- How to workout?
- What Exercises to do?
- How to perform different exercises in workouts?
Starting to exercise can be over whelming to begin with. It can be difficult to know what to do and where to start.
Conversely, doing the same old boring workout routine can be boring and plateau your fitness progress.
It can be hard without a PT or someone else to know what exercises to do. So, here is a list of different exercises to help you put together your own work out.
See our other post on indoor workouts for ideas of how to combine exercises.
Or See our Fitness page for tips on ways to work with others and to push your self that extra 10% to boost your fitness goals!
Before performing these exercises access your own health, fitness levels, injuries and abilities first. If unsure- seek help from a professional on how to perform these moves safely.
Push-ups:
Focus on the chest muscles. Hands at shoulder width apart under shoulders. Either on your toes or on knees extended underneath you.
Bend at the elbows lowering to the ground so that your nose almost touches the ground. Push up through the arms back into the starting position.
Variations of Push-ups:
- Push ups on knees to make move easier
- Elevate your hands with steps, handles to make the push up deeper and harder
- Triceps push-ups- bring hands closer together- so fingers are close to touching. Pointer fingers and thumb should make a diamond shape underneath chest.
- Clap push-ups: As you push upwards from the push up- attempt to push off the ground and clap underneath your chest before getting hands back shoulder width apart
Squats:
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Bend at the knees placing weight into your heels rather then your toes. Your toes should be able to lift off the ground and not holding the bulk of your weight. Your bottom should be stuck out behind you. Practice by pretending to sit in a chair. Using a mirror to assess your technique can be beneficial.
The lower your squat the more effective for your muscles. Try to squat to seating level or as low as you can go each squat.
Variations of Squats:
- Sumo Squats: Have your feet wider apart then shoulder width- targets your glutes more.
- Feet Together: Perform the squat the same focusing on the weight being in your heels and sticking out your bottom- but have your feet together.
- Jumping Squats: As you push up from the squats add in a jump. Land the jump in squat position and squat again. The power from the jump will add to the intensity of the squat.
Wall Sit:
Place your back up against a wall with your legs shoulder width apart. Lower into a seating position against the wall and hold position as long as you can.
Variations of Wall Sit:
- Increase the intensity: Add weight to your lap to make the squat harder
Lunges:
Place one leg in front of your body. Bend so that your front knee bends. Careful that the front knee to not go over your toes. Drop until your back knee almost touches the ground and then rise pushing through both legs.
Variations:
- Add a jump in-between switching legs
- Walk and lunge at the same time rather than staying stationary
- Hold lunge position for extended time
- Hold lunge position and make small pulsing movements
Sit Ups:
Lie on the ground with your knees bent. Place your hands across your chest on opposite shoulders. Squeeze through your stomach muscles to bring yourself closer to your knees. Once you reach your bent knees, slowly lower yourself back to lying on ground. Repeat.
Variations of Sit Ups:
- Crunches: Do not lift fully up. Lift head and back off ground until you feel the strain in your abdomen then lower self down. Crunches should be able to be performed quicker then sit ups and target higher up abdomen muscles.
- Hands Stretched Forward: Having your arms stretched out in front of you will help you pull yourself up. This will make the sit up easier. Once you can do sit ups like this try placing your hands across your chest.
- Toes Weighted Down: Have someone sit on your toes or tuck your toes under something like the foot of a couch. This will help you to pull yourself up. Try using this method until you can do sit ups without the added help.
- Use a Weight. Hold a weight outstretched above your head to make it harder. Try to not use the weight to propel you as this will reduce the difficulty.
V-Snaps:
Lie on your back. Keeping your legs straight raise your legs up into the air. At the same time lift your head, shoulders and back off the ground with outstretch hands to reach and try and touch your toes. As you reach your toes, your body should make a V shape. Lower your back and legs slowly back to the ground and repeat.
Variations of V-Snaps:
- Leave your legs in the air and do not lower and raise your legs. Only lift your back and body up to reach your toes. This will make the V-snap easier.
- Do not raise your back. Leave your head on the ground and just raise and lower your legs.
- Practice these two moves isolated until you can combine them.
Toe Touches:
Sit in the ‘sit-up’ position with your knees bent up. Lower your back so that you can feel your stomach muscles working (your core engaged). Keep your back off the ground but not sitting up right. Reach your right hand to touch your right toes, then reach your left hand to touch your left toes. Repeat back and forth.
Variations of Toe Touches:
- Put your fit further away to extend your reach
- Hold your feet of the ground
Russian Twists:
Hold similar position to toe touches. Sit in the ‘sit-up’ position with your knees bent up. Lower your back so that you can feel your stomach muscles working (your core engaged). Keep your back off the ground but not sitting up right. Touch your left elbow to the ground on your left side, then touch your right elbow to the ground on your right side. Repeat back and forth.
Variations of Russian Twists:
- Lift your toes off the ground keeping your legs raised
- Hot a weight that you shift from side to side
Pelvic thrusts:
Lie with your back on the floor and your knees bent up. Pushing through the back of your legs and bottom muscles raise your bottom of the ground and push up to the ceiling. Then lower you bottom back to the ground. Pelvic thrust is meant to be working the hamstrings and gluets. If this hurts your lower back stop and have someone assess your technique.
Variations of Pelvic Thrusts:
- Hold the thrust in the air longer
- Hold one leg up and lift with the other leg.
Crawl Outs:
Stand up straight. Bend forward at the hips to reach the floor. If your flexibility does not allow this bend at the knees in a squat style until your hands reach the floor. Crawl your hands outright until you are in a plank position. Then either crawl your hands back to your feet and raising up back into a standing position- for a stationary crawl out. Or walk your feet to your hands to where your flexibility allows and then standing up.
Plank:
Have you arms shoulder width apart and your legs out stretched behind you. Raise up body onto your elbows and forearms underneath your chest. Rise up onto your toes. Make sure your body is flat and your bottom is not raised into the air.
Variations of Plank:
- Raise up with your arms outstretched underneath you like a push up rather then on your elbows.
- Stay on your knees outstretched underneath you rather then raising to your toes
- Have your feet apart by shoulder width instead of together ensuring to keep your bottom level with your body.