The Best Workout Practices for Home Fitness Today

Bodyweight Exercises Are The Trend To Follow

Bodyweight exercises are becoming more and more popular with so many personal trainers using this method for their clients. This type of activity is useful in the gym as well as at home. You don’t need fancy equipment to get into shape.

Depending on your fitness level, you will need to adjust specific exercises, and you can start to progress to the next level when you are feeling more energetic. These are some of the best bodyweight exercises that you should start doing.

Where To Start As A Beginner

Here is a great workout for beginners who are looking for a full-body workout. How does it work? You will need to do two sets of 10 to 15 reps of each of the exercises. You will get a 1-minute rest that you take in between each of the movements. In total, your full-body circuit will take 15 minutes and is a great place to start if you’re new to this.

The first exercise is called the bridge. This exercise is excellent to get your body warmed up for what is to follow in the rest of the full-body circuit. Start by putting your yoga mat on the floor and lying down on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.

The Bridge Position

Once you are in this position, you should place your arms by your sides and extend them. Next, you will use your energy to push through your feet, while engaging your core, and then lifting your bottom off the floor so that your hips are fully extended and up in the air.

When you are in this final position, you will need to squeeze your glutes to give them a good workout. You then slowly return your body to its starting position on the ground and repeat this movement 10 to 15 times, and then you can take your one-minute break before moving on to the next exercise.

Building Up Your Strength

Some of these exercises don’t require fancy gym equipment, but they may need you to use things that you find around your home – for this exercise, you will need a chair. It is called the chair squat. Squats help to build your glutes, but they also contribute to the strengthening of your legs and core.

When these muscles are built up, you will find many things that you do during the day a lot easier to do. To make sure you are using the correct squat form, start doing squats with a chair that is placed underneath you so that you know you are doing it correctly.

Using Your Furniture To Workout

First, you will stand in front of the chair, and you should place your feet shoulder-width apart. Your toes should point out slightly. Next, bend your knees and lower your body down until your glutes touch the chair. When you do this, extend your arms out in front of you to maintain a good posture and balance.

Once you have touched the chair, it is not time for you to take a break and sit on the chair and push through your heels to return to the initial standing position. Again, you should do this 10 to 15 times, and this is considered one set. Enjoy your minute rest.

Taking On The Push-ups

Push-ups can be tough, but they are such amazing exercise that gives you a full-body workout. Push-ups will work your back, shoulders, arms, and even your abs. They can look very intimidating, especially when you see other people at the gym doing thousands of them, and you can’t also do one.

Here is another benefit of working out from home; you won’t feel as self-conscious, which means that you are comfortable going at your own pace and will make fantastic progress. Start with a beginner-style push-up. The point of this is to help you start to build the strength that you will need for a standard push-up later on in the program.

Learning The Push-up Position

You will start by doing push-ups on your knees. Lay down your yoga mat again and position yourself in a high plank position but on your knees. Make sure that your body is aligned correctly so you can start teaching yourself good push-up habits. Keep a straight line from your head to your knees.

You will then bend your elbows down so that you are lowering yourself to the ground. Make sure that your elbows are kept at a 45-degree angle. Once you have lowered yourself down, you will need to push yourself back to the starting position. This one will be callous at first, but it is very encouraging to progress with your strength in push-ups.

The Stationary Lunge

You’ll be taking on a stationary lunge next in the circuit. It will give you that burn in your quads, hamstrings and you’ll start to feel your glutes. Get yourself into the lunge position by placing your right leg in front with your right foot flat on the ground and your left foot on its toes.

To start the lunge, you will bend your knees and go into the lunge position. When are you supposed to stop? You can stop bending your legs when your right thigh is parallel to the ground. You will then push through your right foot to return to your original position. You will then do this for the reps required, and then you can change to your left leg.

An At-Home Shoulder Workout

You probably always thought that to get a good shoulder workout, you would need weights. Guess what? You don’t! This next exercise will give you an incredible upper body workout and your shoulders too. It is called the plank to downward dog.

Position your body into a high plank position and keep your hands stacked underneath your shoulders. You should also position your feet close together. Make sure that you are engaging your core throughout this workout. What’s next?

Take On Downward Dog

Pike your hips into the air and then move into the Downward Dog position associated with yoga practices. When you are in the correct position, your body should be forming the shape of a triangle. Make sure also to keep your neck relaxed and neutral.

Turn your gaze towards your feet as well. When you’re in Downward Dog, hold this position for a second and then return your body to the ground to the original plank position. You will then repeat this 10 to 15 times, and then your set of plank to downward dog is complete.

