Best Exercises If You Like Working Out At Home

Best Exercises If You Like Working Out At Home

Jul 27, 2023 mindpump

Working out at home can seem pretty limiting at first; a home gym usually has less equipment or not as much resistance available as a commercial or private gym would. However, you can still accomplish a lot at home, whether your fitness and health goals are based on improving endurance or strength. If you need a little help getting started, or just not sure what exercises would be best, keep reading.

Best At-Home Exercises

Isometric Movements

Most of us don’t have a collection of 45-pound bumper plates or dumbbells over 50 pounds, which can make developing enough intensity to initiate enough stress on the muscle difficult. Fortunately, with the use of isometric exercises, you can make a simple movement much harder.

Isometric training involves no joint movement, meaning the joint angle stays the same and the muscle doesn’t shorten or lengthen. Many people don’t think to train this way, which can mean improvements in strength or aesthetics.

Also, you don’t need a lot of resistance for it to be effective. With dumbbell curls, for example, you can start to feel the burn with about half the weight you would normally use, just by holding them isometrically.

Example Workout

Complete 3 sets of each exercise:

-Dumbbell Squat-Hold for 30 seconds

-Push-Up-Hold for 10 seconds

-Pull-up-Hold for 10 seconds

-Split-Stance Squat-Hold for 30 seconds

-Dumbbell Curl-Hold for 30 seconds

-Glute Bridge-Hold for 30 seconds

-Low Plank-Hold for 1 minute

-High Plank-Hold for 1 minute

Calisthenics

Most people forget how tough it is to do body weight workouts. From squats to dips, and pull-ups to push-ups, there is a lot you can do to test your body and push it to its limits. And, any time you are using your body as a source of resistance, you are using constant resistance throughout the whole exercise.

You can use calisthenics if you want to improve mobility, strength, or endurance, and honestly, it can be a lot of fun to delve into new exercises that are tried and true, and others that take a little more creativity. If this is something that is new to you, you’ll likely see results; if your muscles do not receive more stress than what they are used to, you will not initiate the response your body needs to change.

For those who have minimal equipment, MAPS Anywhere offers expert programming and phasing, and exercises conducive for at-home training.

Example Workout

Complete 3–4 sets of each exercise:           

-Push-ups: 15–20 reps

-Squats: 30 (Progression to work on power training-10 squat jumps)

-Reverse Lunges: 20 each side (Progression to work on power training-10-12 lunge jumps)

-Rotational Planks: 20 total reps

-Single-Leg Glute Bridges: 15-20 each side

-Bear Walks: 1 minute

-Dips: 15–20 reps

-High Plank Shoulder Taps: 20 total reps

HIIT Workouts

Love ‘em or hate ‘em HIIT workouts offer exercise variations that don’t require a lot of weights, or even none at all. As the name implies, these workouts should be intense, so a beginner may struggle with adapting to this kind of routine. Workouts should be infrequent, meaning no more than 3 days a week, and you can get a lot done in just 20 to 30 minutes.

If this is the type of workout for you, Mind Pump offers a MAPS HIIT program that can help you burn fat, while maintaining muscle.  

Example Workout

Complete 3 sets of each exercise, allowing 1 minute to rest after each exercise:

-Jumping Jacks-30 seconds

-Squat Jumps-20-30 seconds

-High Plank Dumbbell Slides-30 seconds (if you don’t have a dumbbell, any light-weight item works)

-Push-ups-As many reps as possible (AMRAP)

-Leg Lifts-30 seconds

Whatever your goals are, and no matter what fitness level you’re at, there are excellent and effective exercises you can do at home.