The Best Home Workout Routines

You might be thinking of working out, but you don’t feel like you want to leave the house. The weather might be poor, or you just might not be confident going out in public. I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder myself & I really struggle more later on in the year.

Regardless of your reason for not wanting to leave your house, this isn’t an issue. Take comfort in the fact that around 15% of people decide to work out at home, instead of going out onto the streets.

Let’s go through some of the best home workouts that you can use to start training today. Remember, this is designed with No Gym & No Equipment required, whatsoever.

• Home Workout Plan 1: Beginner Bodyweight
• Home Workout #2: High-Intensity Interval Training
• Home Workout #3: The Angry Birds
• Home Workout #4: The Batman
• Home Workout #5: PLP Progression
• Home Workout #6: The Star Wars Workout

Warm-ups and Stretching Routines at Home

It doesn’t matter if you’re planning to run half a mile, or you’re doing a full home workout, you need to warm up!

You don’t need to do anything too crazy, but a few basic movements to activate your muscles, increase your heart rate & slowly ease you in, ready to exercise.

A warm-up is designed to help you increase your flexibility, in addition to preventing injury. It’s super-easy to warm up from home, as you can do some of the following:

• Shadow Boxing
• Burpees
• Jumping Jacks
• Dancing

I’ve developed my own personal routine for warming up over the years, which can be completed in just 5-10 minutes. It’s important to keep these short & effective, but not too intense that you run out of steam on the warm-up!

My Warm-up:

• Standing Twists – 20 reps
• Lunges – 10 reps per leg
• Push-Ups – 10 reps
• Skipping Rope – 90 seconds
• Shadow Boxing – 90 seconds
• Shadow Evasion* – 90 Seconds
• Squats – 10 reps
• Burpees – 10 reps
• Plank – 30 seconds

This is quite an intensive list of workouts, which I have worked to over a period of 3-4 years. If you want to follow this, but get a little tired, try cutting down the numbers.

Remember, you don’t want to be tired at this point, you should be adequately warmed up and ready to smash your session.

Home Workout #1: Beginner Bodyweight

This workout is going to be your ‘welcome’ to the world of home fitness. It’s a full-body circuit workout, which is designed to be completed 3-4 times in a row. It’s as follows:

• Pushups – 15 reps
• Plank – 15 seconds
• High Knees – 30 seconds
• Squats – 25 reps
• Burpees – 15 reps
• Shoulder Press (Using heavy books, or a gallon water jug) – 15 reps

You’ll have to tinker for the shoulder press, but you’ll soon come to realize that there’s plenty of things you can use for a makeshift home gym workout.

Once you can do this with ease, it’s time to move on to the next workout, where we will up the ante with the number of workouts, as well as the intensity of them. It looks like this:

• Mountain Climbers – 45 seconds
• Bodyweight Squats – 20 reps
• Dips (in between chairs) – 10 reps
• Push-ups – 15 reps
• Plank – 30 seconds
• Jump Squats – 15 reps
• High Knees – 15 reps
• Alternating lunges – 10 reps (each leg)
• Jumping jacks – 45 seconds

Once you’ve had a few weeks performing these exercises, you’ll certainly notice your core strength increasing. If you already possess a lower body fat percentage, you should be on the road to noticing further definition too.

Home Workout #2: High-Intensity Interval Training

You won’t need to go to the gym to try high-intensity interval training, widely regarded as the most efficient exercise program around. You can do a full HIIT routine at home.

HIIT is about following a specific routine where your intensity and speed changes throughout the exercise, letting you get more out of less.

Doing high-intensity interval training at home is all about finding an exercise that doesn’t take up much room. Our recommendation? Burpees.

How to do a Burpee

1. Stand up straight, squat down, and kick your legs out
2. Do a push-up from this position, bring your legs in, and explode upwards in a jump

Your home high-intensity workout should include 20 burpees followed by a rest. Repeat the 20 reps until your body gives out on you or you start hating yourself for doing this to yourself – whichever happens first.