Build Your Bottom

If you’re someone who dreams of having the perfect apple bottom, it’s time to do all the straight-leg donkey kicks. This exercise will build up your glute muscles, and it’s an exercise that you can easily do at home in the space you have cleared out for your home workouts.

Start by positioning yourself on all fours on your yoga mat. Ensure that your hands are in line with your shoulders and check that your knees are in line with your hips. This one is your kick-starting donkey position. When you begin, make sure that you are keeping your back straight.

Be Mindful Of Your Body

You will start by pushing your right foot out behind you – try to imagine that there is a wall behind you. Keep your leg straight when you are doing this. Keep your foot flexed; this action means having your toes pointing towards the floor throughout this exercise.

You need to be mindful that your hips are square to the ground and that you are squeezing your glutes when you reach the top of your position. Once you have done this, you can return to the original place of being on all fours. You will then repeat this according to your reps and do the other leg as well.

Work Your Body With The Bird Dog Post

This next exercise is one that will have your whole body working. This move will improve your balance and stability. It is called the Bird Dog pose. The plus about this exercise is you can adapt it to your fitness level, but this is what you should start with as a beginner.

Again, get on all fours and place your hands under your shoulders and knees underneath your hips. Keep your neck in a neutral position and then extend your left arm and your right leg. The trick of this is to keep your hips square to the ground and keep it there for 2 seconds.

Time To Work Your Core

After holding it for 2 seconds, return to your original position. Do this next with your opposite arm and leg. Once you’ve taken your break from this set, it is time to move on to the forearm plank. It is another full-body exercise that is going to test your strength and balance.

This forearm plank is going to make sure that you are working your core to the max. Get into a plank position and rest on your forearms. Keep your body in a straight line and make sure that you are not letting your lower back or hips sag towards the ground – this is cheating!

Take Your Hip Muscles Into Consideration

You also need to make sure that you are not lifting your buttocks, as this, too, will not work for this exercise. The goal of this exercise is to hold yourself in this position for 30 seconds to 1 minute. You can start to work your way up to one minute, increasing it by a few seconds every day that you do it.

Have you ever thought about your hip muscles? For most of us, the answer to this question is probably no. Start working out your hip muscles before they become a problem, as this can become a real issue that causes severe pain in your body and other issues.

The Side-Lying Hip Abduction

Here is the side-lying hip abduction. If you are someone who sits behind a desk all day, this could be an amazing exercise to relieve your stiffness. Using hip-targeting movements in your workouts, your body will feel so much better after sitting all day long.

You will need to start by lying on your left-hand side. Extend your left leg and right leg until they are straight. Your right foot should be resting on the ground. You will lift your right leg and keep your body still in the position you started in.

Getting Back On The Bicycle

While you are doing this exercise, you must make sure that your hips are not opening up. After you’ve done this, go back to your original position and repeat it for however many reps you are going for. Once you’ve done this, move to your other side and repeat the exercise.

Last but not least, in our beginner home workout routine, it is the bicycle crunch. All the exercises above will engage your core, but this will correctly target your abdominal muscles. Start your journey towards building a set of abs with this exercise.

Get Into Tabletop Position

Lie on your back on your yoga mat and bring your legs into what is known as the “tabletop position.” You then bend your elbows and place your hands behind your head. It’s crunch time! You will crunch your body up and then bring your right elbow towards your left knee, and at the same time, you should straighten your right leg.

Then release this crunch a bit and do the movement with the opposite arm and leg. Continue doing this exercise for your required amount of reps. Once you’re feeling strong enough after doing these exercises at your home, you can then move onto the intermediate routine and turn things up a notch.

Moving Onto Intermediate Workouts

Now that you’ve made your way through the beginner stages of at-home workouts, it’s time to level up to the intermediate routine at home. You will still be doing two sets of 10 to 15 reps of the specified exercises with 1 minute of rest time in between each activity.

If you want to go up another level, you can instead do timed rounds. Instead of doing a specified number of reps, you should set a time limit for each exercise and repeat the timed circuit twice. You could set yourself the goal of doing each exercise for one minute.

Try The Single-Leg Bridge

First up in the intermediate routine is the single-leg bridge. You will remember that you started with the bridge in your beginner routine, but that was one-two leg. In exercising, the moment you take away a leg, you immediately are making it harder.

You will do the same thing as you did in the original beginner bridge exercise, but instead, you will be lifting one of your feet off the ground with each lift. It sounds easier than it is in practice, as you will need to engage your core to keep you from losing your balance.

Say Goodbye To The Squat Chair

You’re probably wondering how we’re going to make your squats harder – because they’re hard already, right? Well, in this intermediate round, you are just going to take the chair away since you have now mastered the correct squat position.

