In all honesty, it was ready to go on Friday, I went to upload the photos and found they had become corrupt, so had to take them all again yesterday. So I could have uploaded this post yesterday. Except that I had to smash out as much as I could of this research essay I'm working on so I could go to a friend's housewarming. Priorities, yo.
A little while ago, I shared with you my at-home exercise essentials. Today I'm going to share with you how you can put some of that together and create your own at-home circuit workout!
The idea of a circuit workout is that after completing 10 reps of each exercise, you move on to the next one. You can do this because each sequential exercise uses different muscles. For instance, resistance band squats are a leg exercise, dumbbell press is an arm exercise - while you're doing the arms exercise you're 'resting' the legs. So, to complete this workout, run through 10 reps of each exercise, and then run through the whole 4 exercises three times. So at the end you would have completed 3 sets of 10 reps for each exercise. Easy!
RESISTANCE BAND SQUATS
Pull up on a resistance band as you lower in your squat to make the humble squat a little more challenging. If you don't have a resistance band feel free to just do a normal squat!
DUMBBELL SHOULDER PRESS
Holding some dumbbells (or milk cartons, or bricks or whatever else you've got laying around the house), lift the weight to just outside your shoulders, palms inwards and elbows tucked in. Brace those core muscles, look straight ahead and lift the weights in an arc so they meet at the top, almost touching each other. You need to gradually turn your palms as you arc to the top, so that at the highest point, your palms are facing the front. Pause, then lower to starting position. That's 1 rep.
LUNGES
Add some weights to really challenge your leg muscles in this move. Check out this post here for tips on form.
SINGLE-LEG HIP THRUSTS
No equipment needed for this one, which helps activate the muscles in your butt and your abs.
Lay on your back, with palms facing down, bend your knees so they're just past 90 degrees, with your feet flat on the floor. Raise one foot of the ground, and hold the leg in the air. Push with the foot still on the ground, raise your hips and push them as high as you can. Clench your butt as you raise. Pause for a second, then slowly lower. That's 1 rep on 1 side. So this one is 5 reps on each side (10 in total) before you can move on! It's up to you whether you alternate legs or do all reps on one side.
What are your favourite at-home workout activities?
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