Why working out at home has to come first...

I have had a number of clients over the years who travel a lot for work. This constant upheval in their schedules means that they are often less than consistent in their workouts. What I teach them first is how to exercise with no equipment at all. This way, they are able to train no matter where they find themselves and no matter how tight their schedule is. As we know, consistency is the name of the game when it comes to both short and long-term results.

If you are away from your hometown gym and none is available or convenient to where you are staying, you must know how to stay fit!

The same challenges are also faced by people who live and work in the same city. Even though the local gym or community centre is but a few blocks away, often there just does not seem to be enough time to get there. After all, even if you only do a 30 min workout, there will probably be another 30-45 minutes spent getting ready and then getting to the gym.

Learning how to train effectively at home means that on these days you are still able to exercise your body, thus maintaining and even improving your current level of fitness. Save the gym for the days you need to use heavy weights or equipment (chin up bar, dip station) not necessarily available at home. If you have the room to train with weights at home, your initial investment will be much smaller than a lifetime of membership dues.

What can you do at home? Well, here are two 5-minute bodyweight circuits you can try. Do as many rounds as you can in 5 minutes, rest for 1-2 minutes and then do the second combination.

Combo 1:
Bodyweight Squats (keep knees behind toes) X 5
Pushups (From feet so make sure to raise hands) X 5
Mountain Climbers (lower impact: step instead of jumping) X 10 seconds

Combo 2:
Bodyweight or Jumping Lunges X 6
Burpees (lower impact: step instead of jumping)X 5
Table -Makers (do not touch butt to ground between reps!)X 5

Remember to go at your own challenging pace and do not push so hard that you feel ill. Record how many rounds/reps you did in the 5 mins and try to better it by at least one rep next time.

This method of exercise will improve your conditioning and strength/endurance, not to mention that it is also a wonderful way to "actively recover" from your heavier strength workouts. A further advantage of bodyweight calisthenics is the transformation of strength gained lifting meaningful weights into explosive full-body power.

So there you have it, an instant way to add at least two more workouts to your busy week.

Do.