Photo Courtesy of Women’s Health Magazine

To the chagrin of gym owners and personal trainers everywhere, more people are realizing home workouts are an increasingly effective way to lose weight, build muscle, and reach their fitness goals.  With the rise in popularity of in home workout fitness programs and routines, it has become easier than ever for anyone to get a fantastic workout sans all the fancy equipment and expensive personal trainer.

The one potential pitfall for at home exercisers is the lack of direction and/or poorly designed plans.  Let’s face it, when you don’t have an arsenal of gym equipment available to you, it’s going to take a skilled and creative fitness mind to craft something that will actually do more than waste your time.  There’s nothing worse than engaging in some fitness plan you found on some blog or website, only to find out 4 weeks later you’ve made no progress and have wasted a ton of time and energy.  Talk about a sure-fire way to de-motivate yourself…

With that in mind, I’ve created The Home Workout Bible.  This is for anyone who’s going to be working out at home but doesn’t want to sacrifice the quality of their workout.

7 Things You Need to Know To Improve At Home Workouts

• You need space…just not a lot of it. Forget anything that has you bouncing around the room and requires you a full garage amount of space.  A simple 7 x 7 area is more than enough.  With home workouts we’ll be relying on compact, explosive plyometric movements rather than traditional cardio, thereby minimizing the amount of space we need to move around.
• Love and use your body.  Your body weight IS enough to get you ripped.  Look at gymnasts if you need further evidence of what body weight exercises can do for you.  The key here is to find body weight exercises that engage multiple muscle groups while maintaining a heightened time under tension (TUT), i.e. doing an 8 second rep pushup, rather than a 2 second rep pushup.
• Your home isn’t just your living room.  I know I said you only need a 7 x 7 area to workout, and while this is true, it doesn’t hurt to get outside once or twice a week for a little fresh air and sunshine.  Try working an intense plyometric cardio routine, like a jump rope workout, or short sprints in your front yard, etc.  Including this type of HIIT explosive training with your “indoor” workout, will result in quicker gains.
• Avoid the home workout complacency.  When people workout at home away from all the equipment and variety a gym offers, they often get a little complacent and begin repeating the same or very similar variation of their workout.  This is a guaranteed progress killer.  You must continually mix up what you’re doing.  When you’re working out without much (or any) equipment, it becomes even more vital you are following a plan that takes this into consideration.  When searching for fitness plans, find something that offers a balanced approach to your workout.
• Keep pace.  A new form of training developed by Share It Fitness is called Pacer Training.  This is a very effective way of working out at home without the luxury of a personal trainer.  Unlike standard workout plans which simply provide a list of exercises to complete (and possible a video demo if you’re lucky), pacer training is a full workout routine (15-60 minutes) led by an actual trainer/instructor on your (phone, tablet, computer, television) screen – all you do is keep pace with their instruction.  Training in this method allows the fitness professional to keep an appropriate intensity and regulate work/rest times to ensure your heart rate stays in a zone that is conducive to burning calories and fat.
• Respect workout time.  Just because you’re at home, doesn’t mean you aren’t working out.  Take a break from answering phones, dealing with work, stopping to check email, etc.  Act as you would if you were in an actual gym.  Don’t get so comfortable because you’re in your own home that the quality of your workout begins to suffer.
• Fuel yourself.  Fueling your body is of vital importance. Since you’re working out from home, your kitchen is likely only a few feet away.  After each workout, be sure to make yourself a nice whey protein drink to help build up the muscle fibers you broke down.  Taking whey protein immediately after every work out will lead to faster lean muscle gains, an improved metabolism, and ultimately, a leaner, tighter, and more athletic physique.

Two At Home Workouts…

The first is an example of a circuit style routine that creates power combos of explosive plyometric routines with body weight resistance training.  Training in this format is great for boosting metabolism, building lean muscle, and incinerating calories in a hurry.

• 1 minute Jumping Jacks
• 30 seconds  Horizontal Jacks
• 30 seconds X Jumps
• 30 seconds Ground Runners
• 1 minute Plank Ups
• 1 minute Four Point Hops
• 1 minute Turbo Lunges
• 30 second Hindu Push Ups

Repeat this circuit 6-7 more times for nearly 45 minutes of intense calorie blasting and muscle building goodness.  Aim to complete exercises one after another without a break.  Take 45 seconds rest at the end of each round of the circuit.

For those interested in Pacer Training...

The following workout is a perfect example of Pacer Training.  While there is a piece of equipment used in this (BOSU) it can easily be done without if you don’t have access to one at home.  This home workout is for Share It Fitness members only, but don’t worry, becoming a member is still free for a little while longer.

• If you’re already a SIF member, simply log in, then click HERE to open the BOSU Cardio Core workout.  If you forgot to log in before clicking the workout link above, it will bring you to a log in screen.  Go ahead and log in then come back here and click the workout link again.
• If you’re not a SIF member, simply create a free account by clicking HERE, then come back to this post and click HERE for our BOSU Cardio Core workout.

Our trainer Sharon keeps a high intensity with this workout.  To achieve all the benefits of pacer training, simply follow her pace, rest when she tells you, and give it your all.  Use her as your guide to keep proper form and maintain an the appropriate intensity.  If you do that, there’s no way you aren’t getting all the heart-pounding and sweat dripping benefits of this workout…and burning serious calories (and fat) in the process!  If you’re feeling extra strong, trying going through this class a second time, circuit-style.

To Recap…

• At home workouts can be just as effective as gym workouts provided you know how to properly use your own body weight to challenge yourself.
• Be aware of home workout pitfalls and aim to avoid them by using well-designed fitness plans that continually mix things up.
• Pacer Training has been proven to be a highly effective way to replicate the benefits of a group fitness class or 1-on-1 personal training session for at home exercisers – consider incorporating this new type of training into your routine.

What have been your biggest obstacles with at home workouts?  Is there anything you feel would make working out from home easier and/or more effective?

• Bio
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Matt

Co-Founder at Share It Fitness

Matt has been involved in the fitness industry for over 10 years and has worked with, and helped countless individuals improve their lives. After college, Matt started his fitness career working in the trenches as a personal trainer for a big corporate gym. It was here he saw how impersonal Big Fitness really was. Clients weren't people, they were just sales waiting to be made. After branching out and starting his own personal training business in San Diego, Matt soon developed the idea of Share It Fitness and started our (now highly successful) blog. A fitness junkie himself, Matt knows the importance of incorporating exercise into your life. When he isn't working at Share It Fitness, you can find Matt running, biking, taking yoga, or pumping iron around San Diego.

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