While it may be nice to have a home gym with lots of equipment, there are plenty of ways of working out in a small space without equipment. You do of course need suitable clothing and if you want to do any type of high impact exercise you should wear trainers to absorb some of the impact. But that’s all you need to get started. This guide to how to work out at home without equipment includes 8 printable workouts for cardio and lower body strength training.
How to work out at home without equipment – the basics
The 3 basic factors of physical fitness are stamina (cardio endurance), strength and flexibility. Most people prefer one type of training over the other two, but ideally you should do a bit of each. To improve stamina you need to do exercise activities that you can keep up for several minutes. For improvements to strength (and muscle tone) you need to make your muscles work against a resistance that will tire them after a fairly low number of repetitions. Flexibility training involves stretching muscles to their maximum length and holding for at least 30 seconds.
High intensity interval training is an alternative to the above which can improve both muscle tone and stamina. However, it should be done with caution. See here for more information on high intensity training.
There are 8 suggested no-equipment workouts below. You can also find find more equipment free workouts by browsing through the workouts and challenges categories.
Where to do your workout
You don’t need a large area for the workouts below. You need to check you have enough space to lift your arms to the side and over your head and to lift your legs in front, to the side and behind. Make sure you don’t chose somewhere right under a light fitting that you might hit when jumping or lifting your arms. For standing workouts like the ones below, hard flooring such as wood or vinyl is better. If you’re doing floor work, like an abs routine for example, then carpet may be more comfortable, especially if you don’t have a mat.
Equipment free cardio routines
Cardio circuit
Get your heart rate up and burn calories with this cardio circuit workout. It’s a 4 week program, with the circuit intervals and the number of circuits increasing over the 4 weeks.
Fun cardio
If you get bored with your workouts and like a bit of variety, try this cardio workout using printable workout dice. One of the dice tells you which exercise to do and the other tells you how long to do it for.
Cardio challenge
A 30 day challenge with 3 high impact cardio exercises – a good way to get started with working out at home.
Indoor walking circuit
This is a low impact home cardio workout, which is more suitable for anyone who is uncomfortable doing high impact.
Equipment free lower body routines
Standing glute workout
6 exercises that focus mainly on the 3 gluteal muscles
HIIT legs
A high intensity routine that will work your legs and have a cardio training effect.
Pulse squats challenge
This 30 day challenge combines standard squats and pulse squats to work all your thigh and butt muscles
Lower body circuit
A circuit workout that alternates cardio and lower body strength intervals
