We’re all living through strange and unfamiliar times. As the world stays indoors due to the coronavirus pandemic, we’re all faced with loads of extra free time on our hands.
We can watch our favorite TV shows, home cook all of our meals, and spend quality time with our loved ones. But we’re also here to remind everyone that health and fitness right now is even more important than ever. Whatever your go-to exercise is, martial arts, running, yoga, biking, don’t completely neglect it.
Eat good, clean food. Get lots of sleep and rest. But also find time to get a workout in.
Don’t know how or where to start? There are a handful of home workouts everyone can do in the comfort of their own living rooms.
If you’re just starting out, you can expect to enjoy a host of benefits. Weight loss is obviously one of them, as is improved fitness, flexibility, and dexterity. You’ll also gain a more positive outlook on life with the amount of endorphins your body will be producing.
Let’s all make the habit of getting up to move our bodies each and every day, especially during these home quarantine periods. We’ve compiled a handful of home workouts you can try to get the blood flow going. These workouts are easy, effective, and fulfilling.
Of course, with regular exercise, you’ll no doubt improve your overall health and wellness. Check these simple yet satisfying exercises out and give them a try.
Today, Morakot Daily shares five easy home workouts for beginners.
1) Dancing
TikTok is all the rage right now, and people have been rising up to take on dance challenges from all over the world. It’s the dance craze phenomenon that’s sweeping the globe. But you don’t have to share your dance moves with people you don’t know just to reap the rewards dancing brings as a workout.
More important than anything, dancing is a very simple, easy, and fun way to work up a sweat indoors and burn calories.
Put on some fresh, upbeat music. Grab your kids and dance as an entire family. Or you can go solo and “dance like nobody’s watching.”
A good 15-30 minute dance workout daily can burn up to 250 calories, about the same as jogging. The best thing about it is anyone can do it, no matter the age. Whether you are young or old, dancing as a workout offers a wide array of benefits for your health.
Dancing is a total body aerobic workout that is fun and engaging. It’s great for your cardiovascular health, strength, and endurance.
2) Bodyweight Training
Don’t have a home gym? There are a plethora of bodyweight training exercises you can perform by yourself or with a training partner. Best of all, no equipment is required.
Bodyweight exercises are strength training workouts that utilize the natural force of gravity and your own body weight as resistance.
Bodyweight exercises don’t require any special gym equipment to burn calories and develop strong muscles. All you need is about 15-20 minutes to perform simple and easy strength training exercises.
Examples of bodyweight exercises include inclined push-ups, wall sits, air squats, walking lunges, and bear crawls. It doesn’t end there, though. There are so many different combinations of movements that use your own body weight for resistance.
Bodyweight training also helps you improve your balance and flexibility, and lets you get in tune with your own physical capabilities. You also don’t have to invest too much time and resources in training to get the results you want.
3) Shadowboxing
Perhaps dancing isn’t in your list of interests, and you crave something a little more edgy. Shadowboxing is a great cardio exercise that will elevate your heart rate, and help you break out a sweat.
Shadowboxing is a common warm-up routine for amateur and professional boxers. It allows boxers to practice their techniques, while training their bodies to move the unique ebb and flow of a fight.
At home, you can shadowbox quite easily, even if you don’t have any experience boxing. There is a multitude of simple shadowboxing tutorials online that you can follow.
Start by shadowboxing for three rounds of three minutes each, with a minute of rest in between to get your body accustomed to the activity. As your cardiovascular strength improves, increase to six rounds, and lower your rest period to 30 seconds. Eventually, you’re going to want to go eight rounds of shadowboxing daily for good health.
Focus on throwing your punches with speed and power, while also moving your head and torso constantly.
4) Stair Climb
For those who have the luxury of a staircase within their homes, climbing stairs is an amazing but simple workout you can do every day to strengthen your legs and calves, as well as build cardiovascular endurance. It also burns two to three times more calories than regular walking.
Simply walk up and down the stairs for a few rounds to increase your heart rate and watch as fat magically disappears from your waistline. Stair climbing is one of the simplest most effective home workouts you and the entire family can do together.
Going up and down the stairs strengthens both your upper and lower legs, most importantly the glutes. It also improves your balance and knee stability. But do be careful and make sure you aren’t pushing yourself too much, especially when you’re just starting out. Use the handrails if you have to.
The easier stair climbing becomes for you, the better your health. Stair climbing and your ability to go up and down is a good marker of general health.
5) High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
Last but certainly not least, one of the best home workouts to try for beginners is High-Intensity Interval Training or HIIT.
HIIT is a collection of fast-paced, intense, but simple exercises performed for short bursts of activity, followed by periods of active rest. HIIT improves your metabolism and burns calories like no other cardio workout. It’s also great because you can perform HIIT workouts virtually anywhere, whether at home or even in a hotel room. All you need is ample space to execute the movements.
HIIT workouts are designed to last just 20-30 minutes max, so you don’t need to spend hours tiring away. You still get all the benefits of a full-body workout, despite the short period of time.
Some HIIT exercises include jumping jacks, butt kicks, jumping cross lunges, scissor jumps, burpees, and the like. Start at your own pace as you slowly build strength and cardio endurance. Increase the intensity of your training as you go along.
