The Many Benefits of a Full-Body Workout (and how you can Feel the Burn from Home)
Now that increasing numbers of people are self-isolating and remaining in their homes due to the outbreak and spread of coronavirus, you may see this as the perfect excuse to cancel your gym memberships and abandon your exercise regime.
Alternatively, you might be new to this whole “regular exercise” thing and not feel completely comfortable yet with getting your sweat on in front of others — or you’ve grown frustrated with arriving at a packed-out gym after work, turning your 30-minute workout into an hour-long commitment as you wait for the machines you need to be free.
There are a number of reasons other than self-isolation that working out at the gym may not be for you, but that is no reason not to exercise at all! Working out from home is an effective way of saving you time and money while you improve your mind and body — without any need for all the fancy equipment! Use this list to get in a full-body workout from the comfort of your own home, and gain from all the added health benefits it can bring!
1.Warm Up
If you’re pressed for time or just eager to get exercising out of the way, it can be very tempting to skip the boring stretches and warm-ups and dive straight into your routine. You’ve most likely heard this hundred of times from your old PE teacher and trainers, but warming up really is an integral part of any exercise regime.
Warming up increases your body temperature, improving your strength and elasticity, which in turn makes it easier for your muscles to contract and relax and significantly reduces your risk of overstretching or injuring yourself. Simple, short warm-ups also dilate your blood vessels, increasing blood flow so that you are putting less strain on your heart when it comes to start your workout.
In order to get the best out of your warm-ups without over-exerting yourself, the American Heart Association recommends warming up for 5–10 minutes, depending on the intensity of the workout to follow. You should also avoid static stretching, as this can increase your risk of sustaining pulls and tears, and instead practise dynamic stretches, continuously moving your body through a range of motion. Static stretches should be reserved for after your workout.
Don’t forget to use your warming up time to visualise yourself performing your workout. Research has shown that mental imagery and visualisation strategies can be used to build confidence and mentally correct mistakes, enhancing your athletic performance. Check out this NHS resource and use simple 5-minute warm-up circuits such as this and see for yourself how much looser you feel when it comes to starting your workout.
2. Arms
Arms are our ‘mirror muscles’. When your arms are toned, they can help you feel more confident and attractive — but there are many practical benefits of working out your arms too! Having stronger arms makes daily life just that extra bit easier; no longer will you have to strain under the weight of those shopping bags, or audibly groan every time you pick up your children. Not only this, but muscle burns more calories than fat, so toning your arms can also help you to achieve any weight loss goals you may have set yourself when the new year rolled in.
Any bicep work you may be aiming for usually requires some sort of external resistance for you to work against, so most equipment-free arm exercises you can practise will target your deltoids and triceps — usually through some form of planking or push-ups. These exercises are a great way of engaging your core and pectorals while you build up those arm muscles — you may feel that your core is burning more than your arms, but that’s okay. Just because the exercise doesn’t isolate the arm muscles, doesn’t mean they’re not being worked!
Try out plank taps or decline push-ups for an effective way to work those arms along with your core and pectorals, and take a look at this 15-minute weight-free arm workout to come out of self-isolation flexing!
3. Back
Just because we can’t see our back muscles in the mirror doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be giving them a proper workout! All of us are guilty of slouching over a desk all day or lazing around in our beds on a day off — and it’s our backs that suffer the most from this. It’s no wonder that an estimated 8 out of 10 people in the UK are affected by back pain at some point in their lives.
A stronger back can be of benefit in a multitude of ways; it allows us to stand straighter and taller, improving posture and reducing those annoying back aches and pains we all experience. A proper upright posture also allows for oxygen to circulate through the body with greater ease, improving your breathing and reducing fatigue and lethargy.
When it comes to working out your back, it’s important that you ensure you’re covering all areas. Try out exercises such as reverse snow angels to isolate your upper back and shoulders, good mornings for your lower back, and make use of supermans and marching bridges for an effective cover of both your upper and lower back, along with your glutes.
Make use of bodyweight exercises such as these so you can carve your back out of marble without ever lifting a weight!
4. Legs
In a survey conducted on male gym-goers, 34% of 1,423 respondents admitted to neglecting the legs in their workout routines. There are many reasons that people tend to miss out on leg workouts: there can be more of an overall focus on upper-body exercises purely for aesthetics, from a male perspective — but quite simply, working out your legs is hard! Leg exercises can be some of the most painful to put yourself through, and you’ll know if you’ve really given them a hammering in a workout that the jelly-leg effects that kick in the next day can leave you hobbling around for a good while.
