Your fitness journey is full of options that can be configured according to your lifestyle and habits. Conventionally, working out is best accomplished in a fitness facility with exercise equipment, tools, and amenities. However, visiting a gym isn’t always the best choice for everyone.
People with an insufficient budget for a gym membership, too tired to go to the gym after work, intimidated by the gym environment, or simply want to work out alone dislike the notion of going to the gym regularly. Therefore, this leaves you to the comfort of your own home.
Here are fool-proof tips for working out at home:
1. Look For Free Fitness Programs Online
One of the disadvantages of exercising at home is the lack of fitness equipment and trainers to guide you through your workout. Don’t worry, as there’s an easy fix for this. Even if you’re working out at home, you can achieve a great exercise routine, thanks to online resources, such as blogs and articles, tutorial videos, and workout apps.
As more online fitness programs are emerging, it’s challenging to find one that’s a perfect fit for you. Here are some ways you can find the right fitness program:
- Take your precious time in researching.
- More prominent names in the fitness landscape aren’t always the best.
- List down, understand, and assess your goals. If you want to build your muscles, there’s no point in following a weight loss program.
- Choose a timeframe that you can complete. Also, see the length of each session and see if you can commit to it regularly.
- Consider getting a paid program for more specific knowledge and a walkthrough of your fitness journey.
2. Designate Your Fitness Space
Your environment plays a significant role in your workout experience. As your living space isn’t exactly the fitness center, you have to make a few adjustments. Before starting your workout journey, choose a designated space in your home conducive to your workouts.
Preferably, your fitness area should be spacious enough, well-lit, and aptly ventilated. Most importantly, the area shouldn’t have high traffic to prevent household members from disturbing you while working out.
Next, after selecting a designated space for your workouts, eliminate all forms of distractions surrounding it. Eliminate clutter that isn’t workout-related and only keep your workout essentials.
If you’d like to exercise at home permanently, you can slowly build your home gym and fill it with workout machines and equipment so that you won’t have to travel to public gyms anymore.
3. Try Calisthenics
Not everyone has the budget to splurge on fitness tools and equipment. Possessing no exercise peripherals is never an excuse to skip your workout sessions, though, as there are types of workouts that don’t need such, like calisthenics.
Calisthenics is a type of workout that relies only on an individual’s body weight. The exercises involved in calisthenics vary in rhythm and intensity and don’t require fancy fitness equipment. When starting calisthenics, you’ll primarily build muscle strength and endurance.
Here are some basic calisthenic exercises that you can do:
- Push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups
- Jumping jacks
- Jump squats
- Planks
- Lunges
- Dips
- Burpees
- Crunches
- Jumping ropes
Upon learning different calisthenic exercises, you can customize your workout by doing more repetitions, adding weights, changing your body positions, incorporating other workout types, and many more.
4. Schedule Your Workouts
It can be easy to get lost in your fitness journey when working out at home. Compared with working out in a gym where the line between your work, household, and personal commitments is more defined, you can be easily distracted in your home fitness space. How can you stay on track and be consistent with your progress?
An excellent piece of advice is to always make time and schedule your exercise. For example, you can wake up early and exercise in the morning before starting your commitments for the day. If you plan to work out midday, then make sure that you’ve finished all your tasks before the clock strikes.
5. Don’t Forget Your Pre- and Post-Workout Regime
Getting fit at home isn’t all about spending two hours daily to pack muscles and lose calories. Reaching your fitness goal is a journey and not a destination. Therefore, you also have to take your pre- and post-workout activities into account to make real progress.
In your pre-workout routine, make sure that you’ve had enough sleep, then fuel up with the right food. Then, rest for a while before taking a quick, refreshing shower, and consume a healthy snack to replenish your energy and help your muscles heal.
Endnote
Staying on top of your fitness game is way more challenging at home, but you’ll need three main things to make it work: discipline, accountability, and making conscious decisions. Hopefully, with the help of these workout tips, you can make the most out of your at-home stay, and, most importantly, work efficiently toward achieving your fitness goal!