Workout Tips
TIPS FOR WORKING OUT FROM HOME:
- Dedicate a space that will provide enough focus and room to do your workout
- Push yourself to get the results you want
- Be creative and substitute equipment you have available to use at the Y. While these aren’t perfect replacements, they’ll help keep you in shape:
- Your Body Weight: You can use your body weight for all types of strengthening and toning exercises.
- Milk Jugs: One full gallon of a milk jug weighs about 8.5 pounds. Perfect for an arm workout.
- Laundry Detergent Bottles: Laundry detergent bottles are good weight alternatives. A 72-ounce bottle weighs about 5 pounds.
- Stairs are great for cardio. If you’ve got stairs in your home, you can get a cardio workout just walking up and down them a few times. Carry around any heavy objects while you do, and you’ve added weight resistance. It’s simple but effective.
- Use a stable chair for three workouts
- Dips- Place hands on both front corners of the seat, extend your legs, bend your elbows to lower yourself down, then straighten your arms to raise yourself back up.
- Incline push-ups-lowering your chest to the chair, then raise yourself back up.
- Decline push-ups – your feet are on the chair instead of your hands. By performing multiple types of push-ups, you’re blasting all of those chesticles. Loading a backpack up with weight adds intensity to exercises. This can be added on your walk, pushups, etc.
- On a wall, you can do a wall push-up
- A towel is another person’s resistance band. Use a towel to help with stretching or for an arm workout.
- Your workout should contain five main components:
- Warm-up—something to get your body ready for your workout. It could be an easy walk or slow pace on a bike.
- Cardio—an activity you enjoy that gets your heart rate up, like jogging, step aerobics, or jumping rope.
- Strength-building—resistance exercises to help build and tone your muscles. Try squats, pushups, bicep curls, or leg presses.
- Flexibility—increase flexibility with yoga and stretching.
- Cooldown—similar to your warm-up; bring your heart rate down
- Remember, some activity is better than ceasing it during this time!