January, the month of joining the gym as a New Year’s resolution, is already underway, and with it the dreaded January slope of the scale. With the intention of take off those extra kilos, Spaniards tend to overflow the gyms during the first two or three months of the year, and then begin to abandon that purpose to be healthier.
To save you that financial expense that can involve paying an annual gym fee and leaving it months later, we are going to review the best exercises that you can do in your living room without material (or with the bare minimum), so you can train in the comfort of your home.
Squats
We could not begin the list of exercises without talking about one of the great classics such as squats, one of the basic exercises for work the lower body with our own body weight.
For this exercise, we will point out two key points to take into account when avoiding injuries: the first one is the posture of our back, which must remain as neutral as possible avoiding arching in the lumbar (hyperlordosis) and dorsal ( hyperkyphosis or “hump”). If you have trouble maintaining your posture, a good way to start squats is to opt for the isometric variant against the wall, for which we will position ourselves with our back against the wall and bend our knees until they form a 90 degree angle, at which point we will hold the position for a few seconds and return to the starting position.
The second point to consider are functional limitations or in the form of injuries. If for any reason not attributable to the lack of strength we are not able to perform the squats, we can choose to try to do them with a chair: from the position of sitting on the edge of the chair and keeping the back straight, we will get up and sit again. The use of the chair will allow us to limit the range of motion in the event that we are not able to squat in the traditional way. This option can also be a good alternative for lower body work for the elderly.
Push-ups
And if squats are the classic exercise to work the strength and power of our lower body, the push-ups would be its equivalent when we talk about the upper body, because work the strength of our arms, pectoral muscles and core (The latter intervenes in the stabilization of the posture, thus avoiding arching of the back at the lumbar level and possible injuries).
If we have a strength deficit that prevents us from performing the push-ups directly on the floor, we can choose to do them inclined, leaning for example on the edge of a chair or a sofa or, if we want to work on the floor, we can choose to lean on your knees instead of your feet, and thus “reduce” the body weight with which we are going to work.
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Strides
The lunges are another way to work the strength of our lower body and a good complement to the work with the squats, since in addition to being a strength exercise it will allow us work and improve our balance through the gluteus medius activation. In addition, we can work the strides both forward and backward.
If we want to add difficulty to this exercise, we can choose to hold some weight with one of our hands, which will force us to compensate for this “imbalance” with more core work. If, on the other hand, we do not have much balance, we can start doing it next to a table where we can support ourselves in case of losing balance while we are improving it.
Abdominal plank
One of the best, if not the best, exercise to work our core. By eliminating the compression and rotation forces in the intervertebral discs that the classic abdominal crunches suppose, the abdominal plank (and all the variants that we can perform) will allow us to work our core globally and completely and, what is more important, minimizing the risk of injury.
An option that we can include if we have the necessary equipment is to perform instead of the abdominal plank, the core work with an abdominal wheel. This accessory can be purchased in stores such as Decathlon at a fairly affordable price (around 20 euros).
Burpees
This now classic exercise, loved or hated by people in equal measure, will allow us to work our body globally, since the upper body, the core and the lower body intervene due to its mechanics, as well as being a magnificent exercise to work our cardiovascular endurance.
Glute bridge
To work the lower body from the “posterior” point of view, the gluteal bridge is a very good exercise that will focus the work on the hamstring, gluteal and lumbar muscles mainly. Like all exercises, it has different variants depending on the degree of difficulty with which we want to work, the most basic being the one that starts from a position of lying face up on the floor with the legs bent. As we raise the support of the feet, for example by placing them on the edge of the sofa or a chair, the work done by the hamstrings and gluteus will be greater.
Mountain climbers
Complementary exercise to the planks that will allow us to continue working the core muscles and, in addition, the cardiovascular resistance. For those who are not able to start working this exercise directly in the initial push-up position on the floor, we recommend starting by doing it. resting with your hands on a chair, so that we are inclined with respect to the ground and performing the movement as if we were walking (the main idea of the exercise is to perform the movement as quickly as possible). There are numerous options depending on the degree of difficulty with which we want to work to add intensity and demand to our training.
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Two routines to work at home with our body weight
Once we have seen the main exercises that we can do at home with our body weight to get in shape and lose weight after Christmas, we are going to consider two types of routines to work at home: one of them will be based on the set-repetition system and the other will be a HIIT circuit.
Routine of exercises series-repetitions
Between each series, we recommend leaving between 45 and 90 seconds of rest depending on the physical condition of each person, and between exercise and exercise between one and two minutes.
- Burpees – 2 x 10
- Squats – 3 x 10
- Glute bridge – 3 x 15 (we suggest doing a few more repetitions of this exercise in the first weeks since the hamstrings are usually a muscular area that is frequently “behind” with respect to the quadriceps)
- Strides – 2 x 10 (with each leg)
- Push-ups – 3 x 10
- Mountain climbers – 3 x 20
- Abdominal plank – 3 x 10 x 3-5 “(three sets of ten of repetitions of between three and five seconds each repetition)
HIIT circuit mode exercise routine
For those who wish to work these exercises in high current circuit mode, we are going to structure it using the Tabata method, consisting of 20-second work periods alternated with ten-second breaks. For beginners, doing three rounds of this circuit can be a good way to start getting in shape. For intermediate we could do between three and six rounds and, for advanced, a good job could be to complete ten rounds of it. Between rounds and rounds, depending on the physical level of each user, the breaks can range between three minutes for the most novice and 45-60 seconds for the most advanced.
The order of the exercises will be the same as for the previous training: burpees, squats, glute bridge, lunges (here we would do two consecutively, one with each leg), push-ups, mountain climbers and abdominal plank.
This article was originally published by Miguel Fitness in January 2018 and has been revised for republication.
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Video | Bowflex, Vitonic
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