Get fit in a week with these great bodyweight workouts
If you're feeling low on energy after a week of Diwali parties, here are the perfect home workouts for you to get fit
It is refreshing to change your workout formulas after a few weeks. Doing so keeps the muscles challenged with fresh moves, while you continue to keep building towards stronger compound exercises. Working around your primary goal is as important as working on it, and this means introducing your body to new stimuli.
While having gym equipment helps, one can focus on changing their routine at home as well. Having come across a video that followed a loosen-strengthen-mobilise approach, I decided to make a workout split of them at home, focusing on a full body routine for an active rest week. At the end of six days, I had done two days each of loosening/ stretching, strengthening, and mobility. These are the videos I used.
Day 1 stretching upper body:Tom Merrick’s 30-minute upper body flexibility routine has a relaxed beginning and an ending that almost infringes into mobility territory. Merrick has nearly a million followers on YouTube and Instagram and his main area of mastery is hand-balance, bodyweight skills & flexibility. Mostly focusing on the shoulders and chest, this workout also adds some spine rotations to open up the back.
Day 2 strengthening upper body: There are many videos which can offer a quick replacement for a day skipped in the gym, but with this being the only workout you will do today, BullyJuice’s 30-minute upper body building routine is perfect. Obviously centred around the pushup, it also adds some back exercises to balance things out.
Day 3 full body mobility: This workout comes after a sore day and before an easier stretch day, so it is medium intensity workout. The focus is on priming the body for the rest of the week. Julia Reppel’s 25-minute mobility routine has some very effective exercises. But the best part about it is how it is divided into five steps: movement prep, primary circuit, secondary circuit, finisher, and cool down.
Day 4 stretching lower body: With a higher focus on the lower body for the next few days, there are two videos for this particular day. Saturno Movement’s latest video, which dropped just a few days ago, is a 15-minute hamstring flexibility routine for all levels. It works as one of the primary movers that needs a lot of care and attention for daily functionality.
The second video for this stretching day is also by Saturno Movement, and it is a hip and quadriceps stretch. 20 minutes long, this one and the previous one are a great combination for your lower body stretching day.
Day 5 strengthening lower body: We now head to a calisthenics workout by Caroline Girvan. Her workouts, sometimes released in a daily series form, are worth following, as her 2 million subscribers will attest to. This particular video is part one of her bodyweight series. Around 40 minutes long, it has holds and pulses and full range-of-motion moves as well for the perfect leg strengthening workout.
Day 6 lower body mobility: We go back to Julia Reppel for the lower body mobility workout, which is focused on hips and ankles. These are two areas which are ignored but incredibly important for large compound lifts. Ankle training also affects stability on the gym floor or if you play a sport. As we know, the hips are a constant source of trouble if not strengthened. You would want to add some foot exercises as well.
It’s okay to chop and change the order of the workouts above but do not forget to add some dynamic warm-up exercises before each one. Some videos have it included but if it starts cold, make sure you enter a workout ready for it.
Pulasta Dhar is a football commentator and writer.
Also Read Why you need to care for your feet
Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
MoreLess
First Published:28 Oct 2022, 08:00 AM IST
- Top Gainers
- Top Losers
- 52 Week High