How to Train at Home: Templates, Exercises and Routines

Many are so used to training in the gym that they have a hard time adapting their workouts to any other space. But if you learn to train with your body, the world will be your gym, and this includes your own home. In this article, you will learn how to structure simple routines to work your entire body in a short time, in the comfort of your home. Of course, it doesn't replace a full program or show you details about progressions and alternatives, but it's a good starting point. The overall template The template is simple. It boils down to selecting four exercises per session, one for each major muscle group: Lower body (Legs / Buttocks). Upper body – Push. Upper body – Pull. Core. And for each exercise, 2-4 series of 10-20 repetitions will be performed, depending on the level of each one and the difficulty of the exercise itself. Let's start by reviewing the main exercises for each major muscle group. Lower body (Legs / Buttocks) We will use two exercises: Squat (including its variations) and glute bridge. A squat is a simple but powerful exercise. Here I delve into the technique and some additional recommendations. If you can't go that low, you probably have mobility restrictions in your hips or ankles. Try to spend more time each day in a squat position, and for now go down as far as you can, without taking your heels off the ground. An interesting variant is a lunge, where in addition to working unilaterally we improve stability. And the third variation would be the Bulgarian squat, where you raise the back foot to put more emphasis on the front leg. If you need more intensity, put a backpack loaded on your back or hold water bottles in your hands. Perform all repetitions with one leg and then with the other. Glute bridge Lie on your back and place the soles of your feet on the ground. Push through your heels to raise your hips as high as you can without arching your lower back. Think about contracting your glutes. In the final position, the knees should be in line with the hips and shoulders. To make it more difficult, you can place a weight on your hip or stand on one leg. Check out this article to learn how to improve your glutes. Upper Body – Thrust The star exercise is flexion, accompanied by its infinity of variants. If you find it very easy, you can elevate your feet by resting them on a chair or even try the one-arm push-up. If you find this too difficult, use an easier variation, keeping your feet on the ground and pushing off a low surface. Maintain an angle close to 90 degrees at your hips. If your shoulders need more intensity, you can do handstand push-ups with your feet against the wall, or try wall climbing, a great workout for your arms, shoulders, and core. Upper Body – Pull For pulling (or pulling) movements, the different versions of the pull-up are the best options for working your arms and back. More detail. The idea is to have a pull-up bar at home, not only to strengthen your arms and back, but also to reap the benefits of hanging out several times a day. If you don't have a pull-up bar, you can do the following exercise (inverted row) under a solid table, which works more or less the same muscles. If your table moves, put a counterweight on the opposite side. Another option would be to use a broomstick (or similar) supported by two chairs. And by supporting the soles of your feet, you make the exercise a little easier. Another excellent option to work this musculature (and the whole body, in fact), is the elastic bands. Core As we saw in a previous article, the core is much more than the visible abs, and we must integrate as many muscles as possible. In another article, I detail a multitude of exercises and the objective of each one, but for simplicity, I would focus on the different variants of abdominal plans. Another interesting option is the abdominal wheel. If you don't have one, you can also roll on a ball, or perform the so-called inchworm, which I show below. Cardio My favorite cardio equipment at home is the jump rope. According to one study, jumping rope 10 minutes a day for six weeks improved aerobic capacity equivalent to jogging 30 minutes a day for those same weeks. It also works the whole body and improves your coordination and stability. Another interesting option to improve muscular endurance is kettle bells, and you can perform several series of swings with a light kettle bell, for example. Example workouts From the previous templates and variants, we could structure an infinite number of workouts, let's see some examples.