Whether you’re short on time, a gym hater or just prefer to work out from the comfort of home, it’s entirely possible to get a full-body or targeted workout in with only your own bodyweight and basic equipment. You can even get the same results as a top-notch gym without having to haul heavy weights back and forth.
It’s a common misconception that you need to have a gym membership to tone muscle and build strength. But at-home fitness enthusiasts are proving that you don’t need to fill your home with exercise equipment in order to achieve a great workout. In fact, you can use your own bodyweight, some hand weights or a simple set of resistance bands to build muscle and burn fat. Investing in some simple exercise equipment, like a good pair of dumbbells and a yoga mat, can be enough to get you started.
The best part about getting fit at home is that it’s easy to create a variety of workouts that will challenge you and keep your exercise routine interesting. The key is combining exercises that target different muscles in the same workout. This will ensure that you’re working your entire body to shed fat and build muscle at the same time.
You can also incorporate HIIT cardio workouts into your at-home fitness regimen in order to burn more calories and build cardiovascular endurance. HIIT cardio works by alternating high-intensity exercises with periods of rest or recovery. This will help you burn more calories in a shorter period of time.
If you want to work out at home, it’s important to dedicate an area of your home to workouts and make it a space that you look forward to going to. This will motivate you to spend more time exercising, so that you can see and feel your progress.
Another important factor when working out at home is finding the right equipment to meet your specific needs and fitness goals. For example, you can build core strength with a stability ball or a set of dumbbells, and you can also do a full-body workout by doing planks on your forearms or the floor. lululemon Studio offers a number of workout classes that include these types of movements.
You can even target certain muscle groups by using a simple dumbbell or a band to do exercises such as chest presses and triceps extensions. For the latter, simply lie on a bench or on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground. Grab a pair of dumbbells in your hands and brace your core before pressing them straight up above you. You can also add more difficulty to a dumbbell chest press by lowering your body until it’s parallel with the floor before pushing yourself back up. You can also increase the strength of your triceps by doing dumbbell flyes. These are done in the same way, except that your arms are in front of you instead of at your sides.
Milena Estêvão is a YouTuber passionate about sharing her experiences (challenges, successes and motivations) in the fitness activities she is involved in.
FIND HER ON INSTAGRAM OR YOUTUBE THROUGH THE BELOW LINKS