Working from home, under quarantine, maybe one of the best times to focus on your health and fitness. Going from running to catch the tube to move with your laptop from the bedroom to the living room is a pretty drastic change in your daily body movement. There are plenty of at home workouts available via IGTV, apps or videos on the internet and with the vast choice of exercises, routine and equipment – it can get a little hazy as to what works and what doesn’t. Everyone’s body is different and various exercises work in different ways for everyone. Compound exercises are exercises which work more than one muscle in your body and can mostly be done at home without any equipment. So if you’re struggling to get moving, these exercises will recharge your energy, help with weight loss and boost your endorphins.
Burpees
The best way to sweat and add dynamics to your routine is by adding burpees to your routine. It’s a great way to get your muscles to move because you are using more than five muscles which include arms, legs, glutes, chest, abs and hamstrings. Burpees improve your cardiovascular fitness while working major muscle groups, giving you a full-body exercise.
Squat Press
Most commonly, the squat press is done with dumbbells, however, you can use heavy items around the house to replace them like water bottles or books. Squat press works your entire body, targeting muscles in your arms, shoulders, legs and back. There can be many variations of this exercise like squat press without any equipment or squat curl press. Adding this exercise to your routine will help you target your aerobic and anaerobic strength in your shoulders and arms, along with other major muscles.
Lunge
These are the most commonly used exercises to target lower body muscles. Lunges are such a great way to get a lower body workout because there are so many variations that you can adapt them to. You can walk lunge, reverse lunge, lateral lunge, alternating lateral lunge and so many more. Lunges target your hamstrings, quads and other muscles in your legs – helping to sculpt and tone your legs.
Press Up
The toughest of body weight exercises, press ups, mostly target your chest, however you’re also working out your triceps and core. They can enhance your cardiovascular system as you engage various muscles simultaneously, making your heart pump faster. Variations of the press up (if you can’t do a full one) includes press ups with your knees on the floor. They also improve your posture and a strong stance in press ups helps prevent lower back injury.
Box Crawl
Box crawl or bear crawl doesn’t need any equipment and works your core muscles just like the plank. This is one of the easiest exercises to do at home because you don’t need any equipment and it is a compound exercise so you are essentially working your shoulders, arms and glutes. Box crawl is a good exercise to build your core strength and muscles.
Written by: Mona Azam