The gyms are shut and we’ve limited outdoor time. But that’s no excuse to get lazy. In fact, it’s never been more important to keep on top of our fitness goals. Little activity and more time surrounded by food is a risky combo.
Fear not! A gruelling home workout can be achieved with very little to no equipment. The two training methods that have helped me most are HIIT and AMRAP.
First, equipment
No equipment doesn't mean no workout. My favourite no equipment exercises include:
- Burpees
- Handstand kicks
- Lunges
- Squats
- Pushups
- Shoulder ups
- Chair dips (two chairs back-to-back, or a single chair)
Youtube and Instagram are great sources for different exercise ideas. The many variations of these basics keeps things interesting, allows you to adjust difficulty and lets you hit your muscles from different angles. I think the only thing that’s a little lacking from a no-equipment workout is your back muscles - but that’s easily solved if with a pull-up bar.
HIIT
"High-intensity interval training". It’s all about pushing yourself (to the max) for a short period, resting and repeating.
An example of a "Tabata" (a single round) might be:
- Go for 20 seconds
- Rest or low intensity for 10 seconds
- Repeat 8 times
- Rest 40 seconds
Now repeat that Tabata 8 times. This example is already 32 minutes! Adjust the go, rest, repetition and rest to suit your ability - I like to aim for a 30 to 40 minute workout.
Keep this exciting by trying different exercises for your “go” period. I’ll often do this without planned exercises in mind, instead just doing what feels right on the spot. However you decided to do it, you'll need an app to keep time - a great app I use is Seconds Pro.
AMRAP
"As many rounds/reps as possible" - my favourite. Simply write a list of exercises and reps. Then just loop through your exercises for a predetermined time and rest only when necessary.
Here’s an example of a workout I did earlier:
- 10 handstand kicks
- 10 knee shuffle jump squat
- 15 pushups
- 15 jumping lunges
- 15 shoulder pushups
- 10 double jump burpees
- 20x2 twisting mountain climbers
I set my timer for 40 minutes and hit it. Unless you're going for a personal best, the amount of rounds you complete doesn't matter. Just push yourself to do as many as you can during your set time.
AMRAP is all about pushing yourself to your personal limit - something only you control. The mental challenge this brings to my workout has me hooked! No app required for this, just a timer (which preferably, you don’t look at 🙈).
Building muscle at home
Muscle-wise, a home workout is never going to be quite the same as a real bit of weight in the gym. But that doesn't mean you should neglect your muscles.
Tempo makes a big difference. If your goal is to challenge your cardio: work fast, keeping your heart rate high and your breath short. If your goal is to target your muscles: work slow, take a bit more rest and focus on quality reps. It’s surprising how difficult pushups can be when done slowly, with perfect form and real mind-muscle intent. Because you control the pace, AMRAP is far better suited for a muscle-focussed session than HIIT is.
Keep it moving
However you move, consistency is key. Nobody knows how long we're going to be locked down for - chances are it'll be a while. So keep active, adapt to change and aim to leave the lockdown fitter than when it began.
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