Investing in your health is important, but so is fitting workouts into your schedule. And if you can do it at home, that's even better because who wouldn't want to try these home exercises and improve their fitness without leaving the house?
These simple home exercises don't require a gym full of fancy equipment nor an advanced workout program in order to see results.
A good full-body workout should include a variety of exercises that work your upper body, lower body, and core.
Try doing each exercise for a set amount of time instead of sticking to a certain number of reps. This will challenge you and help you set realistic fitness goals for yourself.
6 Best Exercises That Can Be Done at Home
You can try the exercises mentioned below, or mix them up to meet your personal needs. Whatever you choose, perform the workouts in this order for the best results.
1. Squats
Squats are functional exercises, ideal for your daily routine. There are many reasons why squats strengthen and tone your glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings. They also build functional strength that you can use for everyday activity.
To perform a squat:
- Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width and your toes turned out to the sides a little.
- Bend at the knees and hips until your thighs are almost parallel to the floor.
- Then rise back up again.
2. Planks
Planks work your whole body when performed correctly, and they are great for developing core stability and strengthening your upper and lower body at the same time.
You can modify a basic plank by standing with your hands against a wall, or you can try a kneeling plank.
Here's how you can do plank at home:
- Get in push-up position with your arms straight and your feet in a diamond stance.
- Hold your body up just by pressing it against the floor—no bending at the waist—for as long as you can.
3. Lunges
Lunges target the lower body, and you can easily add push-ups or bicep curls to work your upper body when you're low on time. Lunges are one of the best home exercises since there are so many variations—it's easy to adjust the difficulty by taking lunges forward, backward, or to the side.
How to do lunges at home
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, your shoulders back and down, and your core engaged.
- Bend one knee, lowering your body toward the ground while keeping the other leg straight.
- When the bottom knee is a few inches from the ground, raise yourself up to start again.
4. Jumping Jacks
Jumping jacks work the major muscles of your legs, helping you build strength in your glutes, hamstrings, quads, hips, calves, and shins. The more you jump—and the higher and faster you go—the better your strength and power will become.
Here's how you can do jumping jacks effectively at home:
- Keep your arms at your sides and your legs together.
- Jump up, spreading your feet out beyond hip-width.
- Then bring your arms up above your head and touch.
- Jump again, bringing your arms down and bringing your feet back together.
- Stand straight in your starting position.
5. Burpees
Burpees are a full-body calisthenic workout that works to build strength and endurance in your legs, hips, butt, back, arms, chest, and shoulders. When you do a burpee, you work your lower and upper body by doing a full-body calisthenic exercise. The exercise is challenging and fun to do.
How to do a burpee at home:
- Start in a high plank position.
- With palms planted on the floor, jump your feet backward and lower into a push-up.
- Push yourself up again, and jump your feet back toward your hands, ending up in a high plank.
- Jump your feet back to perform a push-up, and then jump them toward your hands to end back in a high plank.
- Repeat these moves to complete one rep.
6. Mountain Climbers
Mountain climbers can make you stronger, leaner, and more physically fit. You work your shoulders, biceps, triceps, chest, back, quads, hamstrings and calves with mountain climbers—definitely a full-body workout.
How to do mountain climbers at home:
- Put yourself in a plank position, evenly distributing your weight between your hands and toes.
- Your hands should be about shoulder width apart, your back should be flat, your abs should be engaged, and your head should be in alignment.
- Pull your right knee as far as you can into your chest.
- Switch legs, bringing the other one knee in and pulling the other out.
- Keep your hips down and run as quickly as you can with each leg change, alternate breathing and exhaling.
There are plenty of good and fun exercises you can do at home to lose weight in general. Just be sure to mix it up each time, so that you don’t get bored doing the same ones over and over again.
As always, please remember to drink plenty of water during exercise to avoid dehydration, and while exercising, be sure not to push yourself too hard.
Now go home and get your workout on ladies!