5 Workouts that you can do anywhere!
Last month we talked about building a proper support team around you to help attain your goals and keep on track. This month we switch gears and bring the focus back to you, because in the end, it is still up to you to make a commitment to getting healthier. Time or lack thereof can be one of the biggest road blocks to a healthy lifestyle, but it doesn’t have to be. Life can be hectic and the demands of work and family can de-rail even the best of us. So for many of us, devoting an hour or two to going to the gym (not including travel and a shower!) is just not going to happen. The good news is that 15-30 minutes of high intensity exercise everyday can be enough to improve your health. Even if time is not your excuse, there are many people who either can’t afford a costly gym membership or just don’t want to go to a gym. Fitness centers can be intimidating to newbies who are unsure of what they are doing or perhaps insecure about their body image. The good news is that you don’t need a gym to get healthy. With a little effort, determination, and imagination you can turn just about anywhere into your own personal fitness centre. Best of all these workouts require almost no equipment. So the next time you find yourself with no time or no gym, try these workouts:
@ THE PLAYGROUND: BUILD MUSCLE, BURN FAT ALL WHILE YOUR KIDS HAVE FUN!
Equipment needed: Monkey bars and a park bench
Workout: 5 rounds with 1 minute rest between each round of exercise
- 5 pull ups or chin ups (use the monkey bars)
- 10 pushups (incline or decline on the bench)
- 20 step ups (step up to the bench from the ground then back down, 10 each leg)
- 30 Jumping Jacks
- 40 Bicycles (sit on the edge of the bench and move your legs like riding a bicycle)
@ THE BEACH: HIT THE BEACH AND GET THAT BEACH BODY!
Equipment needed: Just the beach! The sand and the water are the resistance
Workout: 5 rounds for time (try to beat the time of the previous round of exercises)
- 10 broad jumps (jump forward as far as you can, hop back to the start)
- 20 walking lunges (10 per leg)
- 30 mountain climbers (on hands and feet, “run” in place, driving the knees to the chest)
- 10 second sprint (Sprint in the water or the sand for a different challenge)
- 20 second meter crab walk (crawl on hands and feet, facing up, keep those hips high!)
- 30 second bear crawl (crawl on hands and feet, facing down)
@ THE HOTEL: DON’T LET TRAVEL BE AN EXCUSE!
Equipment needed: Hotel bed and chair, your luggage
Workout: As many rounds as you can in 20 minutes
- 10 triceps dips (feet on bed, hands on edge of chair, straight arms, bend the elbows to dip)
- 10 rotating toe touches (standing like a star, rotate/bend forward touching one hand to opposite foot)
- 10 plank to pushups (start in plank, elbows under shoulders, move into a pushup then back to plank)
- 10 luggage rows (using one or both arms, bend at waist, pull luggage off the floor and back down)
- 10 split jumps (stagger feet, hop and switch feet in the air, land and repeat)
@ THE OFFICE: WORKING LATE? TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR LUNCH BREAK!
Equipment needed: Resistance band, desk and chair
Workout: 1 minute of each exercise, finish with 5 minutes of stair climbing (running or walking)
- Resistance band biceps curls (band under feet elbows at sides, pull hands up to shoulders and down)
- Air squats (bodyweight squat, bend at hips and knees, remember the knees don’t go past the toes)
- Resistance band overhead press (band under feet, hands at shoulders, press hands to the sky)
- Calf raises (lift heels off ground; try to hold 1 second, before returning to the ground)
- Resistance band good mornings (band under feet, hands close to chest, bend at hips, keep back flat)
- Desk pushups (hands on edge of desk, the further you walk the feet back the harder the exercise)
- Chair knee raises (sitting on edge of chair, push legs out to straight then pull legs back to chest)
@ THE HOUSE: SWEAT AWAY IN YOUR OWN HOME!
Equipment needed: Yoga mat
Workout: Tabattas (8 sets of 20 seconds hard effort with 10 seconds rest) Complete all 8 sets of each exercise, before moving onto the next exercise
- Walk outs (from standing, bend forward and walk your hands to the end of the mat and back)
- Bridges (laying down face up, knees bent, pull hips into the air squeezing the glutes)
- Burpees (standing, bend knees bring hands to ground, kick legs out to push up, stand up, jump, repeat)
- Wall Squats (hold body against wall with hips and knees bent to 90o)
- Planks (on ground, with elbows under shoulders, raise hips so they are at the same height as shoulders)
