Home Workouts: Get a Complete Workout Without Going to the Gym

This text was written by a TecMundo columnist; learn more at the end.

If there’s one legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that our home can be a workout environment. In fact, it always was, but only after social distancing, has established itself as an environment that provides full autonomy to the athleteUnderstand the benefits of exercising at home and how to get a full workout without going to the gym.

Advantages of training at home

At home, you have the autonomy to choose the type of exercise, frequency (number of times per week), time of day, duration, and intensity. In addition to the convenience of being in your own home, you save time and money on travel expenses and even monthly fees for potential establishments you frequent. Your own home can also be one of the safest places to exercise..

Safety also includes environmental comfort, and your home has a big advantage over gyms, the most common exercise environment in the world, because current business models dictate impersonal, uncomfortable environments with low lighting, loud music, and people who don’t want to stay in the facility. Many people suffer from social anxiety in gyms, and working out at home can mean peace and quiet..

A workout at home

A home workout program can include full-body muscle strengthening exercises that anyone can incorporate for fitness, health, hypertrophy, weight loss, mental health, and other reasons. Check out some of the exercises:

• Squat – lower extremity exercise that involves triple extension of the hip, knee and ankle joints, particularly working the thigh and gluteal muscles.
• Elbow flexion (support) – exercise for the upper limbs, especially the chest, shoulders and triceps.
• Pelvic elevation – exercise in a lying position, which consists in lifting the hips and contracting the gluteal muscles, creating a kind of bridge with the body.
• Crunches – such as crunches or rows, can serve to dynamically engage the rectus abdominis muscles and strengthen the area.
• Pull-up bar – exercise for the upper limbs, especially the back and biceps.

Diego Zanotto, Physical Education expert specializing in online counseling for women, emphasizes that it is important to have training sessions that alternate throughout the week with dynamism and preferably not too long training sessions, given that these people are already in an environment limited in terms of space, social interaction and experience, with many distractions.

Requiring less resources and time, Homeschooling can also fall victim to procrastination and we can put it off until later.

To work on your cardiorespiratory fitness, which is a key indicator for a longer life, you need to put demands on your entire body system. Therefore, you can do exercises such as jumping, burpees, rope jumping, step climbing, as well as walking, running, cycling and swimming at home.

Classes are available in almost all modalities, from yoga and Pilates to dance, gymnastics, stretching, weight training and calisthenics.

How can you challenge yourself by training at home?

One factor that can limit the overload warning of home workouts over time is the lack of additional weights. You can adjust the weights with backpacks, food bags, or water bottles. However, there are other ways to create overload without having to increase the amount of weight lifted during exercises. Discover some of them:

• Perform more reps with the same load, for example a series of 12 or 15 reps instead of 10;
• Do more sets with the same load × reps, for example do 3 sets of 15 instead of 2×15;
• Increase range of motion with same load × reps, such as squatting to deadlift;
• Reduce the rest time, but with the same load, for example, reducing the interval from 1 minute to 45 seconds;

Additionally, improving your technique with the same load and repetitions can also create overload.

An innovative approach

For employees home officeExercise snacks can be used to increase focus and concentration at work. This is an approach that consists of small exercise snacks, such as squats or push-ups, while rice is cooking or coffee is brewing.

Training continues at home It can be an alternative for periods when it is not possible to exercise in gyms.Seek help from a Physical Education expert and do a good home workout.

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Fabio Dominski He holds a PhD in Human Movement Sciences and a degree in Physical Education from the State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC). He is a university professor and researcher at the Laboratory of Sport and Exercise Psychology (LAPE/UDESC). He does scientific dissemination on social media and in podcast available on SpotifyAuthor of Physical Exercise and Science – Facts and Myths.