8 Gym Exercises You Can Do at Home

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It is true that not everyone has the time to go to their gym in Manila to workout. This, however, should not stop us from exercising and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. You can easily achieve a full workout with just a yoga mat on the floor of your bedroom. Here are 8 gym exercises you can do at home, no equipment workouts that you can do from the comfort of your home.

1. Push-up

Push-ups are a basic and effective exercise that anyone can do and are great for strengthening upper body strength. To properly do push-ups means engaging not only your triceps and shoulders but also your lower back and abdominal muscles.

The first step is to get on all fours and keep your body straight from head to toe. As you lower yourself by bending your elbows at a 90-degree angle, remember to tighten your core throughout the push-up. To make it interesting, you can opt to do variations of push-ups such as the bent knee push up or push-ups with one leg raised.

2. Superman

This is another exercise that any beginner can do and does not require any equipment other than a mat. All you need to do is to lie flat on your stomach with your arms extended over your head.

Then, slightly raise both arms and legs simultaneously off the floor while contracting your abdominal muscles before lowering them and repeating. While this may seem like an insignificant workout, it is, in fact, effective in strengthening your abdominal muscles.

3. Crunches

Crunches are another simple ab exercise, and you do this by lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Then, with your hands behind your head, curl your torso towards your thighs while contracting your core muscles.

Remember to focus on your core and don’t use your neck to pull yourself up. Similarly, to push-ups, there are numerous variations to this such as bicycle crunches.

4. Lunges

A lunge is an exercise that strengthens lower body strength and endurance by making use of your hips, core, and various leg muscles. All you need to do is to take a big step forward with your right leg and lower right thigh until it is parallel to the floor. Step back, do the same with your left leg, and repeat.

You can opt to do this in place or to move back and forth. However, keep in mind the common mistakes such as dropping your upper body or lifting your heel. Besides the forward lunge, other variations include the side lunge, lunge twist, and many more.

5. Squats

Squats make use of the entire body, from your legs and core to your upper back, shoulders, and arms. Because of this, squats have many benefits including building muscle, increasing strength and flexibility, improving balance, and more. While squats are often done with weights, they are just as effective without equipment.

Remember to avoid committing common mistakes such as lifting your heels, rounding your lower back, or exaggerating your knees forward. Other variations to the basic squat that you can incorporate into your workout include squat jumps, side step squats, the Bulgarian split squat and more.

6. Squat Jumps

Squat jumps are a high-intensity variation of squats that strengthens your lower-body and helps in calorie burning by increasing your heart rate. Start with the usual squat position, jump straight up while swinging your arms overhead, then return immediately to the squat position. This exercise is sure to get you sweating and your heart pumping without having to go to a gym in Manila.

7. Planks

Planking basically entails holding the starting position of the push-up. You can opt to do so with your arms straight or with bent elbows, as long as you keep your body in a straight line without sagging or raising your hips too high.

Some benefits of doing planks include toning your abdominal muscles, reducing back pain, improving balance, and more. Besides the usual front plank, variations include the side plank, plank walk, reverse plank, and more.

8. Mountain Climber

The starting position for mountain climbers is the same as that of push-ups and planking, with hands shoulder-width apart. Then, bend one knee forward and switch by hopping your other foot forward.

Repeat this motion continuously as fast as you can. Like the previous exercises, the mountain climber engages many different kinds of muscles and joints all over the body and is particularly beneficial for cardiovascular fitness and core strengthening.

Key Takeaway

There are many possibilities of effective exercises that you can easily incorporate into your daily workout routine. Even without weights or machines, you can still have the same full-body workout at home that you would have exercising in the gym. If you’re not familiar with the exercises that I’ve mentioned above, you can watch videos on how to do it!