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Ready to start making the most of your training at home? There are so many ways to start or spice up your routine by shifting your perspective and making full use of what you have at home. Creating an at-home workout regimen can help you create more room in your schedule to do other things, as opposed to spending more time commuting to/from a gym or fitness studio.
By committing yourself to engaging in regular physical activity, you are setting yourself up for overall improved physical and mental health. The benefits of this commitment last for the long-term, playing a role in preventing chronic disease, improving longevity, and helping you feel happier and more fulfilled. A consistent workout routine will also help you build strength, feel more energized, and increase your focus throughout your day.
Here are 12 different exercises to kick-start your fitness goals at home, with each workout targeting either your core, arms, legs, or glutes. We’ve also rated them on a scale of easy to hard in terms of difficulty, with easy being a great exercise for beginners, and hard being more advanced for those with more exercise experience.
Before beginning any exercise regimen, check in with your personal healthcare practitioner to make sure it is safe for you to do so. You can also work with a certified personal trainer to ensure you are exercising safely.
From ClassPass
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The plank exercise is great for strengthening abdominal and core muscles, as well as helping to strengthen the spine, shoulders, and triceps when done correctly. This is one of the best exercises if you are looking to strengthen your core muscles, along with helping improve your back strength and spine alignment, which will reduce the risk of strain injuries.
Planks can also improve your posture over time. Strengthening these muscles will help support great posture, which can reduce the risk of skeletal injuries, help put less strain on your bones and joints, as well as support your internal organs and their function.
Instructions:
15 seconds
Easy - Be careful not to arch your back or sag your hips while holding the position. If this is difficult for you, separating your feet wider than hips’ distance may make it easier.
From Coach Magazine
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This exercise targets the upper abdominal muscles, along with the obliques, or side abdominal muscles. Aside from strengthening core muscles, bicycle crunches also help tone the thigh muscles due to the alternating movements throughout the exercise.
Instructions:
Three sets of 10 reps on each side with a 30 second break in between.
Easy
From Coach Magazine
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The dead bug exercise mainly targets and strengthens your core muscles. It also can improve stability of your spine and mobility in the hip and shoulder joints. Studies have found that exercise can possibly prevent or relieve lower back pain by improving stabilization in the spine, back, and core over time.
Instructions:
Two sets of 10 reps on each side.
Medium - This exercise is a little more challenging than traditional ab exercises due to the focus needed to keep your spine flat on the ground without your limbs touching the floor.
From BarBend
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Push-ups are one of the most effective ways to strengthen your upper body, including the pectoral (chest) muscles, shoulders, and triceps. This exercise also works on your shoulder stability by forcing you to hold the high plank starting position between reps.
Instructions:
Two sets of 15 reps each.
Medium - This is a relatively simple exercise routine but may be difficult at first if you are not familiar with push-ups or upper body workouts. For beginners that are unable to complete a traditional push-up, this exercise can be modified by doing knee push-ups.
Knee push-ups consist of the same movement, but with your knees on the ground instead of your legs extended behind you. Your knees won’t be directly under your hips, but instead, slightly extended, so that your weight is on the very bottom of your thigh above the knee. This protects your knees while doing the exercise as well as allows you to get the same range of motion in your upper body.
From Muscle & Fitness
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This exercise targets the bicep muscles of the upper arm, while also helping to strengthen muscles of the lower arm through holding the weights and keeping your arms stabilized. Bicep curls can also benefit your abdominal muscles if you are performing the routine correctly and engaging your core.
Because the biceps originate above the shoulder joint, exercising your biceps can help strengthen the rotator cuff to improve shoulder stability, allowing you to have full range of motion.
Instructions:
Two sets with 10 curls on each side, alternating sides in between.
Easy – This becomes a more difficult exercise when you increase the weight in each hand.
From Anytime Fitness
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These dips mainly target the triceps, which are located on the back of your upper arms, along with improving strength in your shoulders, core, and arm muscles. The movements involved in triceps dips require stability by engaging your core and keeping a strong grip, which helps your upper body and core strength over time.
Instructions:
Three sets of 10 reps each.
Easy - Avoid locking your elbows, keeping your shoulders too high, leaning forward, or lowering your body down too far to prevent injury.
From Runner’s World
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Squats are a simple exercise, however, the health benefits they can lead to are expansive. For starters, squats mainly target and strengthen the glutes and quadricep, or thigh, muscles. This exercise also helps strengthen other muscles of the leg, particularly the calves and hamstrings, along with your core and hip muscles.
