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Here’s a guest blog from our great friends at 202Strong. Make sure you check them out for some amazing home workouts.
Does the idea of working out at home make you feel like you won’t get a good workout or make the same progress you do at the gym?
We get it. It may feel weird being in your home without the barbell and coach, but if done correctly, you will see progress and it will set you up for greater success at the gym!
Strength training at home
Bodyweight:
You can’t tell me that doing 100 or 200 air squats won’t make you sore and build strength in your legs! Just make sure you know how to squat properly and high volume squats or lunges will definitely be effective.
Time under tension:
One of the best ways to build strength is to work the eccentric phase, or the lowering portion of a pushup, pull-up, squat, etc. To challenge your pushups, you can slowly lower as if you are moving through mud, pause at the bottom, and push up as fast as you can. One of my favorite ways to build strength in the pushup for those who can’t quite do full range of motion yet, is to lower all the way to the floor, noticing when you start to lose control, and from laying flat, push up on your toes or on your knees! Let me know how much better your pushups get after 30 days!
Muscle endurance:
We might not have the weight to hit a 1 rep max deadlift, but we can build muscle endurance through specific muscles used in the deadlift. One of my favorite exercises is a sliding hamstring curl. You will be shocked at how hard these feel even if you can deadlift 300 pounds! Keep your hamstrings engaged and firing so that when you ease back into the barbell, you don’t lose your strength!
Isometric holds:
Being at home forces us to focus on our weaknesses and maybe exercises that get overlooked at the gym. We might not have the equipment for a back squat, but what about quad development through wall sits? Sounds easy, until you continue to add time and your legs are quivering under you!
Using free weights and getting creative:
Don’t forget that fitness and strength goals are meant to be FUN! Have fun getting creative and finding new movements that you enjoy doing at home. Lateral movements or creative compound movements are a great way to keep your muscles challenged and mind learning new things! For example, how about a single arm dumbbell snatch into a single arm dumbbell thruster?!
Power and skill development at home
For olympic lifters without a bar, working out at home is the perfect time to develop power output and skill.
The clean and jerk and snatch are all about generating power with a quick change of direction under the bar. Can you jump to standing when starting in a kneeling position? Working on opening your hips and generating power from the hips will make your olympic lifts feel lighter than before! And remember, these movements are so technique focused, that it isn’t as much strength as it is precision of the movement. With a dumbbell or backpack, work a squat clean. Feel yourself hit triple extension and drop under fast and smooth. Film yourself to make sure you see your ankles, knees, and hips extend!
So you can see that working out from home correctly and with the right mindset, you’ll find yourself hitting the gym stronger than before!
Is an injury or fear or injury holding you back from your home workouts? That’s what we’re here for! Contact us today and we can get you back to working out like you should be able to.