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Take care of yourself with these easy exercises

Lifestyle tips and tricks Exercise is necessary to keep your body healthy. But with gyms closed, and restrictions on going out, how do you stay fit? Do not worry. We list a few easy and effective exercises to do at home for toning your body and burning those extra calories.

Take care of yourself with these easy exercises

7 Minute |

Easy exercise at home

home workout

The days when home workouts were met with scepticism are behind us. Their popularity has surged, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. The importance of workouts and health regimes cannot be stressed enough.

Many individuals find gym environments uncomfortable for various reasons. If you are one of them, this is your guide for ensuring you can best stay fit and have a healthy home workout.

Home workouts can be fun and challenging, depending on your level of expertise. You can start with easy and simple workouts, building your way up to more repetitions and variations.

There is a mindset to go to the gym mostly because of the projection that you need those machines to work out. A common misconception is that the heavier the weights, the more you would have worked out and the only way to build muscles. This may be true primarily for professional bodybuilders. For most of you, where the goal is to stay fit and achieve a certain weight and health goals, it can easily be done at home. You need to know how by following this:

Use Your Body Weight

Your biggest asset is your body. Whatever you weigh, you can use it for a great workout. Full body exercises at home include strength training exercises that use your weight to provide resistance against gravity.

Simple abilities like pulling, pushing, bending, squatting, twisting, and balancing form an exercise. Body weight exercises increase and enhance strength, coordination, flexibility, and balance. Without using any equipment, you can work up a great sweat.

Some of the most effective exercises using body weight are given below:

Press-up

A press-up, also called a push-up, strengthens your arms and chest muscles. It aids in muscle development and enhances upper body strength.

  • A conventional press-up is executed by lying face down on the floor with your toes touching the floor and placing your hands slightly wider than your shoulders.
  • Use your arms to push yourself up, extending them completely while keeping your legs and back straight.
  • Bring your body down by bending your elbows until your body is parallel to the floor, with your chest just about touching the floor, and pause there.
  • Push yourself back up again.
  • Repeat this movement.

If you are looking for exercise for beginners, a push-up can be a great way to start. You can start by balancing yourself on your knees instead of your toes. This is called a half press-up. Using your arms, lift yourself off the floor, balance on your knees, and maintain a straight back. Lower your body till your upper body is almost parallel to the floor by bending at the elbows, pause and push yourself up again.

To start with, you can aim to do 5 to 10 repetitions. Once you get the hang of it, you can increase the number by breaking it into sets. One set can have 10 to 15 repetitions. You can aim to do 3 to 5 sets gradually.

Burpees

A burpee or a squat thrust is an exercise that combines a squat and a push-up, ending in a standing position. This is the mother of all bodyweight exercises, guaranteed to leave you breathless in minutes, making you wonder if you signed up for a marathon. Burpees are usually executed rapidly, making you more agile and coordinating your movements. This is a great strength builder as well.

Here's how to perform a traditional burpee:

  • Begin by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart. Keep your back straight and your arms at your sides.
  • Transition into a squat position and place your hands on the floor.
  • Kick back with your legs to come into a plank position where now your body is parallel to the floor.
  • Execute a press-up, then return to the plank position.
  • Jump or step forward to resume the squat position.
  • Come back to the standing position by adding an explosive jump and gently landing on your feet.

As a beginner, you can start to step back instead of kicking back your legs from the squat position. Similarly, you can step forward into the squat position. You can also simply return to standing by avoiding the jump. Once you get the movements right, you can add the jumps in the required places.

You can begin this home workout exercise with 5 to 10 burpees and slowly build that into sets. A set of 10 done 3 to 5 times can give a workout as good as running for half an hour.

Spiderman Press-Up

To add a little variation to the regular press-up, try the spiderman press-up. You definitely will feel like the superhero you already are! This twist to the classic exercise will help you build more strength in your triceps, deltoids, upper pectorals, and forearms. Furthermore, this home workout enhances core strength, flexibility, and stability.

The spiderman press-up invites you to hold the bottom position of the classic press-up and then move one knee toward the corresponding side’s elbow. Here is a break up of the moves:

  • Start in the classic press-up position with your face on the floor and hands slightly wider than the shoulders to move to the high plank position.
  • Begin to lower your body by bending your elbows and lifting one foot off the ground to rotate your leg such that the knee is bent and the inside is facing the floor. Follow the motion through to let that knee touch the corresponding elbow.
  • Return the leg to its starting position by retracing the movement. Push back up to the high plank position.
  • Repeat the same on the other side.

This exercise also targets your abs, lower back, quads, and hip flexors. Spiderman press-up is an exercise for someone with a good level of fitness. You can aim to graduate to this once you have mastered the classic press-up.

A set of 10 repetitions is a good place to start from. You can build up to 3 to 5 sets.

