Best Home Workouts For Staying in Shape

It is imperative that a person maintains their fitness levels year-round. Many great exercises can be performed at home, with little or no equipment.

Always remember, just because you might stay away from the gym, does not mean you have to stay away from keeping yourself fit and as healthy as possible.

Exercise along with getting plenty of sleep and eating nutritionally rich foods, combined with appropriate supplementation to bolster your immunity and diet is the best proactive, natural course of action that you can do to improve your chances of achieving your health and fitness goals.

Michie's got a killer core routine for you that can easily be done at home with no equipment!

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To continue your good habits and not fall off the bandwagon, here are a few very effective exercises and workouts that you can do at home:

1. CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISES

JUMP ROPE

• Hold a jump rope comfortably in each hand
• Flick wrists, allowing rope to swing over head
• As rope comes down, jump over rope
• Repeat

Muscles worked: Shoulders, glutes, thighs, calves, hamstrings, core

JUMPING JACKS

• Stand up straight, arms at sides
• Jump legs apart, bring arms overhead and clap together
• Jump legs together and bring arms back to sides
• Repeat

Muscles worked: Shoulders, core, glutes, thighs, calves, hamstrings

BURPEES

• Jump straight up, arms extended to the sky
• Come down and immediately go into push-up position
• Without pausing, return your feet under you and go into crouch position
• Jump straight up, arms extended
• Repeat

Muscles worked: Chest, back, core, shoulders, triceps, biceps, thighs, glutes, hamstrings, calves

SQUAT JUMPS

• Stand with feet slightly wider than hip width apart
• Inhale and squat down by pushing your hips back while keeping your core tight bringing your arms in front of you for balance if needed
• Exhale and explode upward towards the ceiling by squeezing your glutes and pressing through the floor, allowing your arms to come to your sides as you jump

Muscles worked: Thighs, glutes, hamstrings, core, calves


HIGH KNEES

• Stand up straight
• Bring your left knee up as high as you can towards your chest
• Swing your right arm forward as if running
• Quickly lower both and immediately raise right knee up towards chest
• Swing left arm forward as if running
• Lower and repeat quickly as if sprinting in place

Muscles worked: Thighs, hamstrings, glutes, calves, core

2. STRENGTHENING AND TONING EXERCISES

PUSH-UPS

• Lay face down on floor or mat
• With arms at sides, place palms on floor
• Extend arms and keep core tight, lifting body parallel to floor, not allowing your lower back to sink down
• Lower at a controlled speed to starting position
• Repeat

Muscles worked: Chest, back, triceps, biceps, core

PLANKS

• Place forearms on floor or mat
• Keep core tight and raise torso and body off ground without letting your lower back sink to the floor
• Keeping back horizontal, hold position

Muscles worked: Core, thighs, shoulders


PLANKS TO PUSH-UPS

• Begin in push-up position with arms extended
• Lower body down onto right forearm
• Lower body onto left forearm to full plank position
• Straighten right arm to extended push-up position starting position
• Straighten left arm to full starting push-up starting position
• Repeat

Muscles worked: core, chest, back, chest, biceps, triceps

SQUATS (WITH OR WITHOUT DUMBBELLS)

• Stand with feet slightly wider than hip width apart
• Hold the dumbbells by your sides with your shoulders down and back and with a neutral grip (palms facing towards each other). Otherwise, keep your hands by your side as if you were standing
• Inhale and squat down by pushing your hips back while keeping your core tight until your thighs become parallel to the floor
• As you reach the bottom of the squat, if you have dumbbells - leave your arms by your sides, otherwise bring your arms out in front of you for balance
• Exhale and squeeze your glutes and press through the floor to bring you back to upright starting position

Muscles worked: Thighs, glutes, hamstrings, calves, core



LUNGES

• Stand with feet slightly wider than hip width apart
• Place hands on hips
• Take one step forward with the right leg
• Keeping back straight, slowly bend rear (left leg) until your knee is parallel to the floor
• At same time, bend your front right leg while not letting your right knee go to far over your toes
• Squeeze your glutes and press against the floor to slowly raise yourself to starting position
• Step forward with left leg and repeat

Muscles worked: Thighs, glutes, hamstrings, core, calves

BRIDGE EXERCISE

• Lay on your back with your feet planted onto the ground
• Keep arms at your sides for stability
• Raise your hips toward the ceiling by pushing your feet into the floor and lower
• Repeat

Muscles worked: Glutes, core, lower back, hamstrings

INDOOR EXERCISE PROGRAM

Here are two short, but effective at home workouts

WORKOUT # 1

• 50 jumping jacks
• 10 plank to push-ups
• 25 jumping jacks
• 15 squats
• 20 high knees
• 25 jumping jacks
• 20 bridge exercises
• Repeat for 2-3 sets

Note: Rest 30 seconds between each exercise, 2-3 minutes between each set

WORKOUT #2

• Jump rope for 2 minutes
• 20 push-ups
• 10 lunges
• 20 squat jumps
• 10 burpees
• 20 bridge exercises
• Repeat for 2-3 sets

Due to circumstances beyond our control, access to a gym may be limited or time may be a hindrance in our busy lives.

However, it is still very important and very much possible to be a little creative and still stay fit and healthy. With the above exercises and workouts, there is no reason to get complacent and not too achieve your fitness goals!