One of my priorities this year (not a full-blown resolution) is to work out multiple times a week. Right now I’m going to the gym successfully, but sometimes I don’t want to leave the house. The weather might be bad, I might be lazy – the list goes on. You can get a great home workout with a few pieces of equipment and doing some research! I wanted to make that easy for you by sharing some essential equipment, more fun pieces, and how I find my workouts.
Equipment
- Resistance Bands
- You can set a set from Amazon for $20! This is the set I use – it comes with a door attachment and a chart to show equivalent weights. Resistance bands are great because you can use them for every body area – arms, legs, abs!
- Weights
- We have a set of dumbbells with various weight plates we can add. I usually only use 2- 5 pound weights, but my husband adds more – so we have a few weights to choose from. You can get handles and plates from Amazon. If you just want a pair of dumbbells I would suggest either 5 or 8 pound weights to start. You don’t want to go too heavy and hurt yourself or be sore for days!
- Kettlebells
- Kettlebells are a great weight option because you can use them for weight training or for cardio. Kettlebell swings are a fantastic way to get your HR up if you want to add interval training to your workout. For example, this workout is done completely with kettlebells!
- You!
- You can get a great workout with just your body! Body weight workouts can be done literally anywhere. Check out the 7-minute workout from The New York Times for exercises you can do with a wall and a chair.
- Extras
- Bosu Ball – you can use it for pushups, lunges, squats, ab work, burpees, and more! Standing on either side of the bosu and doing lunges or squats will require extra balance. Balancing = full body toning!
- Medicine Ball – great for ab exercises, overhead presses, or throwing (if you have a solid floor).
Resources
- YouTube is an amazing resource! There are thousands of free workout videos for you to find and watch. Personally I love Fitness Blender – they have thousands of videos targeting every body part you could imagine.
- Bodybuilding.com
- Bodybuilding.com is a great resource for workouts both in the gym and at home. Just search the term “home” to get more great workouts like this one. I follow bodybuilding routines for my weight lifting in the gym to make sure I’m hitting all my muscle groups. Each exercise has an explanation video if you don’t know how to do something = super helpful.
- Instagram is a surprisingly great source of workout videos and routines! I follow these women and love having a variety of workout ideas to choose from.
- Lauren Gleisberg (IG: laurengleisberg // website )
- Tone it Up (IG: toneitup // website )
- Jess Toolson (IG: jesstoolson)
- Love by Lynn (IG: lovebylynn )
I hope this post shows that you can literally workout anywhere! If you don’t want to do weight training (or are looking for other options) walking outside is free and can be done anywhere. You can bundle up and walk in ANY weather – trust me, I’ve walked outside when it’s below 0 in MN 🙂