Home Workout #3: The Angry Birds

This workout actually has little, if anything, to do with Angry Birds the game. The name comes from how you can do this workout when you get five or so minutes to spare, and Angry Birds is a game you play in the same situation.

The exercise plan is simple to complete and contains only four movements;

1. Bodyweight squats
2. Push-ups
3. Inverted rows/Pull-ups
4. Planks

Don’t worry if you don’t have the time to do a full workout. This is one of the many home workouts you can do all at once or break up across the day. Treat each of the four movements as four things to do across the day, completing at least one exercise per session.

Here’s an example of how you can stretch this example of the best at-home workouts across your day;

1. Do some bodyweight squats first thing in the morning
2. Grab your suitcase or a milk jug during dinner and do some inverted rows
3. Do the push-ups after work
4. Do the planks after dinner

You can even split the routine up across two days if you wanted. The key is to complete an entire sequence in one sitting. It’s also vital in giving you something to look forward to, or a goal to reach whilst working at home.

There are six levels to the Angry Birds workout, depending on the intensity. Level three, for example, calls for 50 squats, 50 push-ups, 10 pull-ups, and a three-minute plank. This is a quick five-to-ten-minute workout anyone can do at home.

Home Workout #4: The Batman

Bruce Wayne puts a lot of effort into his body. It takes a lot of bodyweight workouts to deal with the things the Caped Crusader does.

The Batman Workout is split across two days as follows;

Day One:

1. Five reps of rolling squat tuck-up jumps
2. Five reps of side-to-side push-ups
3. Five reps of modified headstand push-ups
4. Five reps of jump pull-ups/regular pull-ups with tuck-up
5. Eight seconds of a headstand against a wall

Day Two:

1. Five reps of “180 Degree” jump turns
2. Eight seconds of tuck front lever hold
3. Eight seconds of tuck back lever hold
4. Eight seconds of low frog hold

This is one intense body workout. We recommend starting with something else and building your way up. The Bat wasn’t built in a day!

Home Workout #5: PLP Progression

The letters in the PLP workout stand for “Pull-ups,” “Lunges,” and “Push-Ups.” The exercise is one of the best at-home workouts you can do. The routine sees you perform one extra rep of each exercise per day for a total of two months.

Please note that this body workout is not for the faint of heart. This is something you should only attempt if you can already do perfect pull-ups and push-ups.

With that out of the way, here’s how to complete the PLP Progression at home;

Day 1:

1. 10 Pull-ups
2. 10 Lunges (for each leg)
3. 10 Push-Ups

Day 2:

1. 11 Pull-ups
2. 11 Lunges (for each leg)
3. 11 Push-ups

Day 3:

1. 12 Pull-ups
2. 12 Lunges (for each leg)
3. 12 Push-ups

You get the idea. Chad Waterbury, the creator of the workout, intended for it to last sixty days. Keep going as long as you can and you’ll have an impressive upper-body before you know it.

Feel free to split your workout up across the day, completing two sets of five push-ups, for example. Aim to do as few sets as possible, however, to get the most out of the plan.

Home Workout #6: The Star Wars Workout

Is there a hallway in your home you can use for a little bit? If so, then you can do the Star Wars workout at home. The workout was built to be done in small enclosed spaces.

This cardio workout is great for your upper body. It’s split across three levels of bodyweight exercises, Padawan, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Master.

The Padawan full-body workout is as follows;

1. Three sets of 30-second knee/feet front planks
2. Three sets of 10 squats/assisted squats
3. Three sets of doorway rows
4. Two sets of a 60-second Farmer’s Walk with dumbbells/other heavy weight
5. March in place for three minutes split across six sets of 20 seconds of walking and ten seconds of rest
6. Four sets of 8 elevated or knee push-ups
7. two sets 60-second doorway leans

Best At-Home Exercises

Don’t have time for a full workout? Don’t worry about it! There are many exercises you can do at home when you find a minute or two. Make sure to stick at it to continue to get great results. Feel free to create your own home workouts using a combination of the different upper body, lower back, and full-body workouts too.

