Home Improvement

Being able to get to a gym and use weights, kettle bells, stones, and other fitness equipment is great, but it's not a luxury everyone has.  Some people are unable to get to a gym because of work, money, there isn't one close enough, or they're just a little shy to workout in front of others.  So I decided to post some exercises you can do right from home with no fitness equipment.

Now there are tons of exercises and variations of exercises you can do without any equipment.  If I were to list and talk about each one you would be reading this post for a week.  So I'm going to try to keep it simple and just give you a few exercises in this post, enough that you could put together a workout.  Every once in awhile I will post more exercises you can do so you don't get bored doing the same things all the time.  

Squat

Squat is a great exercise and probably the most functional movement you can do.  Have to go to the bathroom? Squat. Sit down? Squat.  You do it every day.  To make these a little harder you can take a book bag and fill it with some objects or take an object and and hug it across your chest while you squat.  If you have trouble performing the squat try squatting onto a chair or if your able to hold onto something that is anchored in front of you while you squat.

Push Up

Push ups are a great upper body exercise which work the chest and arms. To make this harder you can do hand release push ups.  You can also push up on a decline by elevating your feet onto a stepping stool, chair, couch, etc.  To make it easier you could push up from your knees as demonstrated in the video or perform push ups with your upper body elevated in an incline position

Burpee

You guys have seen this before, its everyone's favorite exercise.  To make these a little harder you could wear a book bag with some stuff in it.  To make it a little easier you could do squat thrusts.

Situp

There are millions of exercises to do for abs, but this is probably the most simple one.  You don't have to go as slow as in the video and you could reach back and touch the ground at the bottom position to give your self momentum to get up.  To make this a little harder you could hold something across your chest as you do the movement.  To make it a little easier you could anchor your feet under the couch or something else for support.

Superman

Great lower back exercise you can do pretty much anywhere.  The goal of the movement is to have arms and legs off the ground, the video demonstrates ways to build up to that if your not at that level yet.

Hand Stand Push Up (HSPU)

Great shoulder exercise if you have no equipment.  Ideally you'd want to get your head all the way to the ground, but you could use towels or a pillow under your head as the woman in the video demonstrates if you have trouble.  To make it harder try to put something under your hands to elevate them and a greater range of motion.  To make it easier you could perform the hspu in a pike or elevated pike position.

Shoulder Press

You could use water jugs like the video demonstrates or anything else you have laying around.  You could use a thick book like an encyclopedia or dictionary and hold it like a waiter or waitress holding a platter and press it up overhead.

Dip

Great home tricep workout.  To make it a little tougher you could have your legs straight out in front of you as you do the dip, elevate your feet onto another chair, table, or bench, or lay a bag full of stuff across your legs as they're elevated.  The video also shows some other ways to make it a little harder.

So there are some exercises you could mess around with right in the comfort of your own home.  You can mix and match these movements and experiment with routines.  You could do them for a certain number of reps, perform as many as possible in a given time, or just keep going around in a circuit.  Be creative, and share videos or suggestions of other home exercises in the comments.

Now you have no excuses not to be awesome. Have fun!