Whether you have the luxury of having home gym equipment with you during this lockdown, or you’ve just got your body to work with, exercise is proving to be both a mental and physical saviour right now.
You may be scrolling through your Instagram feed, getting jealous of those people who have been lucky to have had old dumbbells in their garage or picked up a rowing machine at just the right time. But all is not lost! Regardless of whether you’re well versed in your fitness routines or you’re looking to simply get your body moving, there are an array of bodyweight exercises out there that can be done from home.
It’s true what they say when you hear that you can still have a good, sweaty workout by using nothing but your body. We can combine a whole mixture of movements including those that are upper body specific, lower body specific or look for a full-body workout – the choice is yours.
Don’t forget, if you have a Total Gym Encompass, Total Gym XLS or Total Gym 1100, all of these exercises can be used using your machine too!
Simply move the sofa out the way, or get yourself in the garden (weather permitting), pick a few of these exercises and get the blood flowing…
Upper Body Bodyweight Exercises
- Push-Ups
- Bear crawl
- Handstand Push Up – for the more advanced out there
- Handstand Wall Walks
- Tricep dips – utilise your sofa!
- Shoulder Taps (in a plank!)
- Hand Release Push-Ups
Lower Body Bodyweight Exercises
- Squats
- Lunges – Forward, Sideways and Backwards!
- Leg Raises
- Glute Bridges
- Mountain Climbers
- Leg Pulses
- Step-Ups – on your stairs!
- Pistol Squats
- Calf Raises
Core Bodyweight Exercises
- Crunches (Sit-Ups)
- Plank – Regular and side!
- Bicycle crunches
- Hollow holds
- Hollow and Arch rocks
- Jumping Knee Tuck
Full Body Bodyweight Exercises
- Burpees (Everybody loves them!)
- High Knees
- Jumping Jacks
How To Structure a Bodyweight Workout
So it’s all good and well that you now have a bunch of exercises to work with, but now what do you do? Structuring a workout is easy and you really can’t go wrong, but here are a few tips to get the best out of your workout.
Firstly, you’ll want to decide whether you’re going to have split workouts or full-body workouts. Maybe you want to split your week into how you would usually at the gym, with one day focusing on upper body and the next lower body followed by some core work – and that’s ok! But we can also get a really good pump across the full body by selecting movements from each section.
Next, you’ll need to decide at what pace you’re going to go. Are you going to focus on the quality of each movement and not be restricted by time? In this case, we’d recommend choosing your selected movements and a rep range and doing 4-6 sets of this. Focus on controlling the movement and performing quality reps throughout. If you’re feeling good, you can even superset some movements which mean no rest in-between!
If you’re looking to up the intensity, why not pick a few movements, add some reps in and create a real workout. You could choose to do a ‘Rounds for Time’ workout, where the aim is to complete the workout as quickly as you can. Or you can do an AMRAP, which stands for As Many Reps As Possible. Decide how long your AMRAP will be (we’d recommend anything between 7 – 20) and see how many rounds and repetitions you can do in that allotted time.
You’re guaranteed a sweat that way!
Share your home workouts with us over on our Instagram – @totalgymuk. We’d love to see how you’re keeping fit from the comfort of your own home.
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