Working out at home can be an excellent way to create a routine and build strength without needing equipment or joining a gym. This beginner workout uses bodyweight exercises for an efficient yet enjoyable session. Everyday movements like reaching for the broom can be turned into quick, effective workouts that burn energy while improving balance and strengthening core muscles. Here are three exercises to get you started.
1. Leg Lifts
Lankford recommends leg raises as an effective way for beginners to strengthen the core, starting out with 10-15 reps before gradually increasing the repetitions over time.
Start off on the floor, stacking your hands behind your head, and raise one leg until it dangles a few inches above the mat. Slowly lower it without arching your back as part of a set or by switching legs during each set. For added difficulty you could remove your hands from under your forehead or perform this move off of a stability ball; another variation is the reverse leg lift, which requires stronger core muscles.
2. Chair Dips
Not every home owns weights, but most likely there’s at least one chair you could use to perform triceps dips—bodyweight exercises that help build strength without needing equipment and can target specific muscles of the chest or triceps.
Triceps dips target your triceps in the back of your upper arms while simultaneously targeting chest and pec muscles. By changing up your angle of motion, this exercise can target various parts of your arm.
3. Wall Push-Ups
Wall push-ups target all of the same muscles as traditional push-ups but are less demanding on wrists and shoulders. Furthermore, wall push-ups engage your core, which is essential in stabilizing your spine while you lower yourself towards the wall.
Put your back against a wall, with hands placed about an arm’s length away on its surface (adjust this distance according to your fitness level; standing closer makes the move simpler). Bend your elbows as you lower yourself towards the wall until your body touches it or until a comfortable limit has been reached before returning back up again and repeating.
4. Lunges
Lunges are an effective way to build muscle mass and tone your legs and core while improving hip mobility. They present a dynamic movement challenge that requires stability, coordination, and balance from you as an athlete. Begin with feet double hip width apart, shoulders back, and core engaged, and step forward into a lunge position until your front thigh is about parallel with the ground; stop there and push off your right foot back into the starting position before pushing off your left foot to return back up again and continue with the lunge series.
For an accessible lunge move, opt for an aerobic step or stable bench that measures less than six inches tall. Although some movement during lunges is normal, if form starts to suffer as you lunge, lower weight or reduce platform height accordingly.
5. Planks
Planks are an effective exercise to burn calories, strengthen core muscles, and enhance posture. Regular practice of this movement can also help you shed body fat—potentially decreasing the risk of health conditions associated with obesity, such as high blood pressure and heart disease.
Take up a plank position with elbows directly under shoulders and knees positioned just behind hips, holding this pose for anywhere between 30 seconds and one minute if comfortable. This position engages your core muscles, which are vital in stabilizing the spine. Furthermore, this posture helps correct bad postures, such as slouching back.
6. Push-Ups
Push-ups are an age-old bodyweight exercise that engages numerous important muscle groups simultaneously. Push-ups strengthen your chest, shoulders, triceps, core, and back. Push-ups can also serve as an excellent precursor for weighted pressing exercises.
Add variations such as clapping push-ups (harder) or superman push-ups (even harder) to this essential exercise to increase its difficulty. Clapping push-ups add explosive power and plyometrics, while superman push-ups take it even further by providing core stability work.
7. Chest Flys
Chest muscles perform pushing movements like bench presses and pushups, as well as adductor functions by drawing the upper arms closer together. They may also function as adductors by pulling them closer.
Keep your arms at a slight bend while doing chest flies to maximize bicep involvement and use. Instead, straighten them once you reach the end position. For a more targeted movement, the decline cable chest fly may be ideal, as it targets the lower part of the pecs. Be sure to select an easily manageable weight; your shoulder position will become less stable with this exercise compared to when using dumbbells.
8. Abdominal Twists
This core exercise targets the obliques, including the rectus abdominis and transverse abdominal muscles, while simultaneously working the hip flexors and working on hip mobility. Sit in a chair facing the front of its seat with feet hip-width apart and clasp hands together at chest level. Slowly twist your torso until both sides of your chair come into contact with it, then clasp hands together again at chest level and repeat this exercise on both sides of your body.
Add resistance by holding a medicine ball, dumbbell, or stability ball for added resistance. Remember that adding weight will increase intensity while stretching core muscles even further, but still focus on slow, controlled movements with proper form.
9. Squats
Squats are an indispensable lower-body exercise that targets many different muscle groups. By including them in your routine workouts, they’ll help your daily movement become more efficient. If you find it challenging to perform bodyweight squats without using a chair, consider trying wall squats instead. They provide an ideal opportunity to familiarize yourself with this movement while perfecting form before progressing to regular squats.
Conducting bodyweight squats is another effective way of building the strength in your hips and knees, but adding some weighted squats for extra challenge may increase this exercise’s benefit. Over time you can gradually work up to heavier loads with more reps over time.
