Health - Workout

Lazy Girl Bodyweight Exercise Ideas

April 29, 2019 by Mustafa Rangoonwala Leave a Comment

If you feel that you are on the lazier end of the spectrum and want your free time to be watching TV or listening to music at home, that doesn’t mean you have to be completely sedentary. You can do bodyweight workouts while doing these other things, without walking into a gym, and still gain benefits from it.

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Decide What Moves Are Best

It is always good to learn the different bodyweight moves first before you decide how to add them to your routine. There are some you are probably familiar with, like squats and lunges, but others you may not know how to do correctly. Choose moves that are good for your current fitness level. You want to challenge yourself, but not overdo it. If you are a beginner and you choose expert-level moves, you will burnout quickly and lose your motivation.

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Choose the Increments

Once you know what bodyweight moves you want to try out, you will then choose increments. This is when you decide if you want to do a certain move when listening to one song, or if you want to do them during each commercial break while watching TV. If you are streaming video online, you can try them during advertisement breaks, or a slightly longer routine after each episode. You can also choose minute increments, like if you are watching a movie, pause it after every 15-20 minutes to do 10 or 20 reps of one type of bodyweight exercise.

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Try Moves While Doing Other Activities

Even a lazy girl (or boy) can find moves to do while doing other activities at home as well. You can stand up on your tip-toes or squat while brushing your teeth or washing dishes, do lunges every time you walk down the hall to the bathroom, or commit to a wall sit for 30 seconds before every meal you eat. There are many different options for fitting in these exercises in your normal day, whether you are at home, in the office, or spending the day at the park.

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Make it Fun!

There is no reason your workout has to be a bore! Make it fun by turning up your favorite fast-paced song and do some burpees and planks, or try jumping jacks for an entire song. Have fun with it, involve your family or roommates, and don’t treat it like exercise. This is what will keep you motivated.

Easy Moves for Beginners

April 28, 2019 by Mustafa Rangoonwala Leave a Comment

One of the great things about bodyweight exercises is that anyone can do them. No matter what your fitness level, you can try the moves, modify them, then eventually get strong enough to complete them. It is challenging for everyone, but as a beginner, you might want to start with some simple moves. Here are ideal moves to do when you are a beginner to bodyweight fitness.

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Squats

The first move that works great for a beginner is the squat. These are a simple move to master, provide a lot of modifications based on your skill level, and require no jumping or high-intensity moves. All you need to do is stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, then squat down with your buttocks moving behind you, bending your knees, and keeping your back flat. You don’t want to lean forward or backward when performing a squat. The lower you go, the harder it will be, so if you are new to squats, just go down as far as you can. Over time, you will be able to go lower and lower.

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Planks

The next bodyweight exercise to do as a beginner is the plank. There are many varieties of planks that you can learn as you get stronger, but it is good to start with just a basic plank. The standard plank puts you in the position of doing a full push-up, where you are balancing with your back flat, palms on the ground, and toes bending to hold your body up. However, you won’t go down and back up like a push-up. Instead, you just hold this position as long as you can. Try for 10-15 seconds, then work your way up to holding it for about 30 seconds. You can also start with an elbow plank if you find that easier.

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Walking Lunges

Everyone knows how to do a lunge, but the walking lunge takes it one step further. This is great if you are a beginner, since all you need is some space in your home to walk and do lunges at the same time. All you need to do is make sure your body is straight, then step forward with one of your legs, bending both legs as you lunge down. Go down as far as you can, walking as you do the lunge. Each time you walk forward, you will lunge with a different leg out in front of you.

Moves like jumping jacks and wall sits are also great for beginners.

Bodyweight Moves With Jumps

April 27, 2019 by Mustafa Rangoonwala Leave a Comment

As you begin increasing your endurance and get used to the basic bodyweight exercises, you can then increase your workout intensity with jumps. Many bodyweight moves become high-intensity moves, especially those with jumps. Here are some different ones you can try out.

Lateral Jumps

Keep in mind all of these moves use quite a bit of intensity, so feel free to start slow with a small number of reps, then gradually add in more reps and intensity when you build up strength and endurance. This is also perfect for athletes who want to work on lateral power, which is when you need to change directions faster and more efficiently. The lateral jump is done by first standing with your legs apart, at about shoulder-width. Bend down if you need to get power that way, jump up and to one side as high as you can. You will then jump back and do the other side.

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Jump Squats

Next up is a jumping move called the jump squat. This combines the squat, which is excellent for your legs, buttocks, and core, with a high-intensity jump mixed in. You will start with your legs in a squat formation shoulder-width apart. Bend your legs to go down into the squat like you normally would, then when you come up, jump as high as you can. Both feet should be off the ground when jumping. You really have a lot of options for how difficult this is. As you get stronger, you can do lower squats and higher jumps.

