Don’t workout without a plan! Starting to workout for the first time has a lot of unforeseen obstacles. Having a set workout plan takes away one possible problem and makes things go smoother. In this post I’m gonna give you a beginner workout at home without equipment to get you started.
You can make big progress with a at home workout!
We are gonna walk through the routine, how to do each exercise, and the schedule that i recommend you use.
Beginner Home Workout without Equipment
The beautiful thing about this routine, is that you won’t need one piece of equipment. If you are new to fitness, this is a great track-way to more advanced exercises in the future once you feel more comfortable.
The exercises will be targeting muscle groups in the following categories; Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Back, Biceps, Legs.
Chest
Push ups.
How to perform a push up: Start in a high plank position with your arms fully extended. Try to have your hand placement be directly under your shoulders. As you come down by bending your arms, don’t flare out your elbows to the side. The distance between your elbows and your body should be about a 45 degree angle. Throughout the whole movements, keep a tight core and butt to help you stabilize and maintain a straight back.
How to make a push up easier: If you have trouble doing push ups, you can place your knees on the ground during the motions. Try your best to stick to all the regular cues on doing a correct push up.
How to make a push up harder: Can you pump out tons of reps? Try to making it harder for yourself. You can try elevating your legs by putting them on a chair, increasing the resistance against you. Other options you can try include wearing a weighted vest or using resistance bands.
Shoulders
Lateral and front arm raises.
How to perform lateral and front arm raises: Stand tall while keeping a straight back. Have your arms flat to your sides. While keeping them fully extended, bring them up as if you want to preform a T-pose. That is the Lateral raise. Bring your arms back down. Raise them again, bringing them forward straight out in front of you. That is the front raise.
How to make lateral and front arm raises easier: This tends to be a very simple and easy exercise. If you are having trouble, lower the reps. If you feel like you can’t get a full range of motion you need to find what is causing the issue ex: tight muscles, injury.
How to make lateral and front arm raises harder: If you wasn’t to increase the resistance of this exercise, hold something in each hand. It can be as simple as a book, you can also use some weights like kettle bells or dumbbells.
Triceps
Diamond push ups
How perform diamond push ups: Like a normal push up, the starting position will be a high plank. The key difference is you will be bringing your hands together creating a diamond with your fingers. From this position you will go with the instructions in a normal push up, the different position will directly target your triceps.
How to make diamond push ups easier: Again, like a normal push up, you can use your knees to lower the volume you are placing on yourself.
How to make diamond push ups harder: Pattern here, you can use the same normal push up techniques as before. To make it simple, start increasing the difficulty by elevating your legs on a chair or similar platform.
Back
Chest expansions
How to perform chest expansions: Start by standing tall with good posture. Bring your hands together and straight out in front of you. While keeping your arms up, pull your hands apart and to your sides. Use nice and slow controlled movements.
How to make chest expansions easier: Chest expansions do not need weight to be done, if you find that you can’t get through the full range of motions. Isolate the issue and take care of injuries or stretch tight muscles.
How to make chest expansions harder: Using a resistance band is a great way to make chest expansions more difficult. They are also a easy solution to continued progression. Typically, you can buy a pack of resistance bands that vary in strength.
Biceps
Towel Leg Curls
How to perform towel leg curls: In a standing position you will begin by having a towel behind one leg, hold one end in each hand. Keeping your arms to your side, bend them at the elbows to raise your leg.
How to make towel leg curls easier: Leg curls depend on the resistance of your leg. Adjust how much pressure you place with your leg. If you have trouble with balance, lean your back against a wall until you feel comfortable with your balancing abilities.
How to make towel leg curls harder: The harder you resist with your leg, the more difficult it will be to raise it. If you find that you can only progress so much with this technique, consider switching over to normal curls with dumbbells.
Legs
Squats
How to perform a squat: Start by standing tall with your feet a little wider than shoulder width apart. Pretend you are going to sit in a chair and lower yourself by bending at the knees. Keep your core engaged during the entire movement. As you lower keep your chest up as well as keeping your back straight. Once your hips are below your knees, come up.
How to make squats easier: If you have trouble getting all of the form right, take your time to practice each one. If your muscles feel overly tight, stretch them out to get a better range of motion. No need to add weight until you can get the form right. If you can’t go all the way down, that’s OK, be patient and work your way there.
How to make squats harder: Other than variations, adding weight to a squat is a great and simple way to make squats harder. Weighted vests are a good option, as are dumbbells or kettle bells. If you own none of those, hold literally anything in your arms.
Schedule
So now you have a easy to follow beginner home workout without equipment.
How often should you be doing it? For beginners, 3 days a week would be awesome.
For example, if you exercised Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday that would allow you to have 48 hours in between workouts during the week. Studies have shown that is a optimal amount of time for recovery.
Of course, at the end of the day, your schedule is going to be what determines what schedule you can do. If you can only fit in 2 times a week that is OK. Be honest and don’t take any shortcuts. If you know you have time, take it, don’t just minimize your days out of laziness.
Conclusion
Now you have a beginner workout at home without equipment. Not overly complicated but effective to get you started.
Focus on learning how to do each exercise effectively, once you master them and no longer feel like you are progressing, its safe to move on to a new exercise or increase your workout difficulty.
Remember to work hard! You can have the knowledge, the plan and the time, but short cuts will leave you short of your results!