Fall months are often active for many families with schools starting back and outdoor sports and activities keeping many busy. One of the easiest ways to stay consistent with your exercise regimen without a gym membership is to work out at home.
Here are five ways to stay consistent if at-home workouts are your only way to go this fall.
- Create a split workout schedule each week in a time frame you can stick to.
Example: If you know you’re an alarm snoozer, pick afternoon times that you’ll be able to stay accountable with and you won’t cancel on yourself. If you’re an early riser, lay your materials out the night before and get up an hour earlier – or however long you need to finish your workout – and do so before your day starts. Getting a workout and/or nutrition journal or schedule to help keep you on track will help keep you disciplined.
- Hire a trainer or someone who can develop a regimen for you to follow if you need assistance creating workouts for yourself.
Designing a workout plan around your personal goals, advancements and needs will help keep you accountable. Finding a local or online trainer to work with you or create a plan for you is simple and often easier than creating workouts on your own. Consider options with local gyms that have people who make home workout plans specifically.
- Find exercises that benefit your personal goals and can be modified if they’re too challenging if you’re creating or searching for workout routines for yourself.
As you progress, you can eventually be pushed to a more advanced level.
Example: If you can’t do a strict push-up, start with modified push-ups from your knees and add repetitions and rounds (volume) to increase your depth and control within your push-up. Over time, you’ll eventually be able to move your modified movement to a strict movement. If you can already do a strict push-up, add an inverted, reverted position, or change your hand placement to increase the level of difficulty.
- Try Tabata rounds if cardio is boring, and you’d like to utilize different cardiovascular options.
Tabata is doing different types of exercises for specified times with minimal rest.
Example: Create a round of four exercises – they can be anything: scissor kicks, free squats, high knees and jumping jacks might be four I’d choose. Do each exercise for 30-45 seconds and give yourself a 10-second rest to transfer to the next exercise. Do all four exercises and then repeat for three-five rounds! You can do this with multiple sets of exercises and even add bands or weights if you have them.
- Exercise with someone to have fun and stay accountable.
Watch them on YouTube or online, share your workout with a friend or even have a family member participate. HIIT cardio exercises are some of the best workout exercise options to add to your workout routine or split! Interval training at intense rates burns excessive amounts of calories because of the minimum rest and maximum effort in keeping your heart rate high. Adding a HIIT cardio exercise after a strength-training movement is a quick superset option to keep your conditioning levels high and increase your endurance over time.
Any of these recommendations can be modified with small dumbbells or even water bottles to increase intensity.
Always have clearance with your doctor before trying new workout programs, especially if you have any pre-existing cardiac or other health issues.
Make sure your workout environment is safe and precautions are taken to prevent injuries. If any issues occur, contact your doctor or health care professional.
