There is an evolving movement happening with fitness lately, which involves more people staying at home and out of the gym. This could be related to the cost of a membership, as 63% of gym memberships go unused.
No matter the reason, if you are wanting to workout from home, you need to know how to build an effective home exercise program, or else you are wasting your time.
Building a home exercise program is not a one-size-fits-all experience. It involves a bit of research and investment with some home workout equipment.
The problem is, how can you create a home exercise program that will work for you, one that you will want to stick to?
Thankfully, we did that research for you. Keep on reading this handy guide and learn everything there is to know about building your home exercise program.
Let’s get started!
Contents
Decide What You Want
As explained above, you cannot just follow someone else’s workout program and expect that it will work for you too. We are all built differently, with different goals and different abilities.
You need to decide on what personal goals you have, and then design your home exercise program based on your goals.
Some questions to think about are:
• Are you trying to put on muscle?
• Are you wanting to lose some weight?
• Are you wanting to maintain your current weight?
• Are you wanting to increase your flexibility?
• Are you wanting to improve your performance?
• Are you wanting to be able to do life better?
No matter what your goals are, write them down on a piece of paper and put that up near where your home workout area is. This will become your motivational corner and will determine your style of workout.
How Long Do You Want to Train For?
If you can put aside an hour to an hour and a half per day, awesome! If not, good for you for being honest with yourself! You can still reap the results of your home exercise program, you just have to plan it properly.
The most important factor is knowing if you will stick to the program you design. If you have 3 kids, a busy wife, and a demanding job, chances are that you will not stick to your two-hour-per-day workout plan. Consistency equals results!
Decide On the Equipment Needed
Now that you have decided on your goals, and the length of time you can dedicate to your workouts, you now need to decide on what equipment you are willing to purchase.
You can get a great workout in with only bodyweight exercises, however, if your goal is to tone and build some muscle, you will need to lift some weights.
Keep in mind though that many people feel they need to build some muscle, when in fact, what they need is to lose some fat, which is covering the muscle they already have. This will give you that lean, ripped appearance.
If you need a little bit of equipment, here is what we suggest:
• A few dumbbells of various sizes, remember to aim for heavier than you think you need, for progression.
• Smart dumbbells, which can be adjusted
• A couple of workout bands of different resistance levels.
• A yoga mat
• Good, sturdy workout shoes
• A kettlebell
This is plenty enough for a home exercise program, and now all you need to do is develop the workout!
How to Plan the Workout
The workout you design has to correlate to the goals you decided on above.
If your goal was to lose weight, you will need to create a HIIT style program that involves some intervals and keep your heart rate up.
If your goal was to put on muscle, you will need to create a weightlifting program that targets each muscle individually, to put the stress on it for it to grow. This is called the SAID principle, specific adaption to imposed demand.
If your goal was to increase your flexibility, find some great online yoga classes and get stretching with some powerful mind/body postures.
We will give you a few example workouts:
Muscle Building
For a muscle-building workout, you want to begin with the legs, as that is where more testosterone is released during your workout. This will help you to build more muscle, faster.
1. Squats (10 reps x 3 sets)
2. Alternated Lunges (12 reps x 3 sets)
3. Calve Raises (10 reps x 3 sets)
4. Bench Press (10 reps x 3 sets)
5. Bent Over Rows (10 reps x 3 sets)
6. Shoulder Presses (10 reps x 3 sets)
7. Triceps Dips (10 reps x 3 sets)
8. Biceps Curls (10 reps x 3 sets)
To help boost the time of your workout, you can superset some of these exercises back to back, for example, you can do Squats, then shoulder presses, have 30 seconds rest, then repeat.
Muscle building also has a lot to do with diet.
Fat Loss
A fat loss workout is about keeping your heart rate up and moving your body! As time progresses, you will want to increase the length of time you are moving for and decrease the rest time.
An example workout would look like this:
30 seconds work with 15 seconds rest
1. Air squats
2. Walking lunges
3. Burpees (or modified burpee)
4. Pushups
5. Mountain climbers
6. Glute Bridges
7. Triceps pushups (elbows in)
8. Jumping jacks
9. Jump squats
10. High knees
Once you get through all 10 exercises, repeat the entire round. As you adapt to the program, increase the workout time to 45 seconds and decrease the rest to 10 seconds, and add one more round!
Learn More About Building a Home Exercise Program
There you have it! The perfect guide to creating your home exercise program. Remember to consult with your physician before starting any new exercise program, especially if you have pre-existing medical conditions.
If you found this article helpful, check out more like this under the health and wellness section of our blog!
