Many of us still want to get in shape and keep healthy during the quarantine. The good news is that you can still do some good exercise without the need for a gym, and in the comfort of you own home. Check these two workouts that can be done at any time of the day, and are perfect for a break while working from home.
Workout 1
Ensuring that you are sufficiently warmed up prior to completing this workout is essential to prevent injury, as is an appropriate cool down and stretch.
- Body weight squats: Perform 2 sets of 25 reps (repetitions, or the number of times the exercise is to be performed).
Start out slowly, as you gain confidence in the movement start to gradually work into a bigger range and work on performing the movement faster and faster.
To increase the intensity of this exercise further - add weight, by either holding a sack of potatoes in front of your chest or a bag of flour in each hand - or anything that provides additional weight and is easy to hold!
In between each set, perform a 60 second wall sit. Back and butt up against a wall and legs bent, as if you were sitting on an imaginary chair. - Push ups: Perform 4 sets, 10-12 reps per set.
If performing full push ups and looking to challenge yourself further, perform push ups with feet elevated on a seat/sofa/bed. - Dips: Perform 4 sets, 8-10 reps per set.
If new to dips, start out with legs bent and slowly work your way towards performing the movement with straight legs.
If looking for a further challenge, elevate legs and / or place a weight over your lap. - Lunges: Perform 4 sets, 15 reps each leg.
To increase the intensity of this exercise further - add weight, by either holding a sack of potatoes in front of your chest or a bag of flour in each hand - or anything that provides additional weight and is easy to hold!
To add further intensity to the movement, elevate back leg by placing it on a couch/chair and start the decent of the lunge this way. - Sit ups: Perform 4 sets, 20 reps.
To add further intensity to the movement, try to decrease the time it takes to do the complete set whilst still ensuring full range of motion. (Arms outstretched overhead at the start of the movement, and hands touching the heels at the end of the movement).
Workout 2
This work out brings together Cardio and Resistance work in the form of Interval Training. Interval Training by far trumps slow and steady cardio for fat burning and increasing metabolism. In plain simple terms - it burns a lot more calories during and after and it takes less time. A win win situation!
Perform six to eight cycles of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds rest of the following exercises. Do as many as you can in the 20 seconds. Take a 90 second rest in between each exercise:
- Squat
- Sit Up
- Push Up
- Cardio Exercise
For example, for squats, you would perform as many body weighted squats as you could within 20 seconds. At the end of the 20 seconds, take a 10 second rest. Repeat this between six and eight times, totalling up the number of reps you perform. Take a 90 second rest before you move onto the next exercise.
Each week try to accumulate more reps than you did last time - when you do you know you are getting fitter, faster and stronger.