I know lots of us are now stuck inside doing the social distancing pandemic thing.
For folks new to working out at home, it can be hard to figure out which exercises to do. This is a super quick guide I made. It’s not much, but hopefully it at least gets you started. This way you can get in a push, pull, squat, hip extension, and core at home. I’ll threw this together, but I’ll continue to update it if people find it useful.
Just pick one of the exercises from each category that fits your current ability level and fits in with the sets and reps in your current workout program. I bolded my favorites of each one. I really like the toes down/knees up pushup for folks who don’t have a full pushup yet. And, I really like the partial range of motion chin-ups, band chinups, and combining the two, for folks that don’t have a full chin-up yet.
Push
- Knee pushups
- Toes down/knees up pushups
- Pushups
- Feel elevated pushups
- Band pushups
- Feet elevated + band pushups
- Single leg pushups
- Spiderman pushups
- Archer pushups
Pull
- Suspension trainer rows high angle
- Suspension trainer rows low angle
- Suspension trainer bent knee/directly under rows
- Suspension trainer one arm rows
- A bunch more suspension trainer row variations
- Suspension trainer no feet/knees tucked vertical rows
- Doorway pullup bar band asst. top 1/4 ROM chin-up
- Doorway pullup bar band asst. top 1/2 ROM chin-ups
- Doorway pullup bar band asst. top 3/4 ROM chin-ups
- Doorway pullup bar band assted chin-ups
- Doorway pullup bar lowering-only chin-ups
- Doorway pullup bar top 1/4 ROM chin-ups
- Doorway pullup bar top 1/2 ROM chin-ups
- Doorway pullup bar top 3/4 ROM chin-ups
- Doorway pullup bar chin-ups
*I’m a big fan of the partial range of motion (ROM) chin-ups. For folks who are new to chin ups, band assistance + partial ROM works really well.
Squat
- Squats
- Goblet squats with a backpack full of stuff
- Split-squats
- Reverse lunges
- Reverse lunge with a backpack
- Rear-foot-elevated split-squats
- Rear-foot-elevated split-squats with a backpack
- Single-leg squats standing on a sturdy chair
Hip extension
- Two leg hip bridge
- Single leg hip bridge
- Two leg hip bridge with shoulders on couch
- Single leg hip bridge with shoulders on a couch
- Two leg hip bridge with a couch with a backpack on your hips
- Single leg hip bridge with a couch with a backpack on your hips
Core
- Dead bug with bent knees
- Plank
- Knee side-plank
- Side-plank
- Single-leg plank
- Single-arm shoulder tap planks
- Dead bug with straight legs
- Dead bug holding a backpack behind your head
- Dead bug with straight legs holding a backpack behind your head
- Bear crawl in box shape (forward, to the side, backwards, to the side, repeat)
Equipment
- Recommended suspension trainer: Jungle Gym XT https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004R3VQU4/ . It’s a great suspension trainer, it’s only $99, and the lugs slip over a door in 3 seconds to make it suuuuuper easy to put up and take down at home.
- Recommended band for assisted pull-ups or for harder pushups: https://www.elitefts.com/pro-light-resistance-band.html
- Recommended doorway pullup bar: https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Gym-Total-Upper-Workout/dp/B001EJMS6K/
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