Exercise with Everyday Household Items
As our world is adapting new ways to conduct business and communicate with loved ones, you too may be adjusting your daily routine at home. We are getting creative by substituting our daily routines with new methods and practices to stay healthy and well. One way to do this is to keep up with your workouts and adapt them to an at-home routine! If you do not feel comfortable going to your gym during the pandemic, we encourage you to find ways to workout at home with your everyday household items.
Personal Trainer and Programming Director at IBJI’s Health Performance Institute, David Howington, MS, CSCS, discusses some great exercises that you can do at home and what household items you can use to replace gym equipment. If you’re looking to spice up your home workout routine, try to use household objects in lieu of free weights. Howington demonstrates ways in which you can substitute gym equipment with everyday household objects.
Howington says, “You can fill a backpack up with textbooks or even a suitcase and perform exercises with those including push-ups, squats, rows, bicep curls, lunges, etc.”
He also says that another great household tool is an office chair, especially one that has wheels. An office chair can take the place of floor exercises that might otherwise require a Swiss ball. With the office chair you can do exercises such as a hamstring bridge and curls, plank chops, seated leg curls, and seated backward extensions.
Desk Chair Bridge and Curls
Desk Chair Plank Chops
Seated Hamstring Curls
Seated Leg Extensions
A towel can be another great option, especially if you have an area of wood floor or tile. You can do body saw planks, sliding mountain climbers, and glute bridge hamstring curls with the towel. If you want more of an external load, add books to the towel.
Towel Body Saw Planks
Towel Mountain Climbers
Towel Bridge and Curls
If you do not have objects around the house that you can repurpose, we recommend doing workouts that don’t require weights or equipment. Implement push-ups, sit-ups, squats, crunches, and planks into your routine. Walking and running are also beneficial for your health.
As you adjust your at-home workout routine, make sure to always do a proper warm-up before working out and a cool-down after working out. Remember to keep your workouts fun and use what you have—keeping in mind that you should only lift what you can physically manage!
