bouts of cardio or curling tins of beans while watching daytime TV. With a sprinkle of imagination and a generous spoonful of willingness to try something different, you’ll be surprised at how engaging home training can be.
To make these home workouts accessible to the widest possible audience, they are comprised primarily of bodyweight exercises. But don’t think that you can’t improve your fitness with the weight of your body. As we will see, home workouts involving minimal kit can confer many desirable health and fitness benefits.
However, if you’ve got a dusty competition kettlebell kicking about or a knot of resistance bands that needs untangling, I’ll explain how you can incorporate resistance equipment into the workout. In addition, I will outline a range of ways the session plans can be modified to suit your exercise preferences and training goals.
Workouts at home benefits
Simple bodyweight exercises such as press-ups, Hindu squats, and (my personal favourite) burpees, are celebrated the world over for their functional fitness-promoting prowess. (In praise of Hindu squats, all-state wrestling champion and trainer of champions, Matt Furey maintains that they are one of the best single movements for promoting powerful legs and lasting aerobic endurance.)
Furthermore, such exercises activate a vast array of muscle groups. For example, burpees engage all the muscles of the legs, core, lower back, chest, deltoids, and triceps. And if they are performed in sufficient volume, burpees stimulate the cardiovascular system. (Not convinced? Try performing them continuously for five minutes. I give you 60 seconds before you’re out of puff.)
Workouts at home involving these types of bodyweight exercises will enable you to improve multiple components of fitness.
You don’t need kit to get fit
It’s a myth that you can’t improve strength and conditioning without the trappings of a modern gym. That bodyweight exercises are a superior form of training is evidenced by the fact that they are used extensively in the military.
Most military workouts and fitness tests are comprised exclusively of bodyweight movements – burpees, press-ups, squat thrusts, and pull-ups – and aerobic activities – running (more running!) and speed marches. Yet, I think you’d agree that soldiers are some of the fittest people around.
And this reliance on the body as a resistance tool isn’t because the military is too poor to purchase kit. The best gyms I’ve used were on military bases. But bodyweight exercises are often prioritised because they are superior at forging the type of physicality capable of enduring the hardship of military life.
Workouts at home are more efficient
Let’s bring this discussion back to the general benefits home workouts can deliver. According to Human Kinetics, a leading publisher of health and fitness resources, exercising at home may offer more advantages than going to the gym.
They remind us that ‘your resting time’ and ‘choice of exercise equipment’ is ‘largely dependent on other members.’ These obstacles, which we wouldn’t encounter at home, can impede training efficiency.
Furthermore, the limited availability of equipment can prevent us from following our program. This, they go on to argue, could impact our ability to achieve our training objectives.
But can home workouts improve fitness?
In the Human Kinetics article above, the author goes on to argue that it is not only possible to improve your fitness at home, but that it’s easier to do so than at the gym. ‘Circuit training,’ we are told, is an ‘indispensable’ method of developing whole-body fitness conditioning. Yet, for the reasons outlined above, completing a circuit without having to stop every minute ‘is next to impossible at the gym,’
Though many will refute this argument, elements of it do find support in other leading health and fitness publications.
For example, in the NSCA’s epic Essentials of Tactical Strength & Conditioning (p.165), we are told that ‘A progressive 12-week bodyweight program consisting of push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups has been shown to increase lean tissue mass in addition to improving endurance in each exercise.’
While the authors do not claim that such gains cannot be achieved at the gym, they present a strong case for the effectiveness of simple workouts comprised of basic bodyweight exercises. Thus, they feel justified in stating that, for tactical professionals, such as law enforcement and the military, ‘Bodyweight training is a staple of tactical strength and conditioning.’
Workouts at home
The workouts start with a 5- to 10-minute warm-up. Of course, because the plans are designed with a kit-free exercise facility in mind, the activities include simple activities such as shadowboxing, jogging on the spot, and repetition ladder (and sometimes a combination of the three). However, if you’re fortunate enough to have a stationary bike or rowing machine in your home gym, by all means, incorporate them into your warm-up.
I’ve created three workouts for you to try. To diversify the fitness outcomes and exercise experience, I’ve applied a distinctly different method to each plan. The plans are accompanied by an explanation, key points, and warm-up.
You’ll notice that, though the method changes, the exercises remain the same for plans one and three. This isn’t because I exhausted my stock of ideas. The thought was that by creating a set of generic plans, they would be easier to modify. In addition to enabling you to tailor the plans to suit your training preferences, you’ll also be able to create new workouts.
Home workout #1: Circuits
The first workout has been organised around the circular circuit design. As training methods go, this one is arguably the simplest. The exercises – or stations – form a loop. Traditionally, a duration or prespecified number of reps is applied to the stations. However, this circuit breaks from convention.
