Exercise is one of the very best uses of time that we can imagine. You get your body moving, increasing the flow of endorphins, improving your health and helping you stay in shape. Even just 30 minutes per day of movement and exercise will have benefits on just about every aspect of your life. You will feel better and have a more positive outlook on life, even during rough times. We’ve explored many different ideas for workouts at home, for people of all shapes and sizes, and this is what we are bringing to you.
First off, let’s talk real quickly about why exercise is so important. Of course, there are physical benefits, such as strength, flexibility, and weight management. On top of that, WebMD says exercise is responsible for a mental boost as well. The mental health benefits of exercise are what is so critical during this time of self-quarantining.
When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain.
Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine. For example, the feeling that follows a run or workout is often described as “euphoric.” That feeling, known as a “runner’s high,” can be accompanied by a positive and energizing outlook on life.
Exercise comes with benefits both physical and mental. Without further ado. Let’s get to it. 10 exercises to do at home!
At Home (or even Outdoor!) Yoga
Yoga is an absolutely wonderful workout, both for your mind and your body. The benefits of yoga reach far and wide, everything from increased strength to better sleep.
Healthline describes yoga as a workout that can help your life in 13 ways. These are in no way guaranteed, however you can be sure that yoga will have a positive impact on your mind, your body, and your overall life.
- Decrease Stress
- Relieves Anxiety
- Reduce Inflammation
- Improve Heart Health
- Improves Quality of Life
- Fight Depression
- Reduce Chronic Pain
- Promote Sleep Quality
- Improves Flexibility and Balance
- Improve Breathing
- Relieve Migraines
- Promote Healthy Eating
- Increase Strength
If you have a patio, porch, or yard, and the weather is agreeable, we recommend trying some outdoor yoga! Being in the outdoors has benefits all on its own, and when you combine the outdoors with yoga you’ll have a great mood-boosting one-two punch.
If you are a yoga beginner, then below is a great 20 minute intro for you to try out. If you are more advanced, there are some free streams available from Corepower Yoga and Sky Ting for you to use.
Also, here is a more advanced yoga session that you can stream for free on YouTube.
Play a Game (with a lot of movement!)
Games are a great way to get a lot of movement and have a ton of fun at the same time! When you are playing a fun game, especially one that involves a lot of movement, you often don’t even recognize all the exercise you are getting while playing.
We absolutely love playing the following games. Each of them has a varying amount of exercise, and is a great way to get some exercise while also having some fun!
- Ping Pong
- Charades
- Anything on the Nintendo Wii
- Hide and Seek
- Reverse Charades
- Tag
- Kick the Can
- Dance Dance Revolution / Just Dance / Any Dance Game
Stream an At Home Workout Class
Many exercise companies, such as Orange Theory, Tone It Up, and Corepower Yoga are offering free at home exercise streams. Using these free streams is great for a few reasons. First off, you’ll get an expert class taught by a wonderful instructor.
The instructors at the best exercise companies are BEYOND impressive. They are typically excellent motivators, and have a way of making exercise both fun and challenging. We don’t know exactly how they work their magic, but they most certainly do.
Another benefit of using free streams, especially when live, is that they hold you to a schedule. You’ll have a set time for exercise each day, and the fact that the stream is live will hold you accountable to keeping that schedule. Whether you have your workout in the morning, afternoon, or evening, using a free live stream will help bring some standardization to your schedule, and will help you not accidentally miss a day of working out at home.
If you want to try your first streaming workout, and don’t want to try it on live, then use this video. This is a great 20 minute full-body, equipment-free workout that you can try out.
Go on a Run
Running is a wonderful way to exercise, for a few reasons. First off, of course there are many physical benefits to running. You get to spend time outdoors, soaking up the sights and sounds of the world all around you. On top of that, there are basically endless physical and mental benefits to jogging. Here are our 5 favorite:
- Improved Strength
- Better Balance and Posture
- Cardiovascular Performance
- Maintain Weight
- Mood Boost
One thing we love to do that adds another benefit to running is to make it scenic! Go on a run somewhere you haven’t gone before, even if it is right in your neighborhood. You may find something you didn’t know was there, or learn something new about your neighborhood.
HIIT Training Exercise
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is one of our favorite ways to exercise, especially when we are at home. Why? Because HIIT is a great way to get an AMAZING workout in a short amount of time. This is pretty much the most efficient way to workout at home, in terms of time.
HIIT, in short, is quickly completing a series of hard workouts, in succession, with short breaks in between. Here is an example of a HIIT workout that we often do. Note that this workout requires no equipment, so we can do it at home or when we are traveling!
