Whether you are home, traveling, or anywhere in between, exercise should be incorporated into your daily schedule. Exercise allows us to physically exert, but on top of that also sharpens us mentally. It’s been shown to improve symptoms of anxiety while decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Exercise also is a way to build our immune system because it places physical stress on our bodies that we must adapt to over time. By exercising regularly, along with consuming nutritious foods, we can make sure that our daily performance is to the best of our ability. This can be done without ever leaving the comfort of your home.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, at home and away, is easier than you may think. By choosing to walk or ride a bike to locations nearby rather than driving your vehicle, you can burn extra calories and increase endurance. This is a great way to incorporate active recovery on top of regular exercise as well. Active recovery helps with muscle soreness and gives a way to exercise without overexerting and overusing muscles.

Below you’ll find a couple of different combinations of exercises you can do at home with supplies found in a typical household. Items such as a towel, milk or water jugs, chairs, and socks can be used to assist. Each workout is designed to work your full body, as well as work on flexibility and balance/coordination.

Workout 1:

Start with a 5-minute dynamic stretch:

• Frankenstein’s 5/leg
  • Start standing with both feet together. Take a step and kick a straight leg up to tap toe with hand. Take a couple of reset steps. Repeat with the other leg.
• Walking Lunges w/ twist 5/leg
  • Start with feet together. Take a long stride forward and bend your front knee, push hips forward to stretch hip flexor, twist trunk from side to side. Bring legs together and repeat on the other side
• Inchworms 10
  • Start standing with feet together. Reach down and touch toes. Bend knees if needed to touch the ground, and walk hands forward until just in front of shoulders. Walk feet forward, keeping legs as straight as possible. Best done by flexing foot while bringing thigh to chest.
• Pushup to Downdog 10
  • Begin in tall pushup position, with hands under shoulders. Perform a pushup, and once to the beginning position, push hips back and extend arms in line with the back. Try to place heels on the ground and push the head through the shoulders.

Exercises:

• 2-leg Hamstring Curl (Eq Needed: Towel, Tile) 3×10
  • Start lying on your back on tile. Use a towel under your feet as a slider. If no tile is available, use a folder under your feet on the carpet. Push your hips off the ground with straight legs and pull your legs under your body.

• Push up with Retraction of Scapula 3×10
  • Start in a tall plank position with your hands under your shoulders. Lower yourself until your elbows reach 90 degrees, then push yourself back up. Once in the tall plank position, allow your trunk to dip in while squeezing your shoulder blades together. Push back up to the tall pushup position and repeat.
• 3 Point Milkjug Row 3×8/arm
  • Start With your feet about shoulder-width, place your hand on a chair. Pull the milk jug up through your elbow, making sure to squeeze your shoulder blade toward the center of your back.

• Bearcrawl Isohold 3x:45
  • Start in a quadruped position, with shoulders stacked over hands and hips over knees. Lift knees off the ground 2-3 inches and hold. If you want a higher intensity, tap one knee to elbow, and repeat on the other side.

• Downdog Pushups 3×10
  • Start in a tall plank position, and push hips back so that head is in line with arms. Bend the elbows and lower yourself as far as possible, then push back up.
• Narrow Stance Squat to Wide Stance Squat with Pulse 3×12
  • Start with your feet just slightly less than shoulder-width apart. Squat down, then pulse 3 times before pushing back to the top. Take a step to the side that is slightly wider than shoulder-width and squat down, pulse three times and push back up. Repeat the narrow/wide stance.

Finish with 5 min cooldown:

• Lower Trunk Rotations 10/side
  • Lay on your back with knees bend and together, arms out to the side, and palms up. Roll knees to right, while looking to the left, then rotate to the other side. Should feel stretch in the lower back.
• Side-lying trunk rotation 10/side
  • Lay on your side with straight legs, with a pillow in front of you. Take the leg that is on top and bend it to a 90-degree angle, and place it on top of the pillow. Have your arms straight in front of you, and open one arm up, rotating around as far as you can without lifting the knee off the pillow. Repeat on the other side. Should feel stretch in middle to upper back
• Hip Flexor Stretch 30/side
  • Kneel with one knee up and one knee down, and push hips forward while raising hands overhead. Should feel stretch in front of hip.
• Kneeling Quad Stretch (couch stretch) 30/side
  • Kneel with one knee up and one knee down, resting the top of your back foot on your couch. Lower to the ground. Should feel a stretch in the quad

Workout 2:

Start with 5 min dynamic stretch:

• Frankenstein’s 5/leg
  • Start standing with both feet together. Take a step and kick a straight leg up to tap toe with hand. Take a couple of reset steps. Repeat with the other leg.
• Walking Lunges w/ twist 5/leg
  • Start with feet together. Take a long stride forward and bend your front knee, push hips forward to stretch hip flexor, twist trunk from side to side. Bring legs together and repeat on the other side
• Inchworms 10
  • Start standing w feet together. Reach down and touch toes. Bend knees if needed to touch the ground, and walk hands forward until just in front of shoulders. Walk feet forward, keeping legs as straight as possible. Best done by flexing foot while bringing thigh to chest.
• Pushup to Downdog 10
  • Begin in a tall pushup position, with hands under shoulders. Perform a pushup, and once to the beginning position, push hips back and extend arms in line with the back. Try to place heels on the ground and push the head through the shoulders.

