Let’s say your baby is a year old and now you want to get started on that fitness program you’ve been postponing. Did you know you can smash your fitness goals without leaving your house? This is possible whether you are a beginner or someone who has been working out. You can increase your strength and endurance without leaving your house. If you feel that the gym is too crowded or too far away from your access, don’t worry. There is an escape route for you.
You can wake up and do some simple workouts at home and still get those fitness benefits. Before going along with your busy day, how about you set aside 30 minutes of exercise, especially while the baby sleeps.
1. Lunges
The lunge is a very common exercise. This exercise works on your leg muscles, i.e. quadrilaterals (top of the thigh), glutes (butt), calves and not forgetting the abdominal area. It is a great exercise for toning and strengthening your legs. Therefore, making your daily chores easier to execute.
How to.
- Stand up tall
- Step forward with one foot until your leg reaches a 90degrees
- Your rear knee should be parallel to the ground
- Your front knee should not go beyond your toes
- Lift your front lunging leg back to the starting position
- Repeat with the other leg
Start by doing 10-15 reps.
If you want to make it more challenging, this can be done with any weights including dumbbells, kettlebells or even water bottles filled with sand/water.
2. Knee push-ups
Another one of the popular exercises especially among men. Ladies also need to do this exercise to strengthen their chest and arm muscles. So as to make you stronger to lift your baby or even lift other things around the house. The push up primarily works on the pectoral muscles(chest), triceps and forearms. In conjunction with these the deltoids also play a big role in doing the push up.
How to.
- Lie down on your chest and belly
- Arms bent at the elbow and palms flat on the floor alongside your chest
- The closer the hands, the harder the triceps work
- Elbow should be facing backwards towards your knees not outwards
- Lift your body by pushing away from the floor until your hands are extended below you
- Keep your knees on the floor
- Ensure your shoulders and hip joints are aligned
- Lower yourself back down
Start by doing 10-15 reps
If you want to add a challenge you can do a full push up where your knees don’t stay on the floor. In addition, you can elevate your legs or your hands.
3. Squats
This ought to be one of the exercises in your workout plan. Squats is a compound workout, meaning the movement works multiple joints and groups of muscles.
This exercise if performed in the right form, strengthens the quads, hamstrings, glutes and abdominal areas. Additionally, squats help with increasing size of these muscles. You just keep winning with squats!
All these muscles are involved in our daily movements and strengthening them helps us avoid injury.
How to.
- Stand tall with legs shoulder width apart
- Look straight ahead
- Lower you butt backwards as if trying to sit
- On descent the hip and knee joints flex while the ankle dorsiflexes
- Keep your back straight not hunched
- Keep Your knees in line with your toes, don’t let your knees go beyond your toes
- Coming up push on your heels
- The hip and knee joint extend while the ankle plantarflexes
This exercise can be modified in so many ways such as adding dumbbells for a front squat, a barbell for back squats. in addition, kettlebells would come in handy for a summo squat.
4. Superman’s
This bodyweight exercise activates the core and posterior chain muscles (glutes, erector spinae, hamstrings). Adding this exercise to your workout plan leads toa developed isometric core strength. This is key to every movements and exercise. This exercise well you get better at squats, deadlifts, swimming and running.
How to.
- Lie face down
- Extend you hands in front of you as if reaching for something
- Lift you’re your arms, legs, and upper back and head off the floor
- Do not bend your knees
- Your body should resemble the letter ‘U’
- Squeeze your glutes, back and abdominals
- Do not move too fast
- Exhale as you lower back down
Start by doing 10-15 reps.
5. Triceps extensions
This is a strength exercise that stimulates all the muscles in the triceps group. This group of muscles is located in your upper arm. It is considered an isolation exercise as it uses one joint (elbow) and one group of muscles.
The triceps extension is beneficial for growth and strengthening of the triceps. Moreover, it can be used while in rehabilitation as it does not put pressure on the wrists.
How to.
- Lie on your back with feet on the ground
- Hold your dumbbells above your head with palms facing inwards
- Bend your arms at the elbow bringing the dumbbells to ear level
- Do not let the elbow sway outwards
- Press back to starting position
- Squeeze your triceps at the top
Start by doing 15 reps for each arm.
Alternatively, you can use water bottles if you do not have any dumbbells.
Check out my Instagram for more home workouts@Mueni-kimani
