If you are like me, you are probably at home 75 to 80% of the day. If you clicked on this blog post, you might be feeling like your fitness might be losing focus. Due to the fabulous Covid-19 situation, many people are left wondering what to do since they do not have a gym or equipment to use. This creates a paradigm shift in our training style as working out from home has definitely seen a rise in interest.
In times like these, we need to think of alternative ways to get in incredible shape. There are many ways to accomplish this goal of staying in shape while all fitness locations are shut down.
For many that are working from home, this post will provide practical ways to not only implement but to create habits from the methods we will describe. Enjoy these at home workouts, and let’s get this party started!
What To Do Without Weights?
Typically, when you go to the gym, you have your favorite bench press location, squat rack, specific weight areas that you naturally gravitate towards.
Often times, due to their popularity, they are also the most taken.
Take those options out of the equation and people are left to become creative in their fitness goals.
For instance, for the person who loves to do heavy barbell bench press because it gives them a good burn on your chest, I feel you.
Or for those that like to have a more conditioning approach to fitness, I’m right there with you.
However, the reality of the situation is that all gyms are closed and we need to get a good workout routine in!
That leads to the beautiful word: CALISTHENTICS.
These are the exercises you might as well become best friends with for now and into the unforeseeable future. Even when gyms open back up, this style of training has some amazing benefits.
Calisthenics Benefits;
- Increased endurance
- Improve flexibility
- Faster responses in the muscles
- Great for weight loss and fat burning
- Builds a great natural physique
- Can be done anywhere
- Most affordable style of training
By utilizing the benefits of calisthenics, you not only get a great workout in, you save yourself loads of money by not having to go to a gym for equipment! Yay for bodyweight exercises!
At Home Workouts You Can Apply Today
We want you guys to think outside the box on these workouts since it is very easy to tell someone to do a specific set or reps of something. But generally, everyone has something that they want to improve.
And we want to provide you with the tools to do so. There are no restrictions to the sets or reps you will do. But most often, 3 sets of 8 is a very standard starting point for most things in the fitness world.
But if your goal is to improve strength, add weight to the exercises (backpack filled with weights, books, food, etc.) And if you are going for strength, you want to aim for a lower rep range since we want to challenge our bodies from the first rep until the last.
On the flip side, If your goal is to improve endurance, do more reps. Since conditioning would be the focus, do more steady-state heart focused lifting. (jumping jacks, lunge jumps, step ups, etc).
But we will do our best to describe some workouts that we think would be fun and yet challenging to do. Some will be structured, some not so much. Get ready to challenge yourself!
1 At Home Workouts #1 – Deck of Cards
This might be a go-to for someone who wants to have fun and really challenge themselves at the same time. The options are limitless on this one as far as how you structure it. However, we will give some examples.
First get a standard 52 card deck. Design it so that any time you get an Ace, you do 1 rep (or 10, 11, 12 whatever you want!) with a #2 card you do 2 reps, #3 you do 3, etc, etc. When you get a face card (jack, king, queen, and joker) do 10 reps. Each suit should be assigned to a specific body movement.
For example, Clubs = Pushups, Spades = Squats, Clubs = Crunches, And Hearts = Burpees. The goal of these at home workouts is to aim for each body part getting a workout in someway somehow. So let’s see a test run, I pull a jack of hearts, That would be 10 reps of burpees, ouch. Or a 4 of clubs, that would be 4 reps of crunches. As you can imagine, this could get you exhausted by the end.
So it is recommended to do these with a partner. But whatever works for you, works for us.
You could also do the workout for pushups/squats only, You can either do it yourself or with a partner/partners (recommended) And the same rules apply.
But sometimes we see that the ace is a 13 instead of a 1 and the joker can be something diabolical like 15 reps or whatever you decide.
The main point is to keep the deck of cards workout fun but very challenging to the group so you feel like a rockstar when you are done with the workout.
At Home Workouts #2 – 15 Minute Circuit
Circuit training is another fun, challenging way to workout. It consists of a series of exercises, done for a few rounds, generally for a specific time frame. What this means is we would choose a group of exercises, just like the deck of cards workout where we want to challenge our whole body.
For example, we might do 5 push ups, then do 5 mountain climbers, 5 sit-ups, 10 air bicycles, 5 jump squats, 5 frog jumps, and then back down again for 5 dive bomber push up. and that would be a “round.”
Ideally, you want to do your exercises in phases so you are not wasting your time moving from exercise to exercise. These exercises are not meant to go from standing up to the floor, and back up to standing, then the floor again. If you notice, these exercises are body part, focused groups.
This way you get an efficient workout without much dilly-dallying. Again, these at home workouts can have whatever structure you want, but please make it efficient and without much of a waste in time. You only have the time you give yourself so make it count!
When we give ourselves a time frame to finish a workout, our bodies push just a little bit harder since they know the workout will only last for so long. Therefore, the workout has an increase in intensity and productivity. Again, enjoy the workout but truly challenge yourself!
At Home Workouts #3 – Strength Progression Workout
When doing bodyweight exercises, it can be tough to continue to challenge yourself when you are only using your bodyweight. Therefore, when doing a calisthenics routine, it becomes important to focus on challenging your body. What does this mean? When doing pushups, some people get to the point where they can do at least 70 pushups in a row without feeling any sort of fatigue.