- Set 1
- 30 seconds – burpees
- 20 seconds – rest
- 30 seconds – crunches
- 20 seconds – rest
- Repeat 4 times
- Set 2
- 20 seconds – push-ups
- 10 seconds – rest
- 20 seconds – squat jumps
- 10 seconds – rest
- Repeat 4 times
- Set 3
- 30 seconds – mountain climbers
- 20 seconds – rest
- 30 seconds – jumping lunges
- 20 seconds – rest
- Repeat 4 times
This HIIT workout gets your heart rate up, and works out your full body. At the end of the workout, you’ll feel like you just did an extremely hard workout, and you only spent about 20 minutes doing it! Talk about efficient.
Why HIIT? From Healthline:
Overall, HIIT produces many of the same health benefits as other forms of exercise in a shorter amount of time. These benefits include lower body fat, heart rate and blood pressure. HIIT may also help lower blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity. So, if you are short on time and want to get active, consider trying high-intensity interval training.
Check out this great 20 minute HIIT workout. If you are looking for a heavy workout, complete this 20 minute HIIT workout, followed by the 20 minute core workout video above!
Day Hike
Day hiking is probably our single favorite thing to do. First off, hiking is free (usually, at least, very few places charge entrance fees). You will not be breaking the bank by picking up a hiking hobby, that is for sure.
Hiking also gets you deep out into nature. Being in nature has benefits that are a bit hard to describe. You’ll boost your mood while getting exercise, but it is something more than that. Being in nature just feels right. It feels as if you are connecting with something more profound than we can describe. Similar to any new feeling, you won’t truly know what it feels like until you try it. So try it!
A third benefit to day hiking is the unparalleled views you’ll get access to. Often times, the best landscapes and viewpoints are located somewhere that is only accessible by hiking. If you don’t hike, you won’t be able to see them! Simple as that. Hiking brings out the best in the world.
Learn TikTok Dances
TikTok is a new social media app that is taking the world by storm. Some people love it, some people hate it. Whatever you feel about it, one thing is for certain: the people that are dancing on TikTok look like they are having fun!
TikTok dances are our personal favorite thing about the app. Creative people make up these dances (typically 15 seconds or so) that involve a number of choreographed steps. Here is a link to some of the dances (and other videos) we’ve learned on the App.
Learning each dance can be a challenge! We hop around for 15 seconds at a time, taking rests in between. It is basically a HIIT workout like we talked about above! TikTok can be a way to exercise while having some fun.
Take a Bike Ride
Taking a bike ride is a great way to get some exercise while also covering a lot of ground! On average, running one mile is the equivalent of biking 4 miles. So you can effectively cover 4 times as much distance when biking as compared to running!
Biking is an excellent leg and cardiovascular workout. When you are really pushing yourself on a bike, you know what we’re talking about. Your legs are pulsing with each pedal, and you are heaving breath after breath.
Biking is not an impact workout, it is easy on your knees and other joints. You don’t have to ‘catch’ your body like you do when running, as each pedal is a smooth motion. It is one of the best workouts you can do.
100 Push-ups and 100 Crunches
This is in some ways the easiest, and in some ways the most challenging, workout regimen in this whole post! It is easy because pretty much everyone knows what push-ups and crunches are. Anyone and everyone can do them, even if you are doing push-ups on your knees.
One great quarantine workout plan you can have is to complete 100 push-ups and 100 crunches per day. That’s it!
This is a challenging workout because of the mental and physical aspects of completing it. It sounds somewhat simple. “All I have to do is 100 push-ups and 100 crunches and I’m done?” Yes. That is it.
When you are 65 push-ups in, and your chest and arms are screaming, you’ll look at those last 35 push-ups as a mountain to climb. Same thing when you finish your 80th crunch and are thinking about those 20 you have left. This is a mental grind as well as a physical one.
Note that this workout does not need to be done consecutively. Take as many breaks as you want. Just finish the 100 push-ups and 100 crunches, any way you can.
Also note that this workout will get easier each day that you complete it. Your body will grow stronger, and the push-ups and crunches will get easier over time!
Make Up Your Own Workout!
Working out is sometimes best when you are personalizing the workout to your own body! You know yourself, you know your strengths and your weaknesses. You can design a personalized workout that fits with you!
If you do design your own workout, we recommend that you make sure that it has at least one exercise in the following areas:
- Strength Training – Build Strength
- Cardiovascular – Get Your Heart Pumping
- Flexibility – Sometimes Underrated but Hugely Important
- Fun! – If it isn’t fun, you won’t want to do it
- Reward – Reward Yourself Afterwards for a Job Well Done!
Well folks, that’s it! 10 ideas for exercises you can do at home, with a bonus how-to on creating your own quarantine workout to do at home! We sincerely hope you enjoyed this article, and that you got an idea or two that you can use. If you liked the article, please use the below images to Pin It to Pinterest, thanks!
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