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Jump Lunges

You can also turn simple lunges into jump lunges when you start working on your strength and endurance. This is a good way to increase the intensity, adding in some cardio along with the bodyweight strength training. Start by doing a regular lunge with one leg bent in front of you, and the other bent behind you. Lunge down, then when you come up, jump in the air, alternating your legs as you do so.

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Burpees

A common jumping bodyweight exercise is the burpee. You will see these done in fitness classes often, along with HIIT workouts, or any high-intensity bodyweight workout routine. To do a burpee, you start by standing with your feet at the standard shoulder width apart and your arms down. Start to do a squat by pushing your hips back and bending your knees, then go all the way down to put your hands flat on the ground in front of you. Jump your feet and legs back, do a push-up, then go up and repeat it.

Bodyweight Moves for the Upper Body

April 26, 2019 by Mustafa Rangoonwala 3 Comments

As you probably know, bodyweight exercises allow you to workout anywhere and usually with no equipment or weights, toning and strengthening your entire body. For some people, they really want to focus on their upper body, which is where the following moves benefit you the most.

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Pull-Ups and Push-Ups

Two bodyweight exercises that are fantastic for your upper body are the pull-ups and push-ups. If you don’t have a bar at home, you will need to go to a nearby playground or park for the pull-ups, or you can do them in your local gym. However, it is highly recommended to add them to your routine if you are working on your upper body. All you need to do is put your hands on the bar and try to pull yourself up until your chest meets the bar. Don’t worry if you can’t do one – the stronger you get, the easier they become.

At home, you can do push-ups as well. If you know how to do a plank, you know the first move of a push-up. Instead of holding the plank, you will bend your elbows and move your body down to the ground, then lift your body back up into the plank position.

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Star Plank

Are you looking for a harder plank to do? When you feel like you have gotten used to standard and elbow planks, and want to work your arms as well as your core, try a star plank. For this move, you are doing a full plank, but your hands and legs are stretched out with more space in between them, creating a four-pointed star with your body.

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Diamond Push-Up

Another version of the push-up is one where you simply move where your hands are. The benefit of this is that you work different arm and shoulder muscles, further increasing your bodyweight upper body workout. Instead of just putting your hands shoulder width apart, you will touch your hands together in a diamond formation. This really works on your shoulders and arms. Do the push-ups like you normally would. As with pull-ups, don’t worry if you can only do one or two right now. When you get stronger, you will be able to do more of them.

Many bodyweight exercises work your entire body, including your upper body, so mixing up your routine is great for a full-body workout.

At-Home Workouts That Include Body-weight Moves

April 25, 2019 by Mustafa Rangoonwala Leave a Comment

Just because you want to add bodyweight exercises to your fitness routine, doesn’t mean you can’t do your normal workout as well. There are actually many popular at-home workouts that incorporate bodyweight moves. Here are some of the top ones to consider.

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Yoga

The first type of workout that often incorporates bodyweight moves is yoga. There are different forms of yoga, so you probably want to go for the moderate or advanced varieties to really do a lot of bodyweight moves. For example, the downward dog is done in yoga, which can be considered bodyweight. It is similar to a plank, except instead of being flat, your buttocks is up in the air. Many times, downward dogs go down to a full plank, along with many other bodyweight movements.

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Pilates

Pilates is another good workout that doesn’t use weights or equipment, but can be done at home and incorporate a lot of floor moves. This is similar to yoga, but really incorporates more of the core movements. You will learn plenty of difficult bodyweight moves to strengthen your core, improve your flexibility, and work on those abdominal muscles. Mixing it in with other bodyweight moves is a great way to add more to your workout routine.

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High-Intensity Interval Training

Also known as HIIT, High-Intensity Interval Training is an excellent way to get started with bodyweight exercises. This is really going to increase your cardio, endurance, and strength all at the same time. This will use more jumping and high intensity moves of bodyweight, like your jumping jacks, jumps, and burpees, along with many other moves. Another great thing about HIIT is that it is done in less time, so even the busiest person can get a good workout.

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Branded Workouts

There are also some well-known brand workouts you might have heard of that use a lot of bodyweight workouts. For example, if you are familiar with the BeachBody programs, you may have heard of PIYO. This is definitely one of the top workouts that uses only bodyweight movements, working out your entire body. It was created by Chalene Johnson, and will do everything from multiple plank variations, to intense yoga and Pilates-inspired strengthening moves. Crossfit is another type of workout that incorporates bodyweight along with the weight training, but this is usually done in a gym and not suitable for home workouts.

At the end of the day, adding in any sort of bodyweight moves is going to benefit you, whether you are working out at home or in the gym.