With many gyms around the country closing and social distancing a focus of most of the world, many of us are struggling to stay fit and workout at home. Here at Madison Avenue, Inc., we have compiled some of our favorite bodyweight exercises (where you use your own weight to provide resistance against gravity) and free online workout streaming services. Best of all - none of these workouts or ideas require any gym equipment and are totally free!
Just like when working out at the gym, you should develop a warm-up routine before beginning your workout. A warm-up helps to prepare your body for exercise by loosening your joints and increasing body temperature and blood flow to muscles. All of this prepares your body to better execute explosive or sudden movements easily and helps prevent injury and workout soreness from previous workout sessions. Some ideas for warm-ups are an easy walk outside, jogging in place, jumping jacks, butt kickers, and high knees. Once you are warmed up, mix and match from our favorite bodyweight moves, cardio ideas, or pick from any of the links to workouts we have included below.
1. Bodyweight Exercises
2. Cardio Ideas
3. Best Free Streaming Workouts
4. Best Streaming Workout Subscriptions with Free Trials
5. 10 Best Fitness Channels on Youtube
1. Bodyweight Exercises
- Bear Crawl
- Burpees
- Calf Raises
- Crunches (basic, with a twist, reverse, bicycle, sit-ups or checkout 9 Types of Crunches)
- Deadlifts (add any number of household items to add weight, some ideas are canned goods, a gallon of milk, full water bottle, a backpack full of books the possibilities are endless...)
- Dips (use a countertop, chair, a stair or other safe objects around the house, or checkout 5 Dip Exercises You Can Do At Home)
- Donkey Kicks
- Door Frame Rows - grip the sides of the door and pull forward, squeezing shoulder blades, move your feet further forward to increase difficulty, or use a Sheet and Door
- Hip or Glute Bridges (standard, single-leg hold, or with feet on a raised surface)
- Jumping Jacks (try Walking Jacks for a lower impact)
- Lunges (forward, reverse, walking, single leg/balance, pendulum, split squat, curtsy or checkout 11 Lunge Variations)
- Mountain Climbers
- Planks (standard, side, posterior, plank jacks, plank-ups or checkout 12 Plank Types)
- Pull-Ups (basic, wide grip, chin-ups, behind the neck, one arm - use a sturdy door, bars at a playground or public park, tree branch, etc.)
- Push-Ups (traditional, wide grip, close grip or diamond, elevated, decline superman)
- Reverse Push-Ups
- Single-Leg Deadlift (add any number of household items to add weight, some ideas are canned goods, a gallon of milk, full water bottle, a backpack full of books the possibilities are endless...)
- Star Jacks/Jumps
- Step-Ups
- Squats (pulse, single-leg or pistol, squat jumps, sumo, or checkout 7 Types of Squats)
- Wall Sits
2. Cardio Ideas
- Walk or Run up and down the stairs in your house or outside
- Dancing (to make it even more of a workout do any of the bodyweight exercises above during the chorus of each song)
- Tabatas (Tabata workouts are typically hard work for 20 seconds followed by a 10-second rest for eight rounds)
- HIIT (high-intensity work followed by a short rest, similar to Tabatas but the active and rest times can be customized with rest times as long as two minutes)
- Deck of Cards Workout (every suit in a deck of cards is a different exercise when you pull that suit the card value equals the number of reps)
3. Best Free Streaming Workout Services
- Cardio and Strength Workouts:
Fitness Blender - Cardio, Strength, and Stretch
CrossFit - CrossFit including single exercises and drills
Life Time - Cardio, Strength, and Yoga
305 Fitness - Dance Cardio Party
YMCA - Yoga, Barre, Bootcamp, and Tai Chi
Bandier - Free Instagram Live Cardio Dance Classes @bandier
Barry’s - Free Instagram Live Bootcamp Classes @barrys
Planet Fitness - Facebook Live
Crunch Fitness - Crunch Live
- Yoga:
YMCA - Yoga, Barre, Bootcamp, and Tai Chi
Life Time - Cardio, Strength, and Yoga
Y7 Yoga - Free Instagram Live Yoga Classes @y7studio
CorePower Yoga - 10 Free Classes or subscription for unlimited videos
- Barre:
YMCA - Yoga, Barre, Bootcamp, and Tai Chi
Lululemon - Free Instagram Classes @lululemon
- Pilates:
Blogilates - Pilates
4. Best Streaming Workout Subscriptions with Free Trials
- 90 Day Trial:
Peloton - Running, Yoga, Outdoor, Strenght, and Cycling
- 60 Day Trial:
Daily Burn - Full Body, Cardio Strength, Yoga, Barre, Pilates, Cardio Kickboxing, HIIT, Flexibility, and Stretching
- 30 Day Trial:
Down Dog App - Free Yoga, HIIT and Barre classes until May 1, 2020
NEOU - Barre, Stretch, Dance, Cardio, Kick Boxing, and Strength
Fhitting Room - HIIT and Strength
Tone It Up - HIIT, Strenght, and Yoga in the Tone It Up App
ObéFitness - Sculpt, Pilates, Barre, Strength, Dance, HIIT, Cardio Boxing, Dance, and Yoga (use code ATHOME)
- 15 Day Trial:
Pilates Anytime - Over 3,000 Pilates
Barre3 - Barre
- 14 Day Trial:
The Sculpt Society - Cardio and Sculpting
Beachbody - Yoga, Pilates, Cardio, HIIT, and Strength
YogaWorks - Yoga
The Bar Method - Barre
- 7 Day Trial:
Dance Body - Dance, and Cardio
Physique 57 - Cardio, Strength, and Stretch
Fit Body - Cardio, Strength, and Stretch
SkyTing - Yoga
Aaptive - Audio Personal Trainer App
5. 10 Best Fitness Channels on Youtube
- Les Mills - Cardio, Dance, HIIT, and Bodycombat
- Popsugar Fitness - Cardio, Dance, and Workouts by Body Part
- Blogilates - POP Pilates, PIIT28, Bootcamp, and Sculpting Workouts
- HASfit - HIIT, Low Impact, and Workouts by Body Part
- Fitness Blender - Cardio HIIT, Workouts by Body Part, and Puppy Workouts
- NateBowerFitness - HIIT, Boxing, and 20 Minute Workouts
- Roberta’s Gym - Full Body Workouts, Workouts by Body Part, and HIIT
- Yoga with Adriene - You guessed it...Yoga
- The Fitness Marshall - Dance Workouts
- Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home - Low Impact, Cardio, and Walking
Whether you are looking for some ways to change up your regular workouts or recently made a commitment to getting fit or working on your fitness, working out at home lets you save the commute to the gym, exercise when you want, and go at your own pace. Working out releases endorphins that make us feel better and reduces stress, so it is just as important as ever to make it a priority.
Looking for advice on what equipment to add to your home gym to pump up your workout? Checkout our blog Best Home Workout Equipment -Tips for Staying Fit Without a Gym!