While sitting at home and having so much free time on our hands can be a blessing to some of us right now, it can also make it extremely easy to forget about taking care of ourselves and our bodies. Excuses such as “I have no space!” or “I have no equipment!” are stopping you from strengthening your muscles and reaching your full fitness potential. The list below provides not only extremely effective workouts you can do to build your muscle, but you can do them anywhere you are! Here are a few no-equipment exercises organized just for you and the muscles you would like to strengthen:
For Abdominal Muscles
Plank Exercises
When doing plank exercises, you are engaging not only your core, but your shoulder, back, chest, and neck muscles as well. Planks are an excellent and simple exercise that will burn fat off of your body and tone a variety of muscles, especially your core. It is recommended that you do at least 3-4 plank exercises a day, and they can be as spaced out as you want! For beginners, it is helpful to start at 60 seconds, but then increase 10 seconds for every other set you do in order to improve and strengthen your abdominal muscles!
Crunches
Unlike plank exercises, crunches engage only your abdominal muscles. This intense muscular isolation is perfect for anyone to tone and strengthen. While many believe that you have to do 100 crunches a day in order to get the best results, that is not true! In fact, if you do at least 3 sets of 10-12 crunches a day and maintain a healthy diet, your core and entire body will thank you! When doing crunches, it is extremely helpful if you find a fast-paced and rhythmic song t listen to so that you can easily follow the beat and not focus as much on the strain of your abdominal muscles, making it a fun and effective workout!
For Quadricep Muscles
Lunges
Although it is a very simple exercise, lunges are one of the most beneficial workouts you can do in order to engage and strengthen your quadricep muscles. By using your own body weight in this exercise, your quads will become trained to maintain balance and stay strong under pressure. If you are just beginning your at-home fitness journey or prefer a slower workout pace, you should begin doing 20 lunges on each leg 2-3 times a week, but feel free to grow and strengthen your muscles even more after that!
Wall Sits
You may think that this exercise is extremely easy based on its looks, but if you have ever tried it yourself for a long amount of time, you know it is not. However, it is a very efficient way to not only tone your quadricep muscles, but burn calories as well! All you have to do is place your back against a wall, and then pretend to sit in a chair. Make sure your quads are parallel to the ground in order to get the best workout! If you do at least 10-20 minutes of wall sits a day, as spaced out as you want, your quads will grow stronger every single day.
For Gluteal Muscles
Squats
Squats are one of the best muscle-building workouts because while they impact your gluteal muscles the most, the rest of your leg and abdominal muscles are engaged as well. In order to build your muscles in all of these areas, you should begin with at least 3 sets of 15-20 squats a day. If you would like to receive the best results and not harm your body, make sure that your knees do not go over your toes and that your back is relatively straight when doing a squat. If possible, using some kind of weight, such as a paint can or stack of books, during your squat exercise can engage your arm muscles as well as help your body burn more calories.
Donkey Kick Exercises
Donkey kicks are a simple, but beneficial, exercise you can do anywhere in order to tone and strengthen your gluteal muscles. All you have to do is put both hands and knees on the ground, straighten your back, and kick each bent leg back as a donkey would, hence the name. Since you must maintain balance and strength as your leg lifts, this exercise will engage not only your gluteal muscles, but your arms, core, and legs as well. In order to have much stronger, and possibly bigger, gluteal muscles, you need to do at least 2 sets of 15-20 kicks for each leg.
For Bicep and Tricep Muscles
Push-ups
Push-ups are one of the best muscle-building exercises because with good form and constant engagement, your entire body will be stronger. If you are just beginning your fitness journey, you can start with 10-15 basic push-ups a day, but as your arms become stronger, add either more push-ups every day or do more sets each day. Overall, do whatever is most comfortable for you, but don’t be afraid to push your own limits for this muscle-building exercise!
Burpee Exercises
If you are looking to engage your entire body and be able to do cardio in one place, look no further because burpees are here for your muscles! For burpees, all you have to do is jump with your arms straight above your head, and then drop down to a push-up position from there, but if you are still confused, watch this video for a helpful demonstration. While you can reach for 100 burpees a day, it is better to start out small and grow. For beginners, it is recommended that you do 20 burpees a day for your workout routine, so that you can build the muscles of your entire body!
