Top 5 Home Workout Items
After the end of the pandemic, home workouts have become commonplace for many. There are many apps and websites that will help you organize your own classes at home. But what about sports equipment?
Benefits of home workouts
Still, think that exercising at the gym is better than at home? Home workouts are beneficial for many reasons.
- Save time and money: exercising at home is significantly cheaper than going to the gym and does not require additional travel time.
- Control of the environment: exercising at home allows you to control the environment and create the ideal conditions for training, which is not always possible in the gym.
- More freedom: you can choose the exercises and workouts that best suit your needs and fitness level.
- Flexibility: Home workouts give you more flexibility in choosing the time and day of your workout, which is especially helpful if you have a variable work schedule.
Depending on the type of workout and your goals, you may need some special sports equipment to organize your workouts at home. However, many exercises can be performed using your own body weight. Also, if special sports equipment is not at hand, you can use many of the usual items that are found in most homes.
Top 5 Common Home Workout Items
You can organize your small gym with the help of the most ordinary things.
1. Books
The works of the classics can be used not only for their intended purpose, but also as dumbbells for performing various exercises on the muscles of the arms and shoulders. Use books of different sizes and weights to create different levels of resistance.
In addition, you can use books to increase the intensity of your abdominal exercises or as an arm rest in yoga: place a book under each arm during Apex Pose to improve your posture and stretch your muscles deeper.
2. Chair
The chair is a great helper to practice at home when exercising the muscles of the legs and buttocks. For example, to perform squats on one leg. If pistol squats cause fear, you can do the exercise right on the couch ー upholstered furniture will save you from unsuccessful falls.
Another option for using a chair in a home workout is to strengthen the muscles of the arms:
- to perform triceps exercises, sit on a chair and grab the edge of the seat with your hands, then lower your body down, bending your elbows, and rise again. This exercise will allow you to control the depth of push-ups, which is especially useful for beginners;
- to perform exercises for the biceps and chest muscles, place your hands on the seat of a chair, take an emphasis while lying down and perform classic push-ups.
When using an exercise chair, make sure it is stable and does not move during exercise to avoid injury.
3. Water bottles
Water bottles are a budget alternative to dumbbells and kettlebells for arm and shoulder exercises. Try plastic bottles of different sizes (from liter bottles to large canisters), but do not use glass containers ー it is traumatic. If there is not enough weight, you can replace the water with cereals.
Take water bottles as extra weight to stretch your legs and back. For example, you can sit on the floor and lean forward while holding water bottles in your hands. Make sure bottles are tightly closed to avoid spilling water during exercise.
4. Backpack
Habitual exercises seem easy? Not enough own weight? Use the backpack as an alternative to the usual weight vest. Adjust the load and increase the effectiveness of your home workout by increasing or decreasing the contents of the backpack. Depending on the type of exercise, fasten the backpack on your chest or on your back.
Include squats with a backpack on your back in your training program, they will increase the load on the legs and buttocks. Push-ups with a backpack will make the usual exercise more effective. By placing a backpack on your chest, you can increase the load on the abdominal muscles during abdominal exercises.
5. Feed package
Deadlift, bench press, squat ー exercises that require a barbell. Replacing it at home is difficult, but there is a solution ー try using a large bag of pet food or a bag of grain for training. Pets will be delighted with the owner, who monitors his physical shape!
Examples of exercises with a bag of food:
- bag lifts: hold the bag with both hands, lift and lower it over your head. Perform lifts slowly to increase the load on the muscles of the shoulders and back;
- Slow Bag Squats: Grab a bag of food over your shoulders and do slow squats. This will help increase the load on the legs and buttocks.
This is just a small list of items that will help you do without the traditional sports equipment for gyms. There are alternatives ー books and water bottles can be replaced with a heavy container with washing powder, and plastic plates can be used for gliding. Try, experiment, and everything will turn out!
Even more exercises with dumbbells (or their alternatives!) in our Relief Body (with Dumbbells) program . And you can work on muscle elasticity, flexibility and stretching with the program “Workouts for home with rubber bands” .
Regular workouts for you ー is:
- improving physical fitness, increasing strength, endurance and flexibility. They also help reduce body fat, improve posture, and support cardiovascular health.
- reducing the risk of various diseases such as diabetes, obesity, arterial hypertension and many others. Go in for sports constantly to strengthen the immune system and prevent the development of a number of diseases;
- mood improvement, because physical activity releases endorphins, which help improve mood and reduce stress levels. Regular exercise can also help improve sleep and increase energy levels throughout the day;
- the development of discipline and self-discipline, which can be useful in many other aspects of life.
In general, regular exercise, including exercise at home, has many positive effects on a person’s health and well-being, so it’s important to include it in your daily routine and give it enough time and attention.