Want to Workout at Home?

You may not have a fancy home studio, but that doesn’t mean you can’t work out at home. How do we know? That’s what our entire site is about! Do it yourself at-home fitness. So how on earth do you work out from home? What do you need? Well, thankfully the answer is not much. We’ll show you how to workout at home here:

What You Need to Do a Basic Home Workout

Equipment

Obviously, you’ll need to purchase a few things to have a truly phenomenal at-home workout. While you can do a complete workout with nothing but your own body (we’ll get into that in a minute), it can be beneficial to expand the equipment you have on hand to increase the styles of workouts you can do as well as keep the workouts more interesting. Boring workouts suck.

So the basic equipment we suggest you research and purchase includes:

• Floor mat. These are easy to grab, so don’t over-think it. Choose the color you like, and make sure it’s easy to clean. Yes, they should be cleaned… all that dripping sweat should be purged from these mats from time to time! It also saves from dirty carpets which can be cleaned with Carpet Kings.
• Free weights. Whether you’re just getting started or adding to what you have, buying a set of free weights is key to success. Get some really low weights for smaller joint movements and heavier weights that you’ll hold while challenging your major movers (think leg and back muscles).
• Stability challengers. These are important for proprioception (a fancy way of saying keeping your balance and having a good reaction time) and they make workouts a little more fun. You can grab an exercise ball, wobble board, Bosu ball, etc. Pick anything that you can use safely and confidently and which will be particularly useful for core training or rehab work.
• Jump rope. Everyone who has healthy joints should use the jump rope. Why? It’s an amazing cardio assist and it requires almost no setup time.
• Resistance bands. Yet another handy way to change your workout and challenge your body, resistance bands are perfect for maintaining resistance during a contraction and are so light and versatile you can take them anywhere—just like your jump rope!

There are many other pieces of equipment you can pick up, but these basics will give you enough exercises to do that you should be able to constantly vary what you’re doing! Take a browse through our workouts or pick up some tips from credible sources and start building a plan today!

Space

Sure, it would be great if you had an entire floor to build your studio on. Chances are, you have a corner of the living room or garage… or, worse, you have to unpack your gym whenever you want a workout and pack it back up when you’re done. So on that note, what really matters for space when you’re creating your at-home gym?

You need a space that is twice your body height in both length and width, and ideally with enough ceiling clearance so you can skip rope.

Why? Simple: you have just enough room to do compound or plyometric movements safely. This won’t give you the space to do sprints or overly complex kinetic chain movements, but it’s enough to start with!

Bare floor or carpet? You choose. We still recommend using your mat on the carpet, though, if you’re thinking that may be enough for you. It’s not; carpet is slippery and often uncomfortable when performing a plank. Bare floor is our preference, but it won’t make or break your workout.

Windows and mirrors are important. First, let’s deal with windows: you’ll want a window since natural light is energizing and it also breaks up the artificial feel of the at-home gym environment. Mirrors matter so you can check your form and keep yourself honest about your workout. You’ll need a full-sized mirror to accomplish this, but make do with whatever you have handy!

Ambiance

While this is somewhat a sub-category of space, we’re dealing with it separately because it matters that much. The ambiance is what the area makes you feel. So we have an open, well-lit space to work in already; what about the rest of it?

From noise (music? No music? TV?) to smells, your ambiance matters. For your home workout, you should consider what motivates you. Do you want to watch your favorite TV show while you work out, or do you prefer to focus on some serious beats to motivate you?

Smell… well, none is better than a bad one! But if you have a pleasant-smelling environment to work out in, you’ll find yourself more focused and motivated. Some smells are more energizing than others (citrus, particularly), so play around until you find your mix.

Wrap-Up

You can make a workout-friendly environment literally anywhere! We’re here to help you see the light and to stop making excuses.

Take a look around your home and see what you can accomplish. Remember: it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be a start. You need a space that you can do 30 minutes of activity daily, whether it’s simply performing some light yoga or doing something more dynamic that involves plyometrics.

So are you ready to work out at home? What have you created for your home workout space?