5 Workouts You Can Do at Home Without Equipment

By Emy Rodriguez Flores for Sand.

Working out can be a way to reduce stress and keep your body healthy. Releasing endorphins by working out is scientifically proven and many people travel to their nearest gyms or exercise centers to work it out. What happens if there is a global pandemic occurring and we’re all told to stay home? The fancy machines at our gyms are most likely not in our homes and that expensive trainer isn’t there to motivate you along the way.

How do we keep from binge watching TV shows for days or eating our way through the weekend without the motivation just stepping into the gym gives us. The simple answer is: the gym is anywhere you want it to be. Burpees and lunges are done without any assistance really so why can’t we do them at home? On Top of the multiple exercises you can do without machines, there are ways to mimic the gym atmosphere with just your music library and a yoga mat. Check out our top five workouts you can do at home without any equipment. Summer is not canceled so if you’re trying to get that bod, you might as well start now.

Utilize the Floor

You can do a lot with just your own body weight and the floor. Next time you’re in your living room, try doing some push ups, squat jumps, hip rotations or even front planks. Depending how clean your floor is, you can pretty much work out the essentials. We don’t recommend this practice for someone who wants to build muscle or practices bodybuilding. Lifting your own muscles gets you in shape, but won’t give you Jason Mamoa’s body in Aquaman.  

Finding Weights in the Kitchen

Have you ever bought too many groceries and had to carry them home in one trip? The soreness your arms feel is the same soreness they would feel lifting weights next to some grunting human at the gym. If you’re like the rest of the world right now, you’ve panic bought some crisis-unrelated item like toilet paper and now have more than you can use in a year. Take advantage and use those extra packs as a 20-pound bar and curl it for a few reps. Find things that have good grips like large cans or an oversized bag of rice to make sure you’re not taking on more than you can handle. Next time you raid your pantry, look for paper towels and imagine them to be foam rollers. A trip to the kitchen for dinner can turn into a 20-minute yoga session and we’re not mad at that.

Find Virtual Classes 

If you’re the type of person that needs more motivation to work out, check out some free online classes. YouTube has a plethora of them, but some gyms are proactively hosting online classes during shut-in times. “Home Work-Ins” by Planet Fitness are a series of free classes that are streamed live on Planet Fitness’ Facebook page. Starting at 7pm EST every day, classes are led by certified trainers and on occasion special guests. If that time doesn’t work for you, they record their sessions for later broadcast on their Youtube channel. 

Download a Health and Wellness App

There are plenty of apps for your smart watches that fit a whole series of different criteria. The best ones are subjective, but if you’re looking for one of the best, try Aaptiv. It’s been highly rated and has a great mix of different activities you can try during your next workout.  

Workout Your Mental Muscles

“The issues I think most people face right now are stress, anxiety, fear of the unknown, financial instability or loss, fear of financial loss, loneliness at home and lack of connection to others which all influence the immune system. Says Tiffany Cruikshank, founder of Yoga Medicine®. 

My tip is that you need to note the importance of self care right now. From mindful eating, good sleep quality, movement to pump lymphatics to support immunity, gratitude practices to neutralize fear/anxiety and stress management.”

The most important workout you can do at home is making sure you’re mentally sound. Try giving yourself some mental days doing something you enjoy. Don’t get overwhelmed by being guaranteed or stuck at home. Take advantage of the time and practice healthy mental and physical exercises not as a distraction, but a goal with rewards.