Short home gym workout to keep you in your prime
Getting to a gym for your strength work is becoming nigh on impossible for some. With many facilities closed, the gym workout has become very challenging. Here we offer you ideas for a home gym workout with some simple exercises that are sure to push you to your limits and all within 30 minutes. This HIIT (high intensity interval training) circuit is sure to see you improve your all-round fitness.
Be sure to warm up and loosen up the key muscles and finish with some stretching at the end. The exercises are aimed to address all key muscle areas relevant for runners.
Plank - Something to strengthen your abdominals, your trunk, and your lower back, the plank is a great isometric workout that will benefit a robust upright posture for when you are running efficiently to a new PB. If you can hold a plank position for one minute without crumbling or popping your bum too high then you are in pretty good shape.
Squats - Squats are key exercise for the majority of sports. In one simple move, you are working on three major muscle groups: your quadriceps, your glutes and your hamstrings. In bare feet you will also develop proprioception in the foot muscles to aid balance and agility further.
The great thing about squats is that your own body weight is the resistance, and you should start at a level that suits your fitness. As you get fitter and improve your ability to keep you feet flat throughout the squat, you can go low and further increasing eth resistance. Keep the knees aligned so you don’t collapse inwards.
Press-ups - Ideal for the chest, torso, shoulders and triceps, press-ups, are great as an all round conditioning exercise. Although it may be easier to do these with a wide press aim for tucked elbows and lowering your chest to the ground. If this proves too demanding then do the press from the first (or event a second) step, while maintaining a straight line from shoulders to heels.
Lunges - Lunges work out the hamstrings, the glutes, the abdominals, the quads and again if done barefooted will help with proprioception while also opening up any shoe shaped feet.
Burpees - Burpees are an outstanding exercise to a full body experience that tests your entire cardiovascular system. It's best to try these while fresh because they are an overall full body workout. A full burpee combines a press up followed by a star jump and then repeated. This will get the blood pumping and heart rate up along with some deep lung bursting breaths.
Single leg RDL - This is a key exercise for building stable glute and hip muscles and again in bare feet additional gain are to be had. With a slightly flexed knee, hinge forwards slowly in a controlled manner so that there is an almost straight line from shoulder to the free leg behind you. Then return to a standing position and switch legs.
Top Tips
Maintain good technique throughout.
Start the first set at a comfortable pace, you can always work harder in 2nd or 3rd set.
If you feel too tired to maintain good technique, just do the exercises that you can maintain effectively and just aim to do a set number for each challenge.
Most mobile phones have an effective large display timer
THE WORKOUT
20” on 40” off
Burpee Plank Lunge Press up Single leg RDL Squats
Then 3’ rest
REPEAT for 30” on 30” off 3’ rest
REPEAT for 20” on 40” off Don'f forget to hydrate with water and finish with a protein shake or other recovery drink.
For the super-fit there are progressions including:
Increasing the time of efforts by 5” increments or you could aim to work harder within the usual time.
Or
Simple lunges could become jumping lunges
The plank could become a round the clock plank, where you lift right hand, then left hand, right foot, left foot for 5” at a time.
Press ups could be done with feet on a step (or two)
Squats could become squat jumps
Enjoy the endorphins and the rush of getting yourselves fitter this winter!
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