{"id":236054,"date":"2020-03-30T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T05:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/inform\/the-complete-home-workout-guide-that-will-make-you-forget-all-about-the-gym-2\/"},"modified":"2021-01-15T04:01:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T09:01:17","slug":"home-workout-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/inform\/home-workout-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"The Complete Home Workout Guide (That Will Make You Forget All About The Gym)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been there for you in times of need, when you yearned for stress relief, something to help get you to sleep, or just an excuse to indulge in a piece of cake<\/a>. But like a pair of star-crossed lovers, you’ve found yourself torn away from your beloved gym.<\/p>\n

For some, it’s been the hardest thing to deal with through the social distancing of recent weeks. But just because your local gym has closed – while we all endeavour to get through the coronavirus outbreak<\/a> together – it doesn’t mean you can’t still squeeze in those killer workouts while you’re holed up at home.<\/p>\n

Which is why we’ve called on the expertise of personal trainer and founder of fitness coaching app Prime Body<\/a>, Tim Blakey, to provide you with a thorough home workout guide to make sure your workouts are as tip-top in your abode as they are in the gym.<\/p>\n

He’s got you covered, from which equipment you’ll need, to sizing up your home workout space, before three killer home workouts and a vital pre-exercise warm-up, all with easy-to-follow videos<\/a> from Blakey to make sure you’re keeping your form.<\/p>\n

Why Should You Continue To Workout While At Home?<\/h2>\n

Some of you might be wondering whether you could just hold off any exercise until this all blows over and you can waltz back into the gym again. But not only will keeping up your regular workouts<\/span><\/a> help stave off any boredom blues, they’ll also work to mitigate the fat-gain that can be common when we’re stuck at home.<\/span><\/p>\n

“People often underestimate the amount of NEAT (Non Exercise Attributed Thermogenesis) that adds up in our daily calorie burn,” points out Blakey. “NEAT is basically the accumulated calories we burn during daily activities such as commuting, using stairs, fidgeting and everything else outside of dedicated exercise, and energy used for daily body functions such as digesting food.<\/p>\n

“As NEAT will be reduced for most of us during these homebound days we need to stay somewhat active and also adjust our calorie intake accordingly.<\/p>\n

Exercise is also great for brain power – a study from the University of British Columbia<\/span><\/a>, found that regular aerobic exercise, the kind that gets your heart and your sweat glands pumping, appears to boost the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What Is The Best Way To Exercise At Home?<\/h2>\n

If you’re sold on the idea of keeping up your workout regime while you’re at home, you’re probably now thinking which mode of exercise is the best to go for?<\/p>\n

“Much like a workout in the gym, it\u2019s the one you can do consistently and stick to,” says Blakey.<\/p>\n

“Full circuits can work well, especially to get a sweat up. However, because it is important to maintain muscle mass<\/span><\/a> in this time of reduced exertion, I recommend smaller clusters of circuits or supersets.<\/span><\/p>\n

“These enable you to get closer to fatigue with targeted muscle groups which in turn is an important stimulus in telling your body to maintain your muscle mass, and not allow it to waste. I also advise utilising unilateral exercises whereby you hold your body weight, or part of it with only one side of your body at a time. It’s a very easy way to challenge your muscles more.”<\/p>\n

How To Build A Mini-Gym In Your Home<\/h2>\n

We’re going to assume that unless you’re Arnie levels of gym obsessive, you’re probably not going to have a full circuit workout space ready and waiting for you at your home. That’s why you trundle to the gym, right? But the good thing is that you don’t need much room for an effective home workout anyway.<\/p>\n

“You should be able to do everything with as little as a 2m x 2m space on the floor,” notes Blakey, “and also make use of a couch or a chair too.”<\/p>\n

In terms of equipment, don’t worry about getting a huge shipment of dumbbells in just yet. “You can get a good workout using nothing but your body weight and a few things in your home like a backpack and bottles of water,” explains Blakey.<\/p>\n

The workout Blakey has put together maintains a relatively high number of reps for each movement, so if you were to add dumbbells, a single rep wouldn’t necessarily have to push you to your limit. As a good starter, aim for a pair around 4-6 kg each bell for a woman, and 8-10 kg for the men.<\/p>\n

A thick exercise mat will also come in handy when doing any high impact floor-based or body-weight movements (you can use your yoga mat, but they are usually around two inches thinner and designed for lower impact exercises).<\/p>\n

“Access to a suspension trainer like a TRX can also be useful and will open up a greater variety of exercises,” notes Blakey. “It takes up hardly any space to store and can be fixed to any sturdy wall.”<\/p>\n

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The Warm Up Before Your Home Workout<\/h2>\n

Now, just because you’re not going to be heaving any hefty weights around the gym floor doesn’t mean you can afford to not warm up.<\/p>\n

Warm muscles will both contract more forcefully and relax quicker, reducing the risk of over-stretching a muscle and causing yourself an injury, and all while allowing your large joints to reach their maximum movement potential.<\/p>\n

So, here’s Blakey’s quick and easy, three-part warm-up to get you started before the real action begins.<\/p>\n

Sun Salutations and Hamstring Mobs<\/h3>\n

How Many Reps? <\/strong>Perform five reps of sun salutations, followed by five hamstring stretches.<\/p>\n

Technique: <\/strong>Keep the chest touching or as close to the thigh throughout the hamstring stretching. It doesn\u2019t matter if you can\u2019t fully extend the knee.<\/p>\n

Top Tip: <\/strong>What\u2019s important is that you feel the stretch at the back of the leg before moving forward again.<\/p>\n

Deep Squat<\/h3>\n

How Many Reps? <\/strong>One, holding the pose for 45-60 seconds.<\/p>\n

Technique: <\/strong>Keeping the heels on the ground, squat as low as you can until your thighs are relaxed. Your quads shouldn’t be working to hold you up. Keep the heels on the ground throughout also.<\/p>\n

Top Tip: <\/strong>Use something to hold onto if necessary. Wiggle your knees wider from side to side using your elbows before holding the pose.<\/p>\n

Cat and Cow Stretch<\/h3>\n

How Many Reps? <\/strong>10 reps of both movements.<\/p>\n

Technique: <\/strong>Keeping your shoulders over your hands, push the floor away as hard as you can, rounding the upper back towards the ceiling.<\/p>\n

Try to \u2018tuck your tailbone under\u2019 and draw your abs in when you do. Hold this for one second. Then drop your spine the other way allowing your ribcage to drop down to the floor, shoulder blades sliding back together and arching the back as much as you can.<\/p>\n

Top Tip: <\/strong>That push into the floor will help the stretch, so remember to push into it hard, <\/b>feeling the shoulder blades wrap around the rib cage as you do.<\/p>\n

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