Exercises:

• Jump Squats 3×15
  • Start in a tall athletic stance, making sure feet are shoulder-width apart. Squat down, pushing hips back, and push up quickly into a jump. Land in the same position, and squat back down once feet touch the ground.
• Crunchy Frogs 3×15
  • Start sitting on the floor, legs bent in front of you, and knees together. Rock back so that you’re balancing on your glutes, while straightening knees, and bring arms out to the sides of your body. Tuck knees in and bring arms around them, while still balancing. Release knees, and straighten back out. Repeat.
• Tricep Dips on chair 3×10
  • Start with hands on the chair seat, and legs in front of you. The farther out your legs are, the hard this exercise will be. Lower yourself until your elbows reach a 90-degree bend and push back up.

• Broomstick Row 3×15
  • Take two grocery bags and place a few cans of food in each, making sure they’re about the same size and weight. (duplicate cans work best). With a broom balanced on a chair, hang each bag on either side of the broom. Pick up the broom horizontally, hands about shoulder-width apart, and position yourself in an athletic stance, with a slight lean forward. Pulling through the elbows, and squeezing shoulder blades together, bring the broom up to the chest, slowly releasing it back to the bottom once you tap the chest.
• Curtsy Lunges 3×10
  • Start in a tall athletic stance, cross left foot behind right and squat down as low as you can, push back up, and place foot back to shoulder width. Repeat with the other side.

• Reverse Crunch 3×10
  • Laying on your back, position your head so that you can hold onto something heavy, either a couch leg or under a couch. Bend your knees, and lift them off the ground, and when ready, lift hips off the ground so that you are resting your body weight on your shoulders. Slowly lower your body down until your lower back touches the floor. Without dropping your feet to the ground, repeat.

Finish with 5 min cooldown:

• Lower Trunk Rotations 10/side
  • Lay on your back with knees bend and together, arms out to the side, and palms up. Roll knees to right, while looking to the left, then rotate to the other side. Should feel stretch in the lower back.
• Side-lying Trunk Rotation 10/side
  • Lay on your side with straight legs, with a pillow in front of you. Take the leg that is on top and bend it to a 90-degree angle, and place it on top of the pillow. Have your arms straight in front of you, and open one arm up, rotating around as far as you can without lifting the knee off the pillow. Repeat on the other side. Should feel stretch in middle to upper back
• Hip Flexor Stretch 30/side
  • Kneel with one knee up and one knee down, and push hips forward while raising hands overhead. Should feel stretch in front of the hip
• Kneeling Quad stretch (couch stretch) 30/side
  • Kneel with one knee up and one knee down, resting the top of your back foot on your couch. Lower to the ground. Should feel a stretch in the quad

Other Options

Lower body:

• Bodyweight Squats (or with milk jug in goblet position)
• Hamstring Curls on tile with towel/socks
• Curtsy Lunges
• Jump Squats
• Jumping Lunges

Core:

• Dead Bugs
• Bear Crawl Iso Hold with Knee Tap
• Birddog
• Plank (or variations like a pledge, up & downs)
• Crunchy frogs

Back and Chest:

• Milk Jug Rows
• Pushup (or variations like plyo, incline decline)

Arms:

• Tricep Pushups
• Milk Jug Curls
• Tricep Dips on a chair
• Broomstick Curls (or weighted backpack, grocery bag with even weight inside)
• Pushup to Downdog

Maintaining overall fitness is a vital part of daily living, allowing us to perform and participate in all activities to the best of our ability. Utilizing active recovery, as well as these at-home exercise plans can help you get on the right track to achieving greatness. If you’re looking for more guidance in your workout routine, contact one of our FAST valley-wide locations today!

Pumpkins are more than just Halloween decor, they can be used during at-home workout sessions. We’re sharing 5 total body exercises to help burn off and offset that Halloween candy! Try each exercise with two sets of 15 reps.

Push-Up

Start in a plank position with one hand on the pumpkin and the other on the floor. Keeping your core tight, bend your elbows to lower your chest towards the floor, and then press back up. Repeat.

Squat

Start with your feet a little wider than shoulder width and toes pointing forwards. Push your hips back, bend your knees and lower your body until your thighs are about parallel to the floor. Make sure the weight is in your heels and your torso is upright. Push through heels to stand back up and press the pumpkin above your head to work your arms. Repeat.

Russian Twist

Sit on the ground holding the pumpkin in both hands. Lean slightly back (without rounding your spine) and hover your feet off the ground with knees bent. Pull your navel to your spine and rotate the pumpkin to the left side. Tap the ground while still keeping the feet from touching the ground. From there, return back to center. Repeat on the opposite side, remembering to tap the pumpkin on the ground, and return to center to complete one rep.

Twisting Lunge

In a standing position, hold the pumpkin at chest level. Take a step back and bend both knees into a lunge position. In the lunge position, rotate torso towards the forward leg. Rotate your torso and arms back to center and step forward to starting position. Repeat on the opposite side to complete one rep.

Sit-Up

Start by lying on your back with knees bent and arms outstretched holding the pumpkin. Keeping the feet flat on the ground, bring arms into chest and bring your torso up to your knees. Try to sit up as straight as you can at the top and keep your abs tight the entire time. Slowly lower back to the starting position, finishing with arms extended. Repeat for desired number of repetitions.

Ready for more? Let our Certified Strength and Conditioning Coaches create a workout plan to help you look and feel great just in time for the holidays.