Squats can also reduce your risk of injury by increasing your lower body strength, leading to the surrounding tendons, ligaments, and bones of those muscles to strengthen as well. This leads to better overall alignment and posture, allowing your body to move with better mobility and balance.
Instructions:
Three to four sets of 12 reps each.
Easy – This move can be advanced by holding one weight in both hands, or one weight in each hand.
From Coach Magazine
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The glute bridge exercise targets and strengthens your glutes and hamstring muscles of the upper leg. Along with improving strength in your glutes and legs, the movements of this exercise force you to activate your core muscles in order to stabilize your body which will help strengthen this area as well.
Glute bridges can also improve knee and lower back pain by strengthening the glutes, which can help relieve stress on the spine, increase hip extension, and provide aid in movements like squatting by balancing the amount of weight placed on the knees.
Instructions:
Two sets of 10 reps.
Easy
From OpenFit
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The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the pelvis and hip region, and is responsible for important hip movements, which include your hip extension, external rotation, and abduction. All three hip movements are necessary to carryout everyday activities, which is why having adequate strength in this muscle should be prioritized.
Instructions:
Three sets of 10 reps on each side.
Easy - The main difficulty during this exercise is keeping the correct form and stabilizing your core in order to fully isolate the hips and glute muscles.
From Coach Magazine
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Side lunges can strengthen and tone your inner and outer thighs, as well as your glutes and improve your balance and stability. There are various types of lunges you can do in order to improve strength in your legs; however, side lunges are especially helpful to tone your outer thighs during the lateral (side to side) movements.
Side lunges also improve strength in your glutes by forcing you to sit back into your glutes while lowering down on each leg. The side-to-side movements are also beneficial to your balance in the hip and knee joints, which can help avoid injuries and prolong your mobility as you age.
Instructions:
Two sets of 10 on each side.
Easy – This exercise is similar to a regular squat in that you want to pretend you’re going to sit in an imaginary chair, except this time, with just one leg/glute.
From Coach Magazine
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This exercise mainly works your glutes, quads, and hamstring muscles in your legs, and your ab muscles if you engage your core correctly. Many lower body exercises only target a few muscles, whereas wall sits work almost all of the lower body due to the required muscle activation needed to hold the sitting position. In addition to strengthening the leg and glute muscles, this exercise can also improve strength in your back by keeping it straight against the wall.
Wall sits are an exercise aimed to improve your muscular endurance and mobility, instead of building your muscle up. Improving your muscular endurance is equally beneficial to building up strength in order to meet your fitness goals.
Lastly, the movements can improve your body’s functionality which will be beneficial for your mobility and range of motion, along with helping you master the correct form in other exercises, such as the squat exercise described above.
Instructions:
Three holds for 20 seconds at a time.
Medium - The most difficult part of the routine is most likely lowering your body down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, then holding this position. If you are unable to lower yourself down to the correct height, you can modify the exercise by bending down until your legs are at a 45-degree angle, instead of the normal 90-degrees.
From ClassPass
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The single-leg deadlift exercise can lead to many potential benefits such as improving strength and endurance in the glutes and hamstring muscles of the leg, balance, and mobility for your joints and overall movements.
This workout targets and activates your hamstrings and glutes, leading to increased strength and a reduced risk of injuries due to lumbar extensions that occur during many pulling and hip hinging motions. Single-leg deadlifts can also strengthen your calves, ankles, and oblique muscles, which improve stability in your core and pelvic areas.
The coordination needed to complete the deadlift will greatly improve your balance and stability in the lower body, particularly your ankle and knee stabilization and function in the hips. Although this exercise will challenge your body and lower body strength, with practice and dedication you will be able to perfect the form and reap the many potential benefits of the single-leg deadlifts.
Instructions:
Two sets of five reps each.
Medium - Single-leg deadlifts are a simple exercise; however, they do require a certain level of balance and core strength to perform the movements correctly. As you are learning the form of a single-leg deadlift, make sure to keep your body in a straight line, without rounding your spine as you lower down and extend the back leg.
Before beginning any exercise regimen, check in with your personal healthcare practitioner to make sure it is safe for you to do so. You can also work with a certified personal trainer to ensure you are exercising safely.
Today’s the perfect day to start your new workout routine in the comfort of your own home. Remember, just as there’s no one-size-fits-all workout program for everyone, the same goes for your diet. You are the expert in you, and moving your body to improve your physical and mental health is an incredible way to honor that knowledge.
Learn more about IIN’s rigorous curriculum that integrates 90+ of the world’s leading experts in health and wellness, blending the scientific and the spiritual to create an immersive, holistic health education.