What do you do if you're short on time but long on motivation to exercise at home? As someone who lives that regularly (Parents: I see you!), that's incredibly frustrating.
The good news is "Simple Circuits" can keep you progressing toward your fitness goals. Its one of the easiest ways to both develop and stick to your home movement habit.
Essentially, you pick three exercises, set an interval timer (your phone's app store has them) for 30 seconds of moving and 30 seconds of rest. Pick the amount of rounds to move and off you go.
To have more "fun" (that's trainer speak for "physical discomfort is eminent") you can increase the time moving and decrease the rest period to up the ante on the challenge.
Depending on how many rounds you set, here's how the time spent moving shakes out:
15 rounds = 14:33 of exercise
12 rounds = 11:30 of exercise
9 rounds = 8:30 of exercise
6 rounds = 5:30 of exercise
You don't need an hour long slog beastmode sesh to tell your fitfam about on the socials. All you really need is a basic strategy to build a consistent home fitness movement habit 2-3x/week and Simple Circuits do that for you.
Wanting to exercise at home is great. Mapping out a weekly plan is even better. This is something I can help you with through the Trainerize app and some online exercise Coaching.
Will a 3-exercise Simple Circuit get you on the top step of a podium and all of the social media love that goes along with it? Probably not.
Will you feel better, clear your head, have a little more energy and tackle the rest of your day feeling accomplished? You bet your glutes you will. I've experienced this first hand using the 9-round 8:30 option in my kitchen on multiple occasions while I was waiting for dinner to cook.
One of my favorite time crunched Simple Circuits is a 3-movement exercise band push, lunge and pull sesh (yes, I'll serve myself cold decaf as penance for writing that). I've found that exercise bands are perfect for home fitness because they give you 100's (yep, 100's) of movement options. Especially when paired up with a bodyweight selection or two.
The three exercises below will give you a great bout of fitness at home and save you a ton of time along the way.
Two Arm Exercise Band Step And Press
Starting with your feet parallel, step out into a split stance position with the heel of the back foot off the ground. Push the arms away from the body like you are trying to open heavy door.
As soon as your hands to start to push, the ball of the back foot drives into the floor away from your body activating your glutes. Most of the load should be on the back leg. You are essentially driving force away from the body in opposite directions.
As you move your arms, the further away from the body your hands get, the more your lower abdomen should activate. Own your ribs, and you'll feel this right away! Step back to the starting position and repeat alternating legs as you do.
You should also think about holding a grapefruit between your chin and your collarbone (not literally because that would be weird!). This will help to keep your abs engaged (no, really, I promise!).
This will also help to keep your head from moving forward as your arms move.
DON'T roll your shoulders forward when you press. If you do, you'll feel the front of your shoulders more than you do the chest muscles.
Stationary Lateral Lunge
With your feet outside your shoulders lunge to the right and drop down until the right knee is at a 90 degree angle. Your left leg should be straight, and you should feel a really nice stretch on the inside of the leg.
Push off the right foot to activate the glutes and come back to the starting position. Lunge to the left until the knee is at a 90 degree angle. Your right leg should be straight, and you should feel a really nice stretch on the inside of the leg and glutes on the left.
Once the knee hits 90 degrees, push off the left foot to activate the glutes and come back to the starting position. If you experience any knee discomfort, STOP IMMEDIATLEY because this isn't the right exercise for you to do.
Two Arm Exercise Band Step And Pull
Start with your feet in a parallel stance and step back into a split stance position and the heel of the back foot off the ground. Your anchor is the front leg, so place more load on the lead foot. Begin to pull with both arms and squeeze your shoulders together like you are trying to smash a sewing needle between your shoulder blades.
Drive each big toe into the floor on the front foot as you move to activate the hips that much more, strengthen the feet and create a stronger foundation to move.
As soon as you start to pull, you should feel the front foot reflexively push forward activating the glutes anchoring your front side so the back side can move. You should also think about pushing your ribs down toward your hips. By owning your ribs, you'll feel your abs kick in right away keeping you from arching your back.
The Gist of The Prose
Just because you don't have time doesn't mean you can't develop your home fitness habit. All you need is a a few minutes (literally!), a Simple Circuit and a basics work best approach to pull it off.
This is something I can help you with. Especially if you live in the Treasure Valley area town of Eagle, Idaho. We can set up an eval, have a look at how you're moving, go over the equipment you've got (if none, no problem!) then come up with the plan that works best for your schedule. Click here to set that up!
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