6 Workouts You Can Do At Home

What do you think the most popular excuse is that personal trainers hear?

If you guessed, ‘I don’t have time,’ you’d be right!

If getting yourself to the gym several times per week is your biggest challenge, then we have the solution for you. We’re bringing the gym to you with our 6 most effective workouts you can do at home.

Looking for an easy way to get started working out?
Grab our FREE Beginners Workout Guide - 3 Weeks To Tighter Abs, Sculpted Arms, And Toned Legs, by clicking here!

You can save money on a gym membership and save time on the commute. We dare you to use lack of time as an excuse now!

Here are our top 6 home workouts just for you.

1) The Plank

The plank might look like an easy, basic ab exercise. But looks are deceiving; done correctly, the plank will challenge your entire core and have you all sweaty and shaky in seconds.

As with all body weight exercises, you can modify the intensity as you progress.

How to do it

Place your elbows underneath your shoulders, and your feet together. Now lift and hold your body weight, aiming for a straight line from head-to-toe.

For the plank, you can walk your elbows further forward to create a more challenging workout. Or you can drop to your knees for a beginner version.

Be sure to brace your abs, glutes, thighs and shoulders the entire time.

The added benefit of the plank over a crunch or sit up is that there is no spinal flexion. For many gym-goers, the spinal flexion that occurs during most abdominal exercises can cause some neck and lumbar pain.

The plank forces your body into proper alignment, and can do wonders for your posture and to eliminate back pain.

What to aim for

Attempt 1-3 sets, and ensure correct breathing the entire time. Aim to increase your time each week. Beginners aim for 3 x 20 seconds. Advanced aim for 3 x 1-2 minutes.

Tip: For an even greater ab contraction, attempt to brace your elbows towards your toes, and your toes toward your elbows.

2) The Body Weight Blitz

This is a great cardio and strength workout that can benefit anybody.

How to do it

Perform 10 repetitions of each exercise, then 8, then 6, then 4, and finally 2 repetitions.

• Alternate forward lunge
• Pushups, with a 2-second pause at the bottom
• Prisoner squats
• Plank, 25-55 seconds
• Tricep couch dips

What to aim for

Beginners, perform just one circuit. And start slow; this is tougher than it looks! Advanced exercisers can perform a total of 2-3 circuits and record your total time. Aim to knock off a few seconds every time.

3) The 3:00 Endurance Challenge

Often times, the most simple workouts are the best. The following three exercises are considered the “basics” of bodyweight exercises – the squat, pushup and burpee.

These three exercises are used everywhere from primary schools to the elite military. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be effective or even fun.

Master these three, and you will turn your body into a more efficient machine and you will be guaranteed to turn heads.

How to do it

Perform as many reps as you can for the squat in just 3-minutes. Rest for 90 seconds, and then move on to the next exercise. Perform every exercise for 3-minutes, and record the total number of correct reps you can complete.

Ensure you are focusing on technique as well as volume.

What to aim for

Here are some targets for each exercise. Try repeating this once per month and try to join the Bodyweight Elite!

Exercise Weekend Warrior Pro Bodyweight Elite

Squat 50 90 120+

Pushup 25 50 90+

Burpee 20 40 50+

4) Single Leg Deadlifts

The posterior chain – the muscles than run down the lower back and along the rear of each leg – are vitally important.

Without focusing on this area, the hamstrings, calves and lower back are much more susceptible to injury. Due to today’s mostly sedentary lifestyle, which includes a lot of sitting, these muscles are weak and tight in the majority of people.

How to do it

Take the weight in your right leg. With your feet shoulder-width apart, slightly bend your knees, picking up the left leg behind you. Try to keep it off the floor for the entire duration of the set. Make sure to keep the knee slightly bent and push your hips backwards.

Whilst looking up, shoulders back and lower back arched. Complete all prescribed reps and then switch to the other leg.

If you find body weight too simple, add some more weight. You can also use a barbell, one dumbbell, or two dumbbells at once. When using a single dumbbell, hold it in the opposite hand of the leg that is working. Attempt to reach down and touch the dumbbell to the foot. You will raise the back leg to help counterbalance.

This exercise also requires more balance.

What to aim for

Beginner’s aim for 2 sets of 2-5 reps per leg. Advanced aim for 3 sets of 10-20 reps per leg.

5) Home Cardio Workouts

There are very few people who do any hard cardio workouts at home.

Want to know why? It’s hard!

Cardio is not as glamorous as a big bench press, deadlifting your body weight or even doing bicep curls in front of the mirror.

(You don’t do that, it’s only me? OK, moving right along…)

However cardio workouts (such as the one below) will kick your butt, humble you, and accelerate fat loss.

You don’t even need a lot of space – these can be done in your driveway or garage, even your living room.

There’s nothing like high intensity cardio to get your sweat on.

How to do it

You can choose one of the following exercises:

• Jump rope
• Shuttle runs in your living room / driveway
• Burpees
• Stationary bike or treadmill
• Jogging on the spot
• Shadow boxing, or boxing on an at-home bag

What to aim for

For 20-30 seconds, perform as many reps as you can of the exercise. This is where you want to push yourself just above your comfort zone.

Then rest for 30-40 seconds. That’s one round. Repeat for 10-15 minutes, ensuring you have had a sufficient warm up before you start.

Your goal is to perform as many reps as you can each interval. Try to be consistent with each rep (Start slowly if you need)

6) The Pull-Up

The pull-up. There is no greater test to your body weight strength than these! And you can now do them in your own home.

The pull-up has humbled many a gym goer before. However by following this 3-step guide, you can be performing home pull-ups before you know it.

How to do it

Step 1) Lighten the load

Every extra pound of fat you’re carrying makes this a much harder exercise. So keep at your Paleo diet (Like Zach did here) and you’re pull-ups will be much easier.

Step 2) Strengthen 

The pull-up is a test of your entire upper body, however the main muscles are your upper back. Start to strengthen them by performing bent-over rows with whatever you have around the home – bricks, heavy books, even your toddler! Aim for 2-3 sets of 10 reps, several times per week.

Step 3) Work the negative

The negative component (the lowering portion of the pull-up) can be performed until you are strong enough to lift your body weight.

First, use a door-attached pull-up bar, a tree branch, or a beam in your garage.

Slide a box underneath the bar, to make it easier to get to the top. With an overhand grip, grab on tight, and jump to the top.

Control your bodyweight to the very bottom, aiming for 1-4 seconds on the way down. Ensure you lower your body until it is all the way to the bottom. That’s one rep.

Start with 3 sets of 1-2 reps, and build it up from there.

Step 4) Now you’re ready!

After several weeks of negative-only pull-ups, you’re ready to begin. Start small – with sets of 1-2 reps, or until you are ready for more.

Losing fat and boosting your fitness shouldn’t be confined to gyms. Try these 6 workouts in the comfort of your home today!

If you enjoyed these workouts, and want more awesome fat loss workouts that you can do with no equipment in less than 30 minutes per workout – check out Craig Ballantynes Home Workout Revolution here. You can still grab it at a discount for a limited time. [author_bio name=”yes” avatar=”yes”]