Bodyweight Glute Bridge

Glute bridge is a simple at home workouts for beginners where you lie down on your back and thrust your hips upwards. It will help increase glute strength and core stability while improving lower back health. When you do the glute bridges daily, you work on your form and function. This helps you in performing other exercises better. This exercise stretches your gluteus maximus and hamstrings along with the transverse abdominis, the deepest of your six abdominal muscles.

To reap the benefits of the glute bridge exercise in your home workout:

  • Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and positioned shoulder-width apart. Ensure your toes point directly forward. Rest your arms on either side of your body.
  • Tuck your hips inwards and slowly raise your hips as high as possible. Hold it in that position for a couple of moments while engaging your glutes by tightening it and squeezing your abdomen muscles.
  • Make sure you don't arch your back as you lift it. The perfect glute bridge position is when your elevated hips make a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
  • Gently lower your hips back to the start position without letting go of the tension in your glutes and abs.
  • Repeat the same.

Build up to a repetition of 10 to 15. Slowly add 3 to 5 sets to your daily exercise routine.

Calf raises

Incorporating calf raises into your body exercise at home targets the triceps surae, tibialis posterior, and peroneal muscles of the lower leg. The movement also exercises your ankles, leading to ankle extension. Training calf muscles improve ankle stability and overall balance

It is a great way to finish off your home exercise routine with calf raises.
  • Start by standing upright with your feet hip-width apart and toes facing forward. You can hold onto a wall for balance if necessary.
  • Lift your heels as high as possible, holding the position for a few seconds.
  • Gently lower your heels back to the starting position. But don’t land completely on your heels. Keep them hovering over the ground.
  • Push your body once again on your heels and repeat the process.

You can do this exercise for 15 to 20 counts. 3 to 5 sets should be more than enough to give your calves a good workout. Other variation includes doing calf raises on one foot at a time. Using a wall for support, balance yourself on one foot and push off that heel to work out the calf muscle. Repeat 10 to 15 times before switching the foot.

Cardio at Home

Cardio exercises are important to keep excessive weight at bay. This type of exercise at home can increase your stamina and fitness as well as boost your mood. It also helps your body use oxygen more efficiently, which in turn helps your heart and lungs. A cardio workout at home is as effective as outdoors or at a gym. Remember to warm up properly before trying the following home cardio workouts:

Skipping

This exercise will take you back to your childhood. Who would have imagined that all those hours of jumping rope could translate into an effective home workout? In case you never got a chance to do that, now is your chance to discover that child in you.

Skipping exercise involves coordinated jumps over a rope you hold in both hands. The rope is swung repeatedly over the head and under the feet. You can set the speed of the jumps. The faster you swing the rope, the faster you will have to jump over the rope. Missing the time would result in you missing the jump. Don’t worry about that, you can just restart and build the speed up. Ensure you land gently on your feet after jumping and focus on landing on the ball of the feet.

Skipping improves coordination and balance, toning your calves, strengthening your core, and boosting your lung capacity.

Many variations in skipping can challenge you. You can start by jumping with both feet and transitioning into jumping with one foot to even crossing your hands to cross the rope and jump!

You can decide the duration of the counts for this exercise. Starting anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes or 30 to 100 counts a set, you can take a call on how many times you want to repeat it. Set intervals as required. Build up the pace and track how you progress over a period of time.

Box Jumps

Box jumps can be an interesting alternative for your workout at home. You need a sturdy box to hold your weight - like a commercially available plyo box. You can also substitute it with a bench, a chair, a stool, or couch. The item you choose needs to be strong and sturdy, with good balance and a flat surface. Ensure it remains stable and doesn't tip over during this exercise.

To start with:
  • Stand in front of the box at a gap of one foot with feet at shoulder width distance.
  • Bend your knees and move your hips back while swinging your arms behind you to give you a sense of momentum.
  • Use this momentum from your quarter squat to explode from the balls of your feet to propel you to jump upward and forward onto the surface of the box. Depending on the height of the box, you can land in a squat position or stand up straight with slightly bent knees. Move your hands in the front for balance.
  • Step down from the box onto the starting position.
  • Repeat the process.

Jogging

Yes, you can jog even at home without using any kind of treadmill or any other machine. Jogging, as an exercise at home gives you a good workout and leaves you feeling invigorated. Jogging is essentially running at a slow and leisurely pace. The idea behind jogging is to maintain a speed slower than running but faster than walking for longer. This form of cardio workout increases physical fitness but with lesser stress on the body that comes from running.

If you are blessed with a lot of space at home, you can jog all over your home, maintaining a steady speed. If you have a space restriction, then you can do spot jogging.

Stand with your feet hip distance apart. Lift one foot and then the other, placing it in the same place. Doing it repeatedly and slowly increasing the tempo increases your heart rate to achieve the desired workout.

