8 Fitness Tips for Exercising at Home without Equipment
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Dr.Alibhai
In our current environment, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced most people indoors. Public gyms and fitness centers have closed, leaving many to search for effective ways to workout in quarantine. Because stores quickly sold out of fitness bands, free weights, kettlebells, dumbbells and other ideal fitness merchandise, it’s important for you to learn how to exercise at home without gym equipment.
1.Set a Time
Before you start working out at home, choose a specific time to do it. Exercise is most effective when it’s routine, not sporadic. To ensure you make the most of working out at home, set aside a time for your workouts and stick to it! If you’re like many of us who are working from home or homeschooling your children, you may need some flexibility in your schedule. So, don’t be too rigid in designating a time for fitness. You may need to establish a different time depending on the day, and that’s okay. Just make sure you set the time for each day in advance and commit to do it.
2. Create a Plan
The best way to start working out at home is to know what exercises you’re going to do ahead of time. If you are exercising at home without gym equipment, you can’t walk into a room and freestyle with weights. It’s mentally harder to create an effective exercise routine on the fly. Doing so will cause frustration and lead you to giving up. An easy way to develop your fitness plan is to designate a particular day for either a specific part of your body or type of routine. For example:
- Monday: Cardio
- Tuesday: Lower body work (from the glutes down)
- Wednesday: Cardio
- Thursday: Upper body work (from the chest up)
- Friday: Core work (strengthening your abs)
3. Choose a Workout Space
Because we are now doing things at home we never had to do before, it’s a good idea to designate specific areas to complete out of the ordinary tasks. This is especially helpful if you’re sharing your common spaces with several family members or a spouse who’s working from home. At this point, you’ve set your time, planned your workouts, now you need an available space to get it done. Pre-schedule your fitness time in the location you choose, so everyone in the household knows that is YOUR space. This is one of the most practical ways to workout in quarantine without being bombarded with external obstacles.
4. Add a Fitness Partner
It’s no secret that working out with a buddy helps you achieve your fitness goals. Fitness partners help us to be more accountable and more motivated. Working out at home without equipment may get boring for you, and if you lose motivation you’re more likely to stop. That’s why you should enlist the help of one or more of your family members. It doesn’t matter if it’s your spouse or one of your children, as long as your partner is excited about getting fit with you! Remember, fitness and healthy eating should be a goal for the entire family.
Check out our blog post, 10 Diet Hacks for Eating Healthy on a Tight Budget (link when blog is posted) for fantastic ideas to help you and your family eat healthy without stretching your budget.
5. Incorporate Music
Consistent exercise is all about motivation! You’ve got a place, time, routine and partner, now you need some music to get you going. Have you ever wondered why movies always play songs in the background of critical scenes to stir the viewers’ emotions? According to one Johns Hopkins otolaryngologist, “There are few things that stimulate the brain the way music does.” That’s because music causes your brain to release dopamine – a brain chemical that helps us focus, stay motivated and experience pleasure. Choose your favorite tunes and put them together in one powerful go-to playlist to make working out at home in quarantine more enjoyable. Expert tip: Use slower songs for warm-up stretches and cool down to help your heart rate gradually increase and decrease.
6. Start a Progressive Walking Routine
This is an excellent way to incorporate a workout at home without equipment, and an even better excuse to venture outdoors. If you haven’t been very active in recent years, just starting to walk will be a huge accomplishment! But, to keep getting the most out of your walks, you need a plan. A progressive walking plan simply means that, as time goes on, you begin to increase distance, speed and duration. Start with a slow, steady pace to avoid a sudden increase in your heart rate. After a few minutes, try to increase your speed. Ideally, you will be able to take brisk walks as a part of your cardio routine. When walking briskly, you should not be out of breath or unable to speak. Each week, aim to increase your walk duration by a few minutes.
7. Use Weight Alternatives
Just because you’re exercising at home without equipment doesn’t mean, you can’t improvise. Take a quick scan around your home and you’re sure to find a few items you can use in the place of traditional gym weights. Heavy lifting is fine for some fitness buffs, but using light weights will still help you get stronger and burn more fat. A couple good alternatives for dumbbells are canned goods and unopened bottles of wine. A 15 ounce can of veggies weighs about 1 pound and a unopened 750 ml bottle of wine weighs between 2.5 – 3 pounds. Replace heavier weights like kettlebells with a bottle of laundry detergent or gallon jug of water. You can fill the water jug with the amount of water needed for your desired weight.
8. Join a Virtual Fitness Class
There are wonderful ways to stay fit at home with virtual fitness classes. Some fitness studios are adjusting to Coronavirus stay home orders by taking their classes online. Fitness instructors are using apps like Zoom as well as Facebook and Instagram live. At NOVA Bariatrics and Minimally Invasive Surgery, we work in partnership with the experts at Virtual Health Partners (VHP) to give our patients access to their state of the art fitness platform. Through VHP, our patients have 24/7 access to:
- Live & pre-recorded
- fitness classes
- Nutrition appointments
- Healthy recipes
- Life (Behavior) Coaching
- Support Groups and more
8. Join a Virtual Fitness Class
There are wonderful ways to stay fit at home with virtual fitness classes. Some fitness studios are adjusting to Coronavirus stay home orders by taking their classes online. Fitness instructors are using apps like Zoom as well as Facebook and Instagram live. At NOVA Bariatrics and Minimally Invasive Surgery, we work in partnership with the experts at Virtual Health Partners (VHP) to give our patients access to their state of the art fitness platform. Through VHP, our patients have 24/7 access to:
- Live & pre-recorded
- fitness classes
- Nutrition appointments
- Healthy recipes
- Life (Behavior) Coaching
- Support Groups and more
Before beginning any workout routine, always consult a physician.
At Nova Bariatrics and Minimally-Invasive Surgery, we understand that weight loss and healthy living can be a daily struggle for many. With harness over experience and expertise to help those patients who have been unable to achieve significant weight loss through diet and modifications and exercise alone. Our team at NOVA works with each patient individually to find the appropriate solution for weight loss and restoration of one’s health.