Working Out at Home

Well, here is the good news… you’ve come to the right place for answers here. There is no doubt I am pretty well versed in getting people in shape with nothing but their birthday suit in the comfort of their home.  So, I gotchu! and believe it or not – it’s actually really easy to get a great workout at home or even utilizing the outdoor space in your neighborhood. 

Let’s first think about cardio and HIIT training. Obviously, you could go for a walk or a jog in your neighborhood. You could jump some rope – and if you don’t have rope you simply simulate it just like you’ve seen me do in the workouts I program for you guys. You have jumping jacks, mountain climbers, burpees, butt kicks, march in place, jog in place, high knees and many different variations of each move I just mentioned to keep it fresh. I utilize all these moves in the HIIT programs in my app as well as for the HIIT intervals in the strength programs. Plus, they are great for warming up if you are simply strength training. And, if you just want cardio you can pick 5 of these exercises and do them for a minute each at a moderate intensity 5x through.

For example:

60 Sec: Jumping Jacks

60 Sec: Jump Rope (simulated)

60 Sec: Butt Kicks

60 Sec: Mountain Climbers

60 Sec: Jog In place

REPEAT 4 TIMES

When it comes to strength the sky is really the limit, but the basics in my opinion are super effective and simple to follow. The ONLY piece of equipment I recommend you get would be either a resistance tube or a set of dumbbells - personally I recommend the dumbbells for versatility, but the tube will work. The ONLY part of your body that is tough to train without some piece of equipment would be your back. While people can recommend things like cans or water bottles they really are poor substitutes. A water bottle is like a pound. I’d like you to have at least 5lbs to 10lbs of resistance available to you – and bands or dumbbells provide that.

Legs: Squats (air squats, weighted squats, chair squats, jump squats, sumo squats), lunges (forward, backward, side, stationary, pendulum lunges, jump lunges), leg lifts (abduction, adduction, donkey kicks)

Core: Plank (ab hold, side plank, reverse plank), crunches (double crunches, oblique crunches, bicycle crunches), leg raises, superman

Chest, Shoulders, Triceps: Push Ups, Dips off chair or coffee table, Down Dog Pose, Walking Planks – with dumbbells (shoulder press, Anterior shoulder raise, lateral shoulder raise, triceps extensions, triceps kickbacks

Back, Biceps: (Ideally this is where you would have that tube or set of dumbbells) Biceps Curls (hammer curls, reverse curls, regular curls), Bent Over Dumbbell Rows (low rows, medium grip rows, wide grip rows), Reverse Dumbbell Flys, Seated Row with band or tube.

A quick and effective total body workout might look like this:

Warm Up:

• 1 minute: Jumping Jacks
• 1 minute: Butt Kicks
• 1 minute: Jump Rope (with or without an actual rope)

Circuit 1:

• 30 Seconds: Push Ups
• 30 Seconds: Squats
• 30 Seconds: High Knees
• REPEAT for 3 sets total

Circuit 2:

• 30 Seconds: Lunges
• 30 Seconds: Triceps Dips off Chair
• 30 Seconds: Burpees
• REPEAT for 3 sets total

Circuit 3:

• 30 Seconds: Superman
• 30 Seconds: Bicycle Crunch
• 30 Seconds: Mountain Climbers
• REPEAT for 3 sets total

And remember, if you are ever intimidated or just want some guidance you can download the free daily 7 minute workouts offered in the Jillian Michaels My Fitness App. Plus, all the workout programs in my app from yoga, kickboxing, HIIT training, strength conditioning, 5k and 10k etc and ALL my dvd workouts are doable from home. You got this and I got you!