Best Non-Equipment Exercises To Do At Home
You don’t have to make any more excuses for skipping a workout because you just can’t be bothered to go to the gym. Maybe the gym isn’t worth the money to you, or maybe you’re just starting your fitness journey, or maybe you’re short on time but still want to burn those calories. Whatever the reason is, you can easily do these workouts in the comfort of your own home and on the plus side, they don’t require any equipment although you could add some if you fancy. Here are some of the best non-equipment exercises to do at home!
Burpees
I know you’re probably cursing right now because burpees are rarely on anyone’s workout list. Here’s the thing though, they work! Burpees get your heart rate pumping quickly allowing you to burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time. You don’t need any type of equipment, just your body and will-power to push through it!
Try doing sets of burpees in interval times such as 20 seconds on and 20 seconds off or 30 on 30 off. You can build up your times as your strength and stamina increase. There are many variations you can add to your burpees too. You can add a push-up at the bottom of your burpee, or cut out the jump and add a calf raise or a knee to elbow twist to engage your core.
I promise you, the results of adding in burpees to your workout are so beneficial. They increase your stamina, allowing you to go longer, harder and they get your blood pumping!
Push-ups
Push-ups are a great calisthenics workout that works out many of your major muscle groups in your arms, chest, and core. This is one of the best non-equipment exercises you can do in your home to strengthen and tone your arms and chest. With a background in cheer, we were made to do many bodyweight exercises and this was the main one.
However, after stopping for years then trying a push-up again, I could barely do one. If you need to ease your way into a full push-up (like I had to), go for an inclined push-up first and built up your strength from there, then you can go to your knees and then eventually to your feet. There are numerous variations of push-ups as well. As your strength builds you can scaffold each variation to keep things fun and different. No one likes a boring workout!
Bulgarian Split Squats
All you need for this workout is either a chair, stool or sometimes I use my coffee table. This as such a burner of an exercise, and it burns fast! This exercise does require balance and proper form to avoid knee injury.
Make sure that your knee is right above your ankle and that your back knee drops straight down behind you. You don’t want too much weight on your back leg or too much extension forward. Also, you only want to place the top of your foot (shoelaces only) on the chair, stool or bench.
This is one of the best non-equipment exercises for your glutes and hamstrings. Due to the balancing this exercise requires, you’re using more of the surrounding muscles to hold yourself up. As a bonus, you’re contracting your abdominal muscles to hold yourself upright, which creates an ab and glute workout in one!
Jump Squats
This exercise used to be the most dreaded on my workout circuits, but now I love them! Similar to burpees, this exercise gets your heart-rate going in just a short amount of time. These allow you to burn more than you would with just regular squats because you are exerting a lot more effort and force into the exercise.
After a few of these your lower half will start to burn, but remember that’s a good thing! That means you’re toning and strengthening the muscles being worked. This exercise is great for your cardiovascular system! They burn more fat, build muscle and even help with your balance and mobility.
Try starting with regular squats, adding in a jump squat in-between if these are a bit intense. Then add more and more until you can complete a timed interval or 15-20 through.
Glute Bridges and Hip Thrusts
These exercises are the holy grails for your booty and building it! There is a difference between the two. Glute bridges are done on the floor, where you just lift your glutes and lower back off the ground. Hip thrusts are when your upper back is elevated and you lower and lift your glutes and lower back up and down.
You can do these anywhere which makes them such a great workout when you’re at home, in a hotel, or at the park. This targets the glutes and hamstrings, creating that lift and rounded shape of the booty. You can add in variations such as, lifting one leg or opening and closing your legs at the top of the lift to work the outer glutes as well. This exercise is so adaptable, making it one of the best non-equipment exercises of all time.
Bicycle Crunches
This abdominal exercise is killer! Bicycle crunches are great to build abdominal strength because you contract your inner (pectus abdominis) and your outer (external obliques) abdominal muscles, over all using your entire core muscles. The places you can do this exercise are limitless, so no excuses not to get this done!
You can add in little variations that will build your strength even more. You can move slowly with control to increase the burn while increasing your strength as well as stability. Make sure to act like you’re pedaling a bike to really engage those lower abdominal muscles!
