Can't workout at the gym? Try one of these four tips to continue sweating towards your workout goals
While the coronavirus crisis restricts us from venturing out to the gym for the squat racks and yoga classes, we can make do with minimal equipment at home. Below are four tips to continue sweating towards your workout goals.
If you are used to certain machines and equipment in your gym and do not own nearly enough to fill a full leg, back, or chest day, then make up your own routine. Circuit training improves your anaerobic endurance, burns calories like crazy, and makes you sweat quickly and profusely. You can also add weights if you own any to make the workout harder. You will be dripping at the end of the half-hour workout — ready for a shower, a protein-packed breakfast, and a day of work from your home office.
Here is an example of a high-intensity workout:
Warm-up (repeat 3 times through):
25 jumping jacks
15 static squats
30-second jog in place
Circuit One (repeat 4 times through):
10 jump squats (or weighted static squats for low impact)
15 wide-legged squats
10 high knees
Circuit Two (repeat 4 times through):
10-20 incline push-ups
20 triceps dips
10-20 decline push-ups
Circuit Three (repeat 4 times through):
15 burpees
20 sit-ups
20 alternating lunges
Even if your home weight selection is smaller or more limited than you are used to, you can still make do. If you pick up a pair of light weights, increase your reps. Lower weights paired with higher reps do not make it any easier of a workout. Conversely, you will burn, slim, and tone your muscles more than you would with heavier weights. Pick a weight that works for 15-20 reps of each exercise.
Own a treadmill but haven’t had the courage to pull it out of its dusty corner? While treadmills possibly veer closer to torture for some people than exercise, they do not have to be as bad as you think. Throw your favorite TV show onto your phone. Then make a goal. Every two minutes, switch up your speed. Move from sprinting, to jogging, to walking. This continual change helps break up the workout, making the entire sweat sesh feel much quicker. You can also change the terrain. Change the incline up or down to work different parts of your legs and glutes. Some rounds of two minutes will feel like two hours and some will feel like two seconds. Enjoy the ride.
If you do not own a treadmill, try to do the same type of exercise outside. Blast some motivating music and set the same 2-minute goals. Your natural terrain can wind up and down as you run, but maybe double back on the hills or find an outdoor staircase to make your workout more difficult.
If you are used to workout classes and do not know what to do now that they are cancelled for the foreseeable future, pull out your laptop or turn on your smart TV for a video workout. YouTube contains thousands of different workout series, from beginner-friendly to expert. Scroll through pilates, yoga, kickboxing, barre, and HIIT workout videos and subscribe to the channels that match your goals.
You may be surprised at how hard some home workouts can be. Since you do not have a trainer checking your form or pushing you to keep going, you must do all of this on your own. Do not stop to return a text or answer a call. View this as your workout classroom and accept no distractions. If you feel the video you tried did not push you hard enough, just add another video on afterwards.