It may be tough to hear, but leg day is just as important as the rest of your workout routines! Not only will you avoid looking like a chicken from being too top-heavy, but leg exercises require more energy, which allows you to burn more calories and shed weight faster — not to mention the reduced risk of falls, injuries and cardiovascular diseases associated with having stronger legs.
Like the back, your legs are made up of a number of muscles that all require equal attention. Try targeting your hamstrings, quadriceps, or calves if you feel any of them, in particular, need some love or follow online leg workouts for more of an overall cover. Legs can be a difficult area to work out so intensely, though, so if you’re looking for more of gentle stretching, there are a number of yoga poses and stretches designed specifically for loosening and strengthening those gams!
5. Core
Your core is one of the most important areas you can work on. Think of the core as a central link between your upper and lower body; a stronger core means a stronger link between the two. Core strength also enhances your balance and stability, allowing for greater efficiency of movement as well as increased power from other muscle areas in your body, including the shoulders, arms, and legs — making your other workouts easier. According to personal trainer Jon Hinds, core strength training will also “stack your body better and make it easier to breathe” by aligning your organs and diaphragm into their proper positions.
Your core is made up of three sheaths of muscles: the upper abdominals, the muscles in your sides (called obliques), and the deep layer of muscles running around your lower abdominals and lower back that act as a natural corset for your body. When it comes to working your upper abdominals, crunches are the tried and tested way of building strength and muscle tone. Personal trainer Julie Diamond also recommends planking as “one of the best exercises for core conditioning”, as well as a great way to simultaneously target your hamstrings and glutes, supporting balance and proper posture. You can also try weight-free exercises such as Russian twists for your oblique muscles, or reverse crunches to target your lower abdominals.
If you regularly work on your core, you may notice how difficult it can be to get rid of that pesky puppy fat that sits at the bottom of most of our stomachs. This is because unfortunately, exercise alone isn’t always enough to tone your abdominals completely. Proper nutrition also plays a huge role in strengthening the core, so it’s important to supplement your workouts with a healthy diet and high-protein snacks for the best results. Abs are made in the kitchen, as well as the gym (or in this case, the living room).
6. Cardio
Proper cardiovascular exercise may seem as if it’s only achievable in the great outdoors, or through the use of machinery, but you can get the heart pumping just as much without setting a foot outside your door!
If you’re looking to burn calories and drop weight, cardio is going to be your best bet. Simple exercises such as jumping jacks can burn up to 100 calories in 10 minutes without the need for any special equipment, and just running on the spot can help you shed up to 965 calories per hour! Another simple cardio exercise is using a skipping rope, which is a great way to get the ticker going as well as improve your coordination and bone density, reducing the risk of developing foot and ankle injuries. All of these exercises are high-impact though, which can be taxing on the joints, so it is important not to over-exert yourself. If you’re a beginner to cardio, it is recommended that you exercise for no longer than 20 minutes to avoid injury.
Try out some free cardio apps, or equipment-free high-intensity interval training (HIIT) if you’re really looking to blast some fat, and enjoy being free to groan and sweat to your heart’s content without fear of judgemental gazes as you get the heart pumping from the comfort of your own home!
7. Don’t Neglect the Cooldown!
During exercise, your heart pumps much faster and harder than it would normally, and an important part of the process is easing it back down instead of halting all activity. If you abruptly finish your workouts without taking the time to properly cool down, your blood can pool in your lower extremities, slowing its return back up into your heart and brain, which can cause dizziness and potentially fainting. Failure to cool down also increases the severity and longitude of the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) that usually occurs 24–48 hours after exercise, which can have some uncomfortable and debilitating results.
Ensuring that you cool down after your workout allows your heart rate to return to normal and aids significantly in your recovery — so don’t neglect it! Look at these post-exercise stretches you can do to relax your muscles and help your body along with its restorative processes.
Don’t see this as a chore! You’ve finished your workout, so be proud of yourself, take some deep breaths, and exercise some self-care by properly cooling yourself down and stretching yourself out before you crawl into bed and load up Netflix.
Take care of yourself, and get those self-isolation gains!
