Whether you have to workout at home by choice, force, or lack of resources, I am here to help you get the MOST out of your training.
I personally loathe working out at home. But that deep hatred stems mainly from my current lack of equipment. The barbell is by far my fav piece of iron – and a barbell, I do not have.
Good news for you – the tips from today apply whether you have some equipment at home or not.
For better adherence (sticking to your actual workouts):
Having a solid at home program is step one. Let’s be honest. You’re not going to want to workout everyday. It is ideal if you can remove the barrier of having to come up with your own workout ideas. Having a program does that. Hopefully one you enjoy.
Whether you have a program, like Built By Annie AT HOME or Body Weight For Weight Lifters to follow or not, I suggest these four ideas for better adherence to your workouts:
- Create a “space” (in a room or section of a room, patio, the garage)
- Stick to a schedule (have a time of day or predictable schedule – this also provides structure to your day if you’re working from home)
- Be open to “movement” breaks (have children at home? Or working from home? split your workout into three smaller parts. YES, it still counts)
- Focus on performance goals (work on skills and try to make things FUN. This helps to keep efficacy higher).
To make a workout more challenging:
With the same load or without weight, we can make an exercise more difficult by INCREASING TIME UNDER TENSION (“TUT”).
TUT is literally just the amount of time within a set or over the course of a session that a given muscle group is under tension (eccentric, concentric or isometric).
Three ways we can increase TUT are (you already know we use these inside Built By Annie):
- Slow down tempo (more time in eccentric (lowering) or concentric phases).
- Increase reps (equals more total volume – add 2 to 5 reps each set for example).
- Increasing range of motion (pull from a deficit, push ups from a deficit, elevate the heels in squats and sit lower, lots of options here).
You can do one or a combination of those. And that would act as a way to practice progressive overload in your training.
[Especially if you’re at home. Like me, for all eternity, because gyms will open never. IT’S FINE].
Remember that is while keeping the load the same or no weight at all (which is still “keeping the load constant”).
If you’re working out from home, with body weight or dumbbells and limited equipment, use these tips to *potentially* improve your training.
And, if you’re looking to improve your mobility + core strength, then you might as well download my FREE 3 Day Mobility + Core Resource, ya know?
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