Starting with 3 to 5 minutes and slowly building up the time to 20 to 30 minutes will be a great addition to your home workout routine.

Strength Training at Home

Home workout tends to be more enjoyable when you constantly challenge yourself to do better. A workout plan for beginners at home should also incorporate strength training. You can invest in a few dumbbells to raise your bar. Order yourself weights from a beginner level to move up to an intermediary as you progress. With a couple of weight variations, you can find amazing results in yourself. You can simply increase the sets to achieve muscle fatigue instead of going in for heavier weights. Below are a few challenging strength training exercises:

Dumbbell floor press

The dumbbell floor press works on your shoulders, chest, and triceps. It is an effective exercise to enhance arm strength and build muscle mass.

  • Start by sitting on the floor, positioning the dumbbells vertically alongside your arms.
  • Maintain a tight grip while picking up the dumbbells and placing them on your hips.
  • Slowly lay on your back while keeping the dumbbells close to your chest and your legs bent at the knees. When you are on your back, your feet must be shoulder-width apart and bent at the knees with the toes facing forward. The dumbbells are resting on your chest.
  • Press the dumbbells to fully extend your arms straight up to the ceiling by contracting your triceps and chest
  • Slowly lower the dumbbells until both elbows touch the floor at the same time and then press both dumbbells back into the upright start position.
  • This is one repetition. You can start by doing 10 to 15 repetitions and increasing the number of sets. As you progress, you can either switch to heavier dumbbells or increase the number of sets.

While finishing off, gently set the dumbbells on the side by not requiring too much effort in the shoulders.

Dumbbell calf raise

The benefits of doing calf raises are already listed above. To put a little more oomph in your calves, you can raise the bar by adding dumbbell calf raises to your home workout routine. Incorporating dumbbells into calf raises introduces added resistance, elevating the challenge of the exercise.

Here is how you perform the dumbbell calf raises:
  • Take a weight of your choice in each weight. Start with lesser weight, to begin with. Stand up straight with your feet facing forward with a hip-width distance between them.
  • Slightly bend your knees, keeping your hands at your sides. Raise your heels by pressing the balls of your feet into the ground.
  • You should move your body upwards until you’re standing on your toes.
  • Maintain this position for a few moments, then gently lower your heels to the starting position. Do not completely place your heels on the ground, just allow them to hover slightly.
  • Repeat the steps.
  • You can slowly make it more challenging by doing this exercise standing on one leg at a time. This is very effective in giving an isolated workout to the calf muscles.

Start with 10 to 15 repetitions and slowly build up the number of sets you add to this exercise.

Bicep curl

Bicep curls or dumbbell curls help you in building more strength in your upper arms. It also helps in building upper arm muscles. Bicep curls strengthen your elbow flexion and improve your grip strength. Some other benefits of bicep curls include boosting athletic performance and helping in doing daily activities better.

  • Begin with lighter dumbbells in each hand, standing upright with your feet shoulder-width apart and arms at your sides.
  • Lift the dumbbells by bending the elbows and getting the dumbbells up to your shoulders. Make sure your elbows are close to your body, but not touching or resting on your body and your upper arms are stationary. Only your forearms should move.
  • When the dumbbells reach shoulder level, gradually lower your arms back to the starting position.
  • Repeat the steps.

Ensure your knee and elbow joints remain relaxed. Engage your core, keep your palms facing forward, and exhale as you lift the dumbbells. Always maintain a straight back, shoulders rolled back, and head held high.

A set of 10 to 15 repetitions is a good place to start. Build it to 3 to 5 sets and then transition to heavier weights to make it more challenging.

Dumbbell standing shoulder press

Shoulder press exercises increase the strength and size of the shoulder, triceps, and trapezius muscles, while also increasing the strength of your core muscles, including your lower back. This home workout also involves the lower body since it requires stabilisation to perform the exercise effectively.

  • Grab a dumbbell in each hand and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Raise the dumbbells to shoulder height; this is your starting position for the exercise.
  • The dumbbells are held with an overhand grip and palms facing in the front.
  • Press the dumbbells overhead until your arms fully extend.
  • Gradually return to the starting position.
  • Repeat the movements.

Be mindful that you don’t arch your back. If you are leaning forward or backwards, you can switch to lighter dumbbells. Keeping the core engaged will ensure your form is right and you get the maximum benefits from this home exercise.

A good home workout routine includes bodyweight, cardio, and strength training. You can pick a couple of exercises from each category daily. Or you can break it up into dedicating one day for each category and repeat the cycle. As you advance, ramp up the number of sets. Remember to incorporate rest days. Always tune into your body's signals and adjust the pace accordingly. You will soon see visible results and enjoy a healthier body and life.

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