4 Things You Need To Ensure A Powerful Home Workout
The biggest barrier I hear from people that is keeping them from their fitness goals is time. No one has any time anymore. No time for the gym, no time to cook healthy meals, no time for a personal trainer, no time at all.
I call bullshit on it every time, maybe not with the actual word ‘bullshit’, but I challenge people on this notion frequently because the truth is we all have time for the things we make time for. These people just don’t make time for the gym.
However, there are also times where you may have scheduled a gym day and all of a sudden life happens and more pressing issues arise. Perhaps we have 30 minutes for a quick workout, but we can’t spare the 30+ minutes of travel time to and from the gym. This is why in-home workout videos have been met with enormous excitement on social media outlets like Facebook and Instagram.
These videos typically require that you have some equipment at home in order to do them, but with all the videos and all the workouts, how can you ever be sure you have enough? What equipment will bring you the most return on your investment? What won’t waste your time or money?
Below I’m going to give you 4 pieces of workout equipment that will be staples in your in-home workout. Each one of these items can be used to work most muscles, in tight/small spaces making them perfect for any room in your house, and are commonly used in the industry making it easy to find workouts that use them.
Resistance Bands/Tubes
Resistance bands and tubes are truly a jack of all trades. Lightweight, portable, and affordable, resistance bands and tubes can replicate the same movements used with dumbbells, like curls and chest presses, and provide a resistance dynamic that free weights cannot — linear variable resistance (LVR)
LVR simply means that the resistance in an exercise increases as the range of motion does. For example, during a bicep curl the resistance at the bottom of the movement is very low. As you begin to curl, the band stretches and tension within the band increases. The further the band is stretched the more the tension increases and the more force your muscles need to generate if the band is to stretch any more.
You can apply this principle in any exercise as a way to increase or decrease the resistance. For example, in movements like a chest press where the band is wrapped a role a pole. Taking a step further out increases the potential resistance in the band, making the move more difficult, while taking a step back makes it easier.
Bands/Tubes are also friendlier on the joints. Free weights rely on gravity to provide a vertical resistance against the weights you’re moving. Gravity forces the weight down as you’re pushing/pulling up. Bands/Tubes can work in the horizontal plane which reduces joint compression.
Don’t limit yourself to counting reps either. Instead, use long durations or quick, shorter reps to challenge your muscular endurance and really get the blood flowing!
Resistance bands and tubes can run from $5 to $30. The variety of exercises they offer, portability, and ease of use is what makes them so popular and a must have for your home.
Glider Discs
Gliding discs provide a way to turn basic strength movements into dynamic ones that challenge stability and strength simultaneously. Add a slide to your lunge, your squat, even your planks!
I personally prefer the ones picture above made by Gliding Discs but there are other that come in different shapes, sizes, colors, and even padding on the top. These will run you $5–$25.
Medicine Balls
Medicine balls are often used in ab moves like crunches, Russian twists, and V-ups, but they offer so much more in the way of stabilization and balance. You can use them in planks by placing your hands on top providing an extra element of core and shoulder stabilization. You can use them in balance movements like balancing on one leg and pressing the ball outward to challenge your balance even more. You can use them in squats, lunges, catch and toss with a partner, the sky is the limit.
Medicine ball prices vary by weight. Amazon offers a variety of medicine balls for all fitness levels.
Stability Balls
Swiss balls, stability balls, exercise balls, whatever you want to call them. They deserve a spot in your home because they engage the core by forcing both your abdominal muscles and your lower back to stabilize in order to hold position on the ball. You can manipulate how hard or easy this is to do by changing the way you position yourself on the ball as well as you foot position on the ground.
In the example above, her lower back is the primary target in the movement, however, her abdominals are hard at work making sure she doesn’t roll. She can make this easier by widening her base of support (her legs) or make it harder by bringing them closer together. The same principle can be applied in a crunch.
Stability balls can also be used to add a core stability element where there normally isn’t one such as in a seated overhead dumbbell press or dumbbell bicep curl.
In the end, stability balls are manipulators. They manipulate exercises you’re already doing and may be very advanced in, by adding core stability elements that weren’t there before making them much, much more difficult to perform.
Stability balls are also relatively cheap. Amazon offers one for $10.
Summary
For a grand total of about $50, you can ensure you have a backup plan when life puts a hold on your gym plans. Resistance bands offer the ability to challenge your muscles in multiple planes, build muscular strength and endurance, and target all the major muscle groups so you can get a full body workout without the gym. Gliding discs add dynamic movement and even cardio in static (stand still) exercies. Medicine balls provide an external load to apply to movements like bodyweight squats, lunges, and a multitude of abdominal moves as well as a way to challenge balance and stability. Finally, stability balls provide a new variable to manipulate common moves like planks, bicep curls, chest presses, lunges, and more by increasing the demands on core stability.
Together, these four pieces of equipment guarantee that your fitness goals stay on track even when life goes off course.
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About The Author: I’m Zach Newman. I’m an ACE Certified Personal Trainer. Conversation is insanely important to me. Its why I love creating things because creation sparks discussion and discussion is the best way to learn from each other. Whether its about fitness and health, what books to read, or what’s going on in the world today, my goal is to build the best community around conversations that better the lives of everyone involved.
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