What I initially found challenging was having the motivation to workout at home. My routine before the COVID-19 lockdown involved waking up at 5am to hit the gym before heading to work. Now with gyms closed, my routine was forced to change and at first, I was set back by this (I mean no one really likes change once they are comfortable). However, I soon realised there is A LOT you can do without gym equipment. There are different types of workouts that can act to replace weighted workouts.
So, I thought I would share some workouts I do at home without any gym equipment!
Cardiovascular Workouts
I didn’t want to compromise the cardiovascular endurance I had steadily built through using machines such as the treadmill, cross-trainer, stepper and rowing machine. The easy thing to do would be to run outside, however, for all those non-runners there are different ways to improve your endurance.
One exercise is skipping. Not only is it great for improving stamina but it also helps with coordination. Acting as a full-body workout, it engages your shoulders and arms to turn the rope, legs for jumping and abdominal muscles for stability. I usually skip for about 30 minutes. When I first started I used to take a 1 minute break every 5 minutes, (check out the video below for different skipping variations).
Strength and Cardio
You can also tackle your endurance and improve your strength with high-intensity workouts using just your bodyweight. To do this create workouts that target your entire body. The best thing about these types of workouts is that there is a huge array of exercises to choose from.
Example Workout – Full body: Complete 3 rounds (with 1 minute rest between each round)
- 15 x Burpees
- 15 x Squats
- 15 x Leg Raises
- 15 x Shoulder Taps
- 15 x In and Outs
- 15 x X Jumps
To make this easier you can:
1) Do half burpees
2) Do the shoulder taps on your knees
3) Replace the X jumps with normal star jumps
Example Workout – Core Focused: Complete 3 rounds (with 1 minute rest between each round)
- 10 Crunches
- 10 Bicycle Abs Per Leg
- 10 Sitting Russian Twist
- 10 Second Hold
- 10 Flutter Kicks Per Leg
- 10 Scissor Kicks Per Leg
Making workouts easier/harder
The beauty of these workouts is that you can adjust these exercises to your ability, making them easier to begin with, and then harder as you improve.
Example modification - Press-ups: you can perform these against a wall or on your knees and naturally as you get stronger you can do normal press-ups. Once you have mastered press-ups you can make these even harder by incorporating explosive jumps in-between.
Example modification - Squats: You start off with body-weight squats and as you get more comfortable you can either grab a weight (this could be a heavy book) or incorporate a jump after each squat making them squat jumps. If you really want to push yourself you could add a weight to the squat jump.
HIIT
The training circuits I find most effective are HIIT workouts. HIIT stands for “High-Intensity Interval Training” and involves short bursts of intense exercise alternated with low-intensity recovery periods. These workouts usually last between 10 and 30 minutes in duration.
Example HIIT Workout: 40 seconds spent doing each exercise followed by 20 seconds rest before starting the next exercise. Complete this circuit 5 times through a 20 minute workout.
Exercise 1: Jump Squats
Exercise 2: Reverse Crunches
Exercise 3: Jumping Curtsy Lunges
Exercise 4: Burpees
Why use HIIT?
· It’s time-efficient
· Can burn A LOT of calories in a short time
· Metabolic rate is increased after exercise so you continue to burn calories after working out
· Good for individual or group training
· Scalable format for all levels of fitness
· Adaptable to most training goals
You can also use these HIIT workouts to improve and maintain your strength without the use of weights. I usually use EMOM workouts for this.
EMOM
“Every Minute On the Minute” is a type of HIIT workout. You begin a prescribed number of reps of an exercise (e.g. 10 press-ups) and then rest for the remaining amount of time left. When the next minute starts you must repeat the prescribed number of reps again. For example, if an individual took 15 seconds to complete 10 push-ups, they would have 45 seconds to rest until their next set begins.
Example EMOM Workout: Set a timer for 12 minutes. On every odd minute complete exercise 1 and on every odd minute complete exercise 2. (“X” refers to the number of reps you set yourself. This example is a shoulder-specific workout, but you can apply this workout to any exercises.)
Exercise 1: “X” Wall Walks
Exercise 2: “X” Shoulder taps
As you can see from the above workout examples NO equipment is required AND you are still able to maintain both cardiovascular endurance and strength.
Does this change the fact I miss the gym, NO! But, instead of losing the gains I have made, I can maintain and improve on them using these workouts.
About Me: I'm Alisha and I am a biochemist currently working towards attaining a PhD in bioengineering with my research focused on bone shape and architecture. Having always been heavily involved in sport throughout my life, fitness is at the heart of who I am and forever will be a huge passion of mine. My goal is to have a positive impact on those around me, promoting fitness and helping people become the healthiest and happiest versions of themselves. If you have any further questions you want to ask me or if you want to see more workouts, check out my insta fitness page: @alichesha_fitness