You want to start working out, but you don’t want to leave the house? No problem! In this article we show you the top 10 exercises to get fit at home, with all the pros and cons. We didn’t include exercises that require equipment besides your own furniture, so bye bye pull ups. Make sure to read the article until the end because we included a full body workout routine with these exercises!
What you will learn in this article:
The best exercises for your home workout
Jumping Jacks
Jumping Jacks are a full body movement with a strong focus on coordination and endurance. Depending on your goals and level you can do it as a part of your warm up or in your regular training. There are also different versions to vary the challenge and difficulty of this exercise.
Pike Walks
This exercise is great for working your shoulders and core and also builds the foundation for any upcoming handstand training. To work yourself up start doing them on the ground and place your feet higher when you get comfortable with the movement.
Don’t worry if you can’t open your shoulders completely in the beginning. This will get better over time. If tight hamstrings are a limiting factor for you, it’s also possible to do it with bent knees. It’s also possible to do it with bent knees to focus on your core and shoulders instead of limiting your performance because of tight hamstrings.
Push Ups
The third exercise are Push Ups and of course this is a no brainer. Push Ups belong in every serious bodyweight training program and are crucial to train your chest, shoulders and triceps. There are so many ways and progressions to do them that they are suitable for beginners, intermediates and experts.
Side Plank Raises
This exercise is great to target the often neglected obliques and also use your hip abductors & adductors to support the movement. As a beginner try them on your knees first and progress to the regular version later. You can do this exercise on your forearm or your hand and you can switch the placement of your legs.
Knee Raises
This exercise combines abdominal with support strength work which mostly targets your triceps, shoulders and the lower traps. It’s best done with 2 chairs because it gives you enough space to move your legs up and down. Sure you can also do it on the ground but this requires way more mobility and strength. So if you can’t lift up your body at all, use two books with the same height to slightly increase the distance between your butt and the ground. If you still can’t do it, just push your arms into the ground and do the knee raise without lifting your butt.
Rows
Here you need some kind of furniture. There are many different options and ways to do this exercise, but always make sure to avoid unnecessary risks and put safety first. If you got the right furniture this exercise is a must do because rows are a great if not the most comprehensive back exercise with benefits for your arms as well. If you got no options to do rows you could try rear delt presses on the ground. In case they are too hard you should stick to the next exercise
Swimmers
Swimmers target your back as well with exception of the lats. It’s still a great exercise to not only work your back but also the glutes and hamstrings to some degree. In addition it also has some benefits for your posture by counteracting against the typical hunched over desk position. If you got a desk job or just stare at a monitor all day in general, you could also benefit from this modified swimmer version. Just do it as a short break in between your work to combat your desk job posture.
Reverse Plank Bridge
Similar to swimmers it nearly works your entire posterior chain so the backside of your body. In addition it also improves your shoulder mobility by stretching the pecs, biceps and front delts. If you’re a beginner don’t worry if you can’t raise yourself up to a complete horizontal position. This exercise is still effective with a decreased range of motion and if you’re doing it regularly you will work yourself up step by step.
Squats
Similar to push ups, this is a must do exercise with too many benefits to neglect. Squats are not only working your quads, glutes and hamstrings, but also improve your ankle, hip and spine mobility. If regular squats are too easy just try jumping squats, archer squats or pistols.
Lunges
Similar to squats they hit your quads, hams and glutes. The special thing about lunges is that they are a unilateral movement focusing on one leg at a time. This not only helps you to work against imbalances but also develops coordination and stability. If regular lunges are too easy try jumping lunges, or even bulgarian split squats. Yes, they are called squats, but in fact they are much closer to a lunge movement.
Other good exercises to train at home
Ok now we show you some honorable mentions that are also very good but couldn’t make it in the top 10. Remember, these are absolutely valid exercises and some may even be better when it comes to targeting specific muscles. But for the top 10 we chose the most comprehensive multi joint movements and not isolation exercises in the first place. It’s still a good idea to vary your workouts from time to time. So these will have their place in a long term workout program or if you want to work on specific weak points.
- Glute Bridge
- Plank
- Burpees
- Hollow Body Crunch
- Calf Raises
- High Knee Running
- Chair Dips
Your Home Workout Routine
Now that you know the top 10 exercises to get fit at home, it’s time to build up a sample routine with some of these exercises. For that we show you a free routine of our Home Workout Program. You’ll find the complete overview and a follow along video. Always make sure to adapt the exercise so that you are able to do it for 30 seconds, so it shouldn’t be too hard nor too easy. If you like this routine, you can upgrade to the full version and enjoy a high quality 6-months day by day Home Workout Program.
Watch the video to learn how to do this exercises
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