You are going to be doing the same movement, just without the chair. Ensure that you are keeping the correct posture and squeezing those glutes each time you come up from the squat position. Squats will go up a further level in the advanced at-home training.

How Strong Are You Feeling?

Are you feeling stronger yet from your knee push-ups? Hopefully, you are because it’s time to progress and move on to the standard push-up. It is a lot more challenging than the knee push-ups you have been doing, but you will get even stronger from these.

You will go into your high plank position, and you will do the push-ups just as you had been on your knees, but not on your knees. Make sure that you allow your elbows to go to a 45-degree angle. Take the push-ups slowly and keep your solid frame throughout the exercise.

From Stationary To Walking

The intermediate form of lunges comes with movement. You will be moving from stationary lunges to walking lunges. Is there even a difference? There is as when you are moving; you will have to keep your balance and also focus on your stability.

You’ll start the exercise in the same way as stationary lunges, but you will add movement to this by stepping from one lunge into the next one. That is a great exercise to do on a timer, and you can even do it all around your house if you don’t have space in your lounge to do it.

Get Ready For The Pike Push-Ups

Just when you thought you had moved up in the push-up stages, we had to add the pike push-ups. These are going to activate the muscles in your shoulders even more than the standard push-ups. This exercise is reliant on your arms.

To allow this exercise to work fully, you will need to make sure that you keep the rest of your body stable for the duration of the workout. Get into the pike position and bend your elbows so that they flare out slightly to the sides and then take the top of your head towards the ground.

Squat It Like It’s Hot

Squat it like it’s hot with the get-up squat in the intermediate routine. You will feel an additional burn from this workout. You will go into the squat position, and you won’t stand during this exercise at all. Then drop to your knees onto the ground, one at a time.

You will then be in a kneeling position. You will then step your feet back onto the ground and keep your body in the squat position. Do this as quickly as you can over and over and keep the good form that the chair squats taught you in the beginner routine.

Feel Like A Superhero With This Exercise

If you’re feeling like a superhero after all these exercises, it’s time to try Superman. It will work your lower back and the whole backside of your body. If you want to feel the effects of this exercise, try and take it as slowly as possible.

Lie flat on your stomach with your arms and legs extended. Keep your neck in a neutral position and engage your core and your back in one movement as you raise your arms and legs up and off the ground. Try and lift them as high as you can.

Single-Leg Planking

When you reach as high as you can go, stay here for 1 second and then lower yourself as slowly as you can into the starting position. Do this for 10 to 15 reps when you are starting your intermediate training and then progress to doing this as a timed exercise instead.

Planks are notoriously hard, and they’re even harder when you are doing them with the aid of just one leg. Your core will have to work harder than ever before with this intermediate exercise. Lift one leg as you go into the plank position and then hold it like this for 5 seconds before returning it to the ground. Change legs and repeat.

Taking Things To The Advanced Level

When you feel like your intermediate routine isn’t challenging you enough, it is time to move on to the advanced portion of this at-home workout. Try your bridge with one leg extended. You will lift one foot at a time and then extend it out straight.

You also need to keep your foot in a flexed position while doing this. You also need to complete the same amount of reps for each leg. What is the advanced version of a squat? It’s called the overhead squat. Lift your arms above your head instead of extending them in front of you.

Challenge Your Mobility

The point of this is that it will give your mobility a bit of a challenge in terms of your upper body at the same time as working your lower body with the squat movement. Keep your arms above your head throughout the workout, and don’t let them drop.

You can now try the one-legged push-up. You will lift one leg, which means that the rest of your limbs will have to cope with a greater weight, which increases the challenging aspect of this movement. Complete each push-up with your leg in the air.

Moving Onto Plyometrics

You may have heard of exercises being called plyometrics. That means jumping drills, and you will put in much effort for a short interval. Instead of doing walking lunges, try jumping lunges. Assume the stationary lunge position and add a jump to it, alternating legs as you jump in the air.

You can also try adding a jump to your get-up squats. Instead of just stepping your feet back from the kneeling position, jump back into your original spot. You will need to feel healthy to achieve this, so make sure you are at the right level before you give it a go.

Start Your Home Workouts Today

You previously did the one-leg plank in the intermediate routine; now try out the one-arm plank. Just as you did already, hold out one arm at a time and hold it for as long as you can. You can also alternate this with one leg and do it for a combined duration of four minutes.

From just humble beginnings to now being in the advanced stages of a workout, it is great to see progress and that you can exercise from anywhere. The moral of the story is that you don’t need gym equipment or an expensive class to burn those calories, you can get moving at home.

Read Next: 25 At-Home Workouts to Try With the Kids.