Your body will be your best friend in your attempts to get fit at home. Bodyweight exercises cause you to push or pull your body weight and are a great way to build definition and work for several muscle groups without a personal trainer at home. These exercises also help you prepare for other activities and stay fit and healthy enough to tackle daily life, such as carrying heavy shopping bags and keeping hold of your kids.

Here are some of the best exercises you can do at home to create bodyweight workouts and practice strength training at home without equipment.

Squats

Squats are one of the most well-known exercises and are an apt part of any lower-body workout. Squats force your body to burn more fat than something like a cardio workout because squats build muscle. Squats also boost healthy circulation and work the core and back, giving you better core strength. Most people know that squats work the legs, but not many understand the power they have as an abs workout. Squats are also one of the most functional exercises. Think of how often you have to get down on your knees, such as to reach under the fridge or a table.

All personal trainers agree that squats are one of the best workouts to do at home without equipment. This exercise works a lot of muscles, leading to greater calorie burn overall. The tone and tighten your whole body, particularly the hips, legs, and butt.

We recommend combining your squats with double and single-leg glute bridges to activate your glutes and push your lower body further. Doing glute bridges before squats activate the glute muscles and push them to work harder when squatting. The more muscles you activate, the better any exercise.

Lunges

Lunges are another potent exercise you can do without a gym membership. Unlike the standard squat, straight leg lunges require you to shift a lot of your body weight at once as you step forwards and backward. Lunges are more complex than other exercises because you make so many different movements.

Make sure you don’t underestimate the power of lunges. You’ll work your hamstrings, calves, and glutes, along with the rest of your legs. Staying balanced during a lunge also works your hips, core, and lower back.

Lunges also work your legs individually. Working separate muscles at a time is called unilateral training. Unilateral exercises build balance and coordination as well as pure strength. Balance exercises work the back and core for better results. Focusing your workout on one body part/muscle group at a time also helps with muscular imbalance.

Planks

Planks are another popular at-home workout you can do to get your heart rate going and work your arms. Planks work your whole body and you can do them just about anywhere. There’s also a lot of variety to planking, meaning it’s hard to get bored. Palm-to-elbow plans in particular stand out for getting your heart rate going.

Don’t forget that looks can be deceiving, which is especially true of planks. You won’t need any equipment, but that doesn’t mean you can do this without problems. Planks work absolutely everything in your body, from your core to obliques and abdominal muscles.

Planks are a great exercise to reduce back pain. This exercise activates your abs, training them to take some of the load off your back. You’ll get better at holding your weight with your abs/

Push-Ups

The push-up is one of the best strength training exercises there is. These compound exercises work several muscles in your arms at once. A push-up works your core, triceps, biceps, deltoids, and even lower body. Using all these muscles at once pushes your heart rate up as your heart works hard to pump enough oxygen around your body. Do them for long enough, say 15 minutes, and you’ll get an impressive cardio workout. It may feel like you’re supporting your weight on your hands, but your whole body gets involved to keep you in position.

This exercise also helps with supporting healthy posture and protecting your back against potential injuries. If you get bored of doing the same thing day in and out, try doing some different variations to push your body harder and get more from your workouts. An effective training menu includes variations of exercises to prevent boredom.

Balancing Poses

Balancing poses from yoga is another effective part of any training plan. Yoga doesn’t require any equipment either, except maybe a yoga mat. Holding yoga poses such as High Crescent, Tree Pose, Balancing Half Moon, or a simple Chair Pose is a great way to exercise. You don’t even need to move your body to get fit if you know what you’re doing! Check a yoga website or tutorial video for some ideas and incorporate these poses into your equipment-free workout.

Final Thoughts

The fitness industry has done you a disservice if it’s made you feel like you need to live in the gym to get fit. The truth is that there are plenty of workouts you can do at home.

Some of these programs are so effective and simple to do you could even do them while reading a good story. Try one of our workouts for yourself or put together your own using the different leg, arms, and body exercises. Make sure that you adopt a healthy start position with your exercises and don’t forget to properly warm-up and cool down.

The Best Home Workout Routines