How to Exercise At Home (Plus Equipment-Free Workout!)

You don’t need an expensive gym membership to get fit! Find out how to exercise at home with these easy equipment-free tips.

With so many people be becoming more cost-conscience and gym prices on the rise, working out at home has become a much more popular choice. Here you will find out how to to exercise at home with things you probably already have as well as how to build a home gym perfect for your workout needs.

Use What You Have

Get started on your home workouts with things that you most likely already have at home. Get creative, you’ll be able to do tons of exercises with things you already have.

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• • A Chair – A plain wooden chair may be one of the greatest pieces of home gym equipment you could get. You can perform step ups, push ups, tricep dips, bulgarian split squats, single leg squats, and decline push ups. You could even put a broom between two secure chairs and do inverted rows. The possibilities are endless. Plus, everyone has a chair at home – or even in a hotel room!

• • Stairs – If you’ve never run up stairs before as your cardio, you are seriously missing out! Climbing stairs is one of the best ways to get your heart rate up as well as strengthen and tone your legs and glutes. You can run them, do uneven squats on them (with one leg a step higher than the other), calf raises or stretches, decline push ups (start at the lowest and work your way up), in fact you could even do an entire full body stair workout!

• • Bodyweight – Using your own weight can give you a challenging workout that will also strengthen stabilizing muscles that you may miss when working with heavy equipment. Bodyweight workouts can also raise your heart rate more than weight machines would.

• • A Backpack Filled with Books – Think of it as sort of a weighted vest. Fill up your backpack with some heavy textbooks you may have laying around and get to work with all variations of squats, lunges, and just about anything else you can think of.

• • A Wall – Wall squats are great at increasing leg strength and stability. They help correct muscle imbalances and posture. You can also use your wall to make some basic exercises more challenging, like reverse mountain climbers or planks (with your feet on the wall). Walls also are great for stretching. Find a corner to stretch out tight chest or shoulder muscles, or even your hamstrings. And let’s not forget to cool off with a great inversion pose: legs up the wall! Try this 10-minute HIIT wall workout to get started.

• • Old Kitchen Towels or Paper Plates – Using old towels (or paper plates if you’re on carpet) is a fun way to strengthen and tone your body. There are so many core and ab exercises you can do with a towel, too. Check out this full body towel workout to see how.

Invest in Small Equipment

You don’t need to buy a treadmill or exercise bicycle to get in a good workout at home. There are plenty of small, less expensive options if you’d like to build your own home gym.

• • Dumbbells – These great functional pieces of equipment are a workout favorite. You can recreate every single natural movement using dumbbells. The only downside of using them in a home gym is that you will probably want more than one set, which may take up a bit of space. Tip: One of the best places to store them is under your bed.

• • Resistance Tubes – Resistance tubes may be a better option for you than dumbbells because of how little space they take up. You could get a whole array of different resistances to do all sorts of exercises. You can even tie them around a pole or a secure railing to create exercises similar to those done on a cable machine.

• • Kettlebells – Kettlebells may have been around for over 300 years now, and that’s because they are a versatile piece of equipment. There are limitless amounts of exercises that can be done with kettlebells. They are also quite compact in size, while still being relatively heavy. Another great benefits of working with kettlebells is that they get your heart rate going. A two-for-one strength and cardio workout!

• • TRX Suspension Trainer – The TRX is the ultimate piece of home gym equipment. And at $200, it is affordable in comparison to all that it can do. Check out these two TRX workouts to get started!

• • Pull Up Bar – There are few exercises better than the pull up for back strength. You can buy relatively inexpensive pull up bars that can be positioned in a doorway, and some even have multiple grips for the best bang for your buck. If you’re new to this move, don’t be intimidated — try this How to Do a Pull Up Workout to train all the right muscle groups.

• • Stability Ball – Stability balls are excellent for core strength. This piece of equipment is easy to use for an at-home workout or even when catching up on the news or your favorite television show.

Equipment-Free Workout

Do this equipment-free workout to get your heart rate up and boost your metabolism. Plus, you’ll strengthen your arms, abs, and legs, too! It’s a full body workout that does it all.

The truth is that you don’t need to spend a whole lot of money on an expensive gym membership or equipment. All you need is a small area of your house or apartment to get stay fit and healthy.

Burpees | 10 reps

1. Start standing with feet together.
2. Lower into a deep squat position to bring your hands down to the floor.
3. Jump your legs backwards into a full plank position on your hands.
4. Jump your feet back into your low squat position and jump up reaching your hands overhead. (For a modification, take out the jump and just stand up.)
5. Complete 10-15 burpees.

Lunge with Knee Up | 15 reps per side

1. Stand with your feet together and your hands on your hips or by your sides.
2. Step your RIGHT foot back into a rear lunge, keeping your weight in your front LEFT heel.
3. Drive through your left heel to stand and bring your RIGHT knee up in front to balance for a second.
4. Step the foot all the way back into the lunge.
5. Complete 15-20 repetitions, then switch sides.

Push Ups | 15 reps

1. Start in a plank position on your hands and toes (or down on your knees to modify).
2. Lower down to the ground, keeping your chest over your hands.
3. Hover as low as you can for a moment, then press back up to the starting position.
4. Complete 15-20 reps.

Mountain Climbers | 30 seconds

1. Start in a plank position on your hands.
2. Keeping your abs engaged and your shoulders directly over your hands, drive your RIGHT knee in towards your chest, using your abs to pull it in.
3. Quickly reach that leg back and drive your LEFT knee in towards your chest.
4. Go as quickly as you can while maintaining abdominal strength.
5. Complete for 30 seconds to one minute.

Modified Single Leg Squats | 15 reps per side

1. Sit at the very edge of a chair with your hands on your hips and your RIGHT foot off the ground.
2. Using your LEFT leg, drive your weight into your heel and press yourself up to standing.
3. With control, lower back to the chair, trying not to put your full body weight in the chair and repeat.
4. Complete 15 repetitions on each leg.

Tricep Dips | 15 reps

1. Sit on the edge of the chair or table and place your hands on the edge so that your fingers are hanging off, facing towards you.
2. Lift your hips of just in front of the chair, with your shoulders over your wrists.
3. Bend your elbows and lower down, making sure to keep your elbows pressing back and your chest lifted (don’t “sink” into your shoulders).
4. Press back up using the backs of your arms.
5. Complete 15 repetitions.

(Your Next Workout: Easy + Gentle Home Barre Workout)