People are crazy about trendy gyms offering aerobics and dance lessons, a long distance cycling session with a group of friends or a regular game or two in the community sports complex. Think of the word ‘exercise’ and largely the above or other related outdoor activities are conjured up by the mind.
Exercising has generally been associated with ‘being outdoors’. However, with the global coronavirus pandemic making ‘being outdoors’ a distant dream, fitness enthusiasts all over the world are left scouting for other forms of exercise. Enter ‘at home exercises’.
Not just fitness enthusiasts, even the everyday populace is getting attracted to exercises at home– thanks to their simplicity and convenience. While the recent pandemic has given their popularity a big push, exercising at home has always been around for quite some time. In fact, much before staying indoors and being quarantined were the new normal.
Adding to its popularity is the increasing variety as well as online availability of easy home workout routines. Also, the fact that a majority of these can be performed with a minimal or even no requirement of equipment adds to their appeal. Read on to learn more about the different kinds of at home exercises, especially the ones performed without equipment and the multitude of benefits they offer.
Different ‘At-Home’ Exercises
At first mention, the idea of a home workout without equipment might throw up thoughts of a limited and restricted number of boring and repetitive exercises. However, even delving just a tad bit beyond the surface is sure to leave one pleasantly surprised. Irrespective of you wanting to perform strength training, stretching, balance exercises or even aerobic exercises, the seemingly humble home workout has it all.
The following are the different ‘at-home’ exercises performed without any equipment that one can easily incorporate in their daily life.
Strength Training Exercises
Strength training, as the name suggests involves exercises aimed at improving the overall muscle strength and endurance. Besides strengthening the muscles, they offer a plethora of other health benefits. These include improved posture, enhanced bone and ligament strength, a better cardiac function and improvement in joint movements, etc.
Not to mention the attractive body that properly done strength training provides. While the gym setting might rely heavily on using weights for strength training, they can efficiently be performed at home as well without any equipment. Some of them are:
Push-Ups
Probably one of the most common types of home strength training exercise, push-ups are a great way to build upper body as well as core strength. Push-ups offer a great workout for the chest, shoulders, triceps and even abdominal muscles. Also, different variations of the push-up like diamond push-ups, close grip push-ups, knee push-ups, etc can be performed. These thus help in taking care of your fitness levels as well as fitness goals along with adding variety to your push-up routine.
Planks
Another important strength exercise that can be performed without any equipment are the planks. Besides working out the muscles of the back, they are great inclusion if you want to improve upon your stability.
Squats And Lunges
Squats and lunges are some other basic strength exercises that can be easily included in your exercise routine. These exercises are highly beneficial for developing flexibility and strengthening areas around hips, knees, ankles and glutes.
Yoga Poses
Some yoga poses like the warrior pose, chair pose etc. are excellent for developing strength and can be done in tandem with the other exercises.
Stretching And Balance Exercises
Though oftentimes overlooked during the energetic youthful days, stretching and balance exercises at home are essential for maintaining flexibility and proper balance. They also improve blood circulation and energy levels. This thus, makes them the go-to choices for the slightly aged population wanting to include some form of light exercise in their schedule. However, the benefits are not just limited to the aged. Any age group can benefit immensely from making Stretching and Balance exercise their everyday companion.
Therefore, be sure to add these quick and simple exercises that can be performed sans any equipment, in your quick home workout session.
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Standing Knee Lifts Or Standing On One Foot
This, as the name suggests, involves standing at one place and lifting the knee as high as comfortably possible or simply standing on one foot.
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Hamstring Stretch, Leg Extensions Or Side Leg Raises
These stretching exercises can be done easily by the use of nothing more than your dining room chair.
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Standing Calf Raise And Side Kicks
These are yet another set of simple home exercises that can be done quickly by using any wall or chair.
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Yoga & Tai Chi
Apart from the above exercises the ever-reliant yoga offers a vast array of poses catering to one’s daily quota of stretching and balance exercises. Along with that other forms of exercise like the tai chi etc has a lot of movements for working on balance and muscle stretching.
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Aerobics Exercise
Strength, balance or flexibility exercises not cheering you enough and the circumstances not letting you perform that daily cycling or swimming or running session. Well, fret not.
For, even a large number of exciting aerobic exercises can be performed within the comfortable confines of one’s home. Giving the heart and the lungs the workout they need goes a long way in maintaining peak health levels. Thus, do not forget to add the following the next time you are planning your home workout without equipment sessions.
- Burpees: An excellent exercise, burpees provide a complete body workout without having to resort to weights or other equipment.
- Jumping Jack Or Jumping Rope (Or Other Jumping Exercises): Another exercise that provides a good workout to a lot of muscle groups in the body is the jumping jack. Besides providing the heart the necessary workout, they are great inclusions for ones seeking to build stronger bones. The ones having a skipping rope handy can always perform a set or two of jumping rope.
- Marching Or Running In Place: Marching and Running in place are other forms of aerobic exercises that can be healthy additions.
Though not exhaustive, the above list covers a great deal of the sheer variety ‘at home’ workouts offer.
Benefits of Home Workout Without Equipment
Lack of time, no nearby gyms, home responsibilities or high membership fee of fitness clubs etc. Reasons like these have always been the archenemies of a fixed outdoor fitness schedule.
Hence, home workouts being easy both on time and money are convenient alternatives to outdoor exercise sessions.
The following are some of the benefits accorded by home workouts:
Cost Effective:
As obvious as it might sound, working at home is easy on the pocket. It prevents the copious amounts wasted on oftentimes underutilized gym or fitness club memberships.
Saves Time:
Another advantage of working out from home is that it saves time. The time spent getting ready for the gym and then travelling there can discourage a lot of time constrained individuals from regular exercise. Apart from that you also save yourself the hassle of waiting for your turn to use the exercise equipment. Thus home workouts by saving time also provide the much needed push towards regularity.
Easy To Include In Daily Routine:
Home workouts, unlike gyms and fitness studios that mostly have fixed time slots, also offer a great deal of flexibility. They can be moulded successfully to fit into the humdrum of daily life without a lot of fuss. This increased flexibility thus helps to keep you on track towards achieving your fitness goals even when the day isn’t going as planned. Also, this added flexibility helps cater to a lot of constraints that might prevent you from your regular gym trips. So, whether you are a busy professional or a mother responsible for taking care of children, exercise at home can provide the perfect answer.
More Variety:
Home workout sessions also provide the option of including more variety. A single home workout session might include yoga poses, strength exercises and/or aerobic exercise. Including this much variety is not really feasible in a gym or fitness club setting.
More Private And Hygienic:
‘At home’ workouts also provide the much needed privacy for the ones so inclined. Not to mention the fact that you don’t have to use those sweaty germ laden gym equipment.
Stress Reduction:
One major unintended consequence of staying at home due to the pandemic is the increased stress. Thus, ‘at home’ exercises can act as effective stress busters not just in the days of the pandemic but otherwise also.
The above pointers provide a glimpse into the major advantages of a home workout.
However, the advantages notwithstanding, home workouts, like their outdoor counterparts do need a certain level of commitment. Also since you are on your own and do not have a trainer to egg you on might mean the need for extra internal motivation.
These, though, are minor hiccups and can easily be taken care of by choosing to involve a member of the family or two in your workout sessions. Those worried about form can always decide to go in for some online training lessons.
Hence, bid adieu to excuses and start your fitness journey at once without waiting for the trendy gyms, clubs or sport complexes to open by opting for home workout without equipment.