Transformational YouTube Home Workouts For The Busy and Shy Exercisers
Are you the type who wakes up in the morning and thinks to yourself — Man, I really don’t feel like moving today…
If the very idea of having to put on your skin-tight and ‘belly fat hugging’ sports attire feels like one heck of a chore — then you and I are on the same boat.
There are a few reasons why exercising feels like a chore sometimes:
✔ First, you’re not as athletic. So you’ll most likely lose your breath within an eight-minute run. Then, you start breathing heavily, and your loud ‘Bigfoot’ steps become the talk of the town for the next few days.
(No, this definitely did not happen to me).
✔ Next, you’re not a morning person…or an evening person. The typical workout hours are before you go about your day or when you’re done with your day job.
But the thing is, you might find it difficult to wake up earlier because you’re tired from slaving away during yesterday’s work.
Or your job and traffic peak hours have sucked every bit of soul left in you, that all you want to do after is collapse on your bed.
✔ Lastly, you’re an introverted exerciser — too shy to be seen by regular gym-goers and high stamina joggers. It’s mainly because you’re afraid of being silently judged, which in reality, isn’t the case most of the time.
But you know what? No matter what monster or dark magic is stopping you from doing a brief workout, you should get a healthy rise in heart rate and break some sweat.
The World Health Organization (WHO) advised exercising moderately every day at a minimum of 21 to 43 minutes daily. But working out every single day can be a bit too much, don’t you think? Even if it’s just 20 to 40 minutes.
I went through a non-stop daily workout routine phase during the global lockdown in 2020. It felt great initially. But like all overly-done activities, I ended up having a ‘workout burnout’.
Sounds ridiculous, isn’t it? But it happens!
Same as feeling burned out by a draining job, fitness burnouts affect us mentally and physically due to over-exercising and under-recovery.
So instead of working out daily, you can engage in a 30-minute moderate activity five days each week or 20 minutes of intense exercise three days per week.
Why You Should Workout Often
It’s no mystery why we should exercise. Families, friends, and media have told us our whole lives that it is ultimately to achieve — better health! But let’s be a little more precise to paint a better picture.
1. Improve Healthy Mental Wellness
According to Harvard, a daily 15 minute run or an hour walk a day decreases the risk of severe depression. This is because exercising activates significant parts of our brain and releases hormones and neurotransmitters linked with improved mood.
2. Improve Bones and Muscle Strength
Low impact workouts like walking or climbing stairs can improve bone strength and slow down bone loss. Also, strength exercises such as squats and lunges build muscle endurance because your muscles work harder than usual.
3. Improves Thinking and Memory
A study shows that sweating and increased heart rate from regular aerobic workouts improve the brain region, which involves verbal memory and learning.
4. Better Sleep
Research shows that aerobic physical exercises boost sleep quality. In other words, when you’re physically tired, you spend less time being awake at night.
6 Must-Try YouTube Home Workouts
Now, keep in mind — these workouts aren’t meant for weight loss. They are intended to fit in your busy schedule or if you feel uncomfortable working out in public. However, you can lose weight with a clean diet and any combination of these exercises.
1. 20 Min Fat Burning Home Workout For Beginners
This beginner home workout is by growwithjo. It’s a low-impact 20 minutes exercise that will make you sweat! So it’s perfect as your light daily workout routine to break some sweat without breaking your spirit …or worse — some bones.
Jo’s workouts are always fun and groovy. I’m saying this because her vibe and routines feel more like dancing to great music. So it doesn’t feel like a chore to exercise.
2. 15 Min Full Body Standing Cardio Workout for Fat Loss
This leg muscle strengthening cardio workout is by Lena Snow. Let’s say you haven’t been doing many high-intensity physical activities lately. In that case, this routine may do a number, especially on your lower body for the first few days.
Lena loves her lunges! And she’ll include different variations of them in her standing workouts. So get ready to feel your thighs burn! But from my experience, they really work in building muscle strength.
3. 10 Min Standing Abs Workout
This standing abs workout is by Chloe Ting. She is well-known for her workout challenges and programs to get fit and sculpted.
I used to do core strength workouts on my Yoga mat. But as time goes by, I find it quite hard to commit as I quickly feel tired when lying down. So I switched to this routine instead, as standing exercises work better on lazy-me.
Since it’s just a 10-minute session, it’s best to add one of the 15 minutes exercise routines I include in this post.
4. Do This Morning Workout Everyday... If you want to
That’s literally the title of the video. Another fantastic workout routine by Chloe Ting. It’s only 15 minutes, so you can include her standing abs workout either before or after. It’s a lot of strength training like crunches, planking, and squats.
Not gonna lie, but I find this to be the hardest to commit among all six. And yes, you guess it — because I have to lay down!
Nonetheless, I find it great, especially for your core muscles.
5. 30 Min Cardio Workout at Home to Burn Fat & Lose Weight
This thigh muscle-tearing workout is by Lena Snow. No worries, when I say muscle-tearing, I don’t mean actual injury. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have added it here. But just be prepared for the burning sensation you’ll feel for the next few days after your first try.
This routine is quite intense, but it starts pretty easy then gradually builds up to more physically demanding moves.
Like her 15 minutes full-body standing cardio workout, it wouldn’t be a Lena Snow routine without various lunges. She loves it so much as it tones the legs really well.
And you know what?
She’s not wrong…
So even when I hated the fact I had to do these lunges, the result shows. But again, it’s not an overnight change. It all depends on your healthy diet and how committed you are.
6. 3 Mile Walk Morning Cardio Abs Workout at Home
Now, if you’d like to up your workout game a bit, then this growwithjo 3-mile walk home exercise is worth trying.
This is another fun workout, but it’s slightly more intense than the routine I mentioned in the beginning. The exercise spans a little over 40 minutes, so you’ll definitely drench in sweat. But time flies quite fast with Jo’s vibrancy and motivating beats! 💃🏼🕺🏼
Just bear in mind that you’ll definitely feel some discomfort for the next couple of days, like all other new workout routines. But if you want to do extended exercises without dreading when it’ll be over, then it’s worth the shot.
Final Thoughts
I get how difficult it is sometimes to squeeze in working out in your daily schedule. We‘re most likely to omit exercising to put other stuff first. It’s always a challenge to have a well-balanced everyday life.
Even as I’m typing right now, I’m contemplating whether or not I should do an evening workout after this. The three pieces of Lindor chocolate I ate earlier today are really guilting me for skipping my morning workout!
So, let us do this instead. Let’s at least do the 10 or 15 minutes workout I listed — on days we find moving our bodies overwhelming. That way, at least we’re able to get our heart rate up a bit and break some sweat.
So what do you say? Are you up for it? Or maybe you prefer other ways to exercise despite your packed schedule and introversion. 🤔