In this situation, we can imagine they would want to use more challenging weights on top of their own body weight. That is where progressive bodyweight workouts come into play.
Simply put, a progressive workout consists of adding weight to your body so workout gets harder. Some examples would be doing pushups with weights in a backpack, or holding weights while you do lunges or something of that sort.
How Do You Do Strength Progression Workouts?
About a year ago, I came across a post on Reddit describing some at home workouts revolving around progressive bodyweight. There was a layout resulting in an extremely easy but challenging way to workout. If you want to read it on your own, do so.
Basically, there are a series of exercises that range from beginner level to advanced. With each level getting harder as you move up.
It would be enough to do 3 set of each exercise starting at 5 reps, as the exercise gets easier, move to 6, 7, and 8. The point of the reps is to add the weight necessary to make the initial 5 reps challenging.
DO NOT MOVE THE REP COUNT UP UNTIL YOU CAN DO THE CURRENT REP COUNT 2 WORKOUTS IN A ROW!
Eventually, when you can do at least 2 workouts in a row with 5 reps being easy, move to 6 reps, then 7, and 8. When you get to 8 reps, increase the weight and go back down to 5 reps and start the process again.
One example might be starting out with a vertical pushup on the wall, then to an incline pushup, full pushup, diamond pushup, and finally, a pseudo planche pushup.
This pushup transition for a beginner might take months to get to the end stage if they are doing it correctly. Again, the point of this workout focuses on building strength through a bodyweight workout by continually upping the weight and reps. There is a ton of information that is covered on the link to the workout routine. You can find those at the link above and right here.
At Home Workout #4 – Resistance Bands Workout
For those of you that have a limited budget, or space, resistance bands may bridge that gap for you. For around $20, you can have an all inclusive workout that can fit into your pocket.
A Resistance Band We Recommend
Some of the surface level benefits of bands include;
- Low Cost, Highly Efficient
- Easily Transportable
- Gets Harder The More The Band Stretches
- Easier On The Body
- Builds Functional Strength
- Provides An Easier and Faster Way To Lower Resistance
Also, you can create an entire workout program without having to move all over the room. Just step on the bands, and get moving! Personally, I like the fact that I can go to the beach, get a quick workout in, and enjoy my day, all in the same location. Another amazing reason why Bands are the Bees Knees is they remove gravity from the equation. This means bands only get more restrictive the more they stretch.
You Can’t Cheat With Resistance Bands
So If you are one of those people who like to cheat and really force momentum while lifting weights, bands will be your worst nightmare. Additionally, Bands are great for getting every last bit of energy out of you maximizing your progress during these workouts. What this means is when we workout, typically, we go 4 sets of 8. 3 sets of 6, whatever the case is. This method does not make sense because what if you are stopping yourself 3-4 reps short of what your actual limit is?
With bands, if you start to feel yourself losing power and getting fatigued, either move your feet closer, slide the band higher so you have more slack making it easier, or move closer to the anchor point (the door for example) and this allows you to perform more reps without having to either
1 : Stop lifting for that set or
2 : Drop the bar so you can take off weight to keep going.
Again Bands provide the best method for efficiency and drop sets. We want to train where our brain is telling us to lower the weight. At that point, you lower resistance, make it a bit lighter, and crank out a few more reps, maximizing your lifting session!
Resistance Bands Provide Functional Strength
While Band workouts may seem like they do not provide the same workload as traditional weights, try doing chest presses with a band standing up. That will not only challenge your chest, but your core, legs, and back since the bands create more of a function focused routine. Try it for yourself and see the power of resistance bands.
While it may seem like I heavily favor Resistance Bands for at home Workouts, It might be the most logical given the price. For most people, using your body weight can only do so much for you. And not everyone is able to spend $450+ on equipment for weight lifting. Therefore, Bands might be the best solution to most.
Try them out for yourself if you don’t already have a pair. Because at the end of the day, wouldn’t it be cool to have another alternative to working out from home if you get tired of doing 1000 push ups (which you can also do with a band around your back to make them harder.)
Resistance bands provide so many functional training alternatives to at home workouts that traditional weights may not provide. During this time while we are all at home anyway, try experimenting with different ways to challenge your body. Bands should be at the top of your at home workout list.
What To Do Next?
Well, I could make this post 20 pages long about at home workouts. But If no one ever takes any action, then it would be pointless to do right? So when implementing these exercises. Tailor it to your lifestyle, and take 30 minutes out of your day and dedicate it to fitness.
As far as nutrition and performance goes, using the best calorie counter app will help you improve your athletic performance, and therefore maximize distance. Kicker workouts are going to be a great way to increase your value on a team.
Leg workouts for kickers are an incredible way to strengthen your performance on the field. A good football kicker workout can prove to be highly beneficial and help the entire team out by scoring points and also putting your kickoff coverage team in a great position. Utilize these workouts for kickers and be the best version of you.
Thanks for reading guys and gals. I’ll post some book and product recommendations for those wanting to better their mindset, and lifestyle. Please share this with your dog, cat, grandma, friend, brother, and anyone else who might want to see this!
Thanks for reading and stay amazing!
- Eric