The coronavirus epidemic has forced many of us to say goodbye to gym routines and workouts outside the home. However, moms have been utilizing everyday household objects and easy and affordable equipment to stay fit at home for decades because, let’s get real, being a mom doesn’t bequeath you with a ton of time for the gym.
There are plenty of exercises that require little or no equipment. Instagram is bombarded with fitness gurus and personal trainers who all have an opinion about the best exercises to do from home. The hashtags: #homeworkout and #homegym have been used millions of times! That’s a lot of posts about working out at home! Let’s take a look at seven no-fuss exercises that are beloved by home fitness enthusiasts and that are effective as well as not too difficult.
Clamshells
As the fitness instructor, Ellen Rosenfeld explains in this post, clamshell-variations are exercises that really get at glute-med muscles. She notes that many on Instagram refer to the muscle as “Side-butt,” but let’s not go down that road! You can use a wall to help you find the proper alignment with the hips and shoulders stacked. Then, you can proceed to do the clamshell exercises! Once you’ve gotten really good at them, feel free to add an elastic band around your thighs for more resistance.
Lean into the Lunge
Model and fitness enthusiast, Vivian Akosua Akoma Mensah wants you to try this very easy lunge sequence to get your blood pumping. These lunge exercises are some of the most effective exercises for toning and strengthening your legs and the best part is, you don’t need a piece of equipment. The sequence begins with squats (which are also excellent for the booty) and moves into alternate lunges, followed by a squat and kick motion, and ends with some crabwalks. These exercises are pretty low-impact so once you’re comfortable with your form, consider upping the number of repetitions significantly.
Booty Burner in Just 25 Minutes
Say “hello” to Dr. Vanessa, a chiropractor who devised an excellent routine she calls the “25 Min Booty Burner.” These slow and controlled movements and sequences will help transform and strengthen the glutes. And, yes it will burn a bit. As you’ll see in the videos, the sequence consists of curtsey lunges, banded squats with kicks, a weighted hip thrust, a pulse squat and jump squat, and even more work with the band. It seems more complicated than it is! You’ll only need a weight (you can use a can of beans) and an elastic band.
A HIIT Workout That Gets it All
Meet Blake Wardwell a certified fitness instructor who has devised this ingenious HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workout sequence that hits just about every part of the body and takes about 30 minutes to complete. The workout consists of three-way squat jumps, lunge jumps with a punch, crab touches and then extension, cross jacks followed by knee crunching, slams with knee pumps, and finally bear crawls to end the session. Each one of these exercises engages the entire body so you can get a near full-body workout in 30 minutes.
Hip Mobility and More
If you’re looking for some movements inspired by Pilates to help strengthen your core, arms, and improve hip mobility, check out Pilates instructor, Hanna’s ingenious sequence. It begins by lowering into a simple forearm plank, followed by a straight arm plank to further engage the shoulders, then it transitions into a Spiderman plank that involves raising the knees up to the elbows. If regular planks aren’t cutting it for you anymore, consider the Spiderman version which will help loosen and strengthen the hips. You don’t need a single piece of equipment (except a yoga mat if you’ve got one handy).
A Cardio-Infused Workout
Candy Williams Olatunji runs DidiFit, a fitness and wellness resource for people looking to lead healthier lifestyles. After deciding against a run, Olatunji created the following workout that looks really fun and is fastpaced, giving you a bit more cardio than some of the workouts we found. This very lively workout contains everything from jump squats to sumo punches and side hop-squats. This workout will definitely get your heart pumping and the best part is it only takes 30 minutes of working out and no special equipment.
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Just Dance
Personal trainer, Radhia comes through to remind us that dancing is an excellent form of exercise! Just put on your favorite playlist of songs you love to shack it to and go wild! Dancing, at a heightened pace, is a really fun way to get your heart pumping and to really get in touch with your body. Even if you’re looking for something more intense, consider dancing to a song after you stretch but before you start your official workout! It relieves so much stress!
There you go! 7 workouts that Instagram loves that we think you’ll enjoy too. None of these workouts extends much beyond 30 minutes. If you’re looking for equipment-free workouts, you can go to town with these that require little to no weights or special gear. It’s time to get moving at take your health and fitness to the next level in the comfort and safety of your home.
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