Instead of completing a set number of reps or training for a specified time, you’ll be ascending a repetition ladder. So, on the first lap, you’ll be performing 1 rep at each station. Then, on the second lap, you’ll increase to two reps. The objective is to progress up the ladder in the shortest time possible.
Key training points
Warm up before working out. The suggested warm-up is as follows: 5 x 1 min rounds of shadowboxing → but between rounds, complete 1 up to 5 reps of air squats to press-ups.
The objective of the workout is to ascend the repetition ladder in the shortest time possible.
To recap the method. Perform 10 reps at each station for the first lap of the circuit. Reduce by one before commencing the second lap. Repeat until you have reached the final rung of the ladder.
Don’t hesitate to change the order/number of stations or include resistance exercises.
Workout at home #2: Century
No doubt the title of the workout indicates what’s in store. But it’s worth covering the mechanics because there are a few training stipulations. Every station has been assigned 100 reps – 1000 reps total. The objective is to complete all the reps as quickly as your physicality permits.
There’s a catch though. I’ve applied a rule from the CrossFit Murph Workout. The rule prohibits the participant (that’s you) from transitioning between exercises until all 100 reps have been polished off.
Starting at exercise one, your aim is to perform 100 press-ups before progressing to air squats. Though a seemingly innocuous stipulation, I think you’ll be surprised by how much more challenging it makes the workout.
Key training points
Be prepared by first completing this warm-up: 1 to 2 min mobility exercises → 2 min jog on the spot (or skipping/shadowboxing) → 25 jump jacks → 2 min jogging on the spot (try raising your knees level with your navel) → 25 jump jacks → 2 min jogging on the spot (raise those knees higher this time) → 25 jump jacks → Start the workout!
Before setting off on the journey of 1000 reps, start a timer. Establishing a time for the workout provides you with a benchmark to compete against in the future.
The aim of the game is to get those reps done ASAP!
Home workout #3: AMRAP
Our final workout at home consists of completing a series of short-duration AMRAPs. This is a classic CrossFit ‘training task’ the objective of which is to amass as many reps as possible before the time runs out.
There are two ways that you attack the workout. First, you can tackle each exercise as a standalone AMRAP. For one, two, or three minutes per station, you will attempt to achieve your best score. On completing an AMRAP, you’ll take a short break before transitioning to the next exercise.
Similar to the circuit above, the second option is to treat the plan as a single AMRAP. Performing 5, 10 or 20 reps at every station, the objective is to complete as many laps as possible in 10, 20 or 30 minutes. To determine your overall score, simply multiply the selected reps by the number of exercises then multiply that figure by the total loops. (Example: 10 reps x 8 stations = 80r {10 loops x 80 reps = 800r total})
Key training points
Improve your performance by completing this warm-up: 2 min mobility exercises → 3 min cardio → 1 min air squat → 10 secs rest → 1 min squat thrust → 10 secs rest → 1 min press-up → 10 secs rest → 1 min burpee → Swig of water then start the workout!
For this session, you have two options to choose between.
Option 1: AMRAP each station for 1, 2 or 3 minutes. The suggested rest durations are 10, 20 or 30 seconds.
Option 2: Applying a rep range of 5, 10 or 20 reps, treat the plan as a progression and AMRAP the exercises in succession. Your objective is to maintain output for 10, 20 or 30 minutes. Rest is not stipulated.
Workouts at home hints and tips
As a general tip, you can incorporate kettlebells, resistance bands and other items of exercise equipment into any of the workouts. This can be achieved by either modifying the current exercises – for example, performing goblet squats in place of air squats – or switching to a completely different movement (kettlebell swings instead of air squats).
Tip for workout at home #1: The repetition ladder features 10 rungs. But this, of course, is amendable. For example, beginners may need to start lower down the ladder – say, at rung 8. On the other hand, advanced trainers could extend the number of rungs by two (starting at 12) or, if you want to challenge yourself, climb up and then back down the ladder.
Tip for workout at home #2: This tip runs along similar lines to the one above – that is, how to adjust the training volume to accommodate variations in fitness ability. Many may find performing 100 reps per exercise an insurmountable task. But I ask you to not be discouraged. Instead, reduce the rep range to reflect your level of exercise experience. Here are a few suggestions. Beginners aim for 50 reps per station (500 total). Intermediate aim for 75 reps per station (750 total). Advanced trainers remain with 100 or increase (I recommend increments no greater than 10).
Tip for workout at home #3: I’ve provided a selection of guidelines for rep ranges and training durations. However, these are exactly that – guidelines.
Enjoyed these home workouts?
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About Adam Priest –
A former Royal Marines Commando, Adam Priest is a content writer, college lecturer, and health and fitness coach. He is also a fitness author and contributor to other websites. Connect with Adam at info@hungry4fitness.co.uk.
References
Human Kinetics
https://us.humankinetics.com/blogs/excerpt/advantages-of-working-out-at-home
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