Training at Home

It frustrates me sometimes, when people I know give me all sorts of excuses for not training or "working out". If you ask a lot of people, one of the most common excuses they have for not training is that they don't have access to a gym or they simply don't have enough time.

Well I've got news for you people: there are a ton of workouts you can do to increase both strength and overall fitness right in the comfort of you home (or yard) - and for the most part these workouts don't take a lot of time.

First and foremost, I can totally understand if you don't have access to a gym where you can train. It is hard to think that you can get a good training session in when you don't have access to the proper equipment like: Olympic bars, benches, rubber weight plates, dumbbells, kettlebells, pull-up bars, etc. But this doesn't mean you should give up altogether. With a little bit of creativity you can make do with what you've got at home.

So what do you have?

A clear floorspace about 7 feet by 7 feet? Check. Your body? Check. Alright, let's get to work.

They key to CrossFit style workouts is intensity. The harder you push yourself the better off you'll be. Keep that in mind for some of these exercises I'll be listing.

Three basic exercises that everybody should already know are: push-ups, sit-ups, and squats (or air-squats). So what, you can do these no problem? Good, because I'm going to ask you to do a modified version of the CrossFit workout "Angie".

The key to this workout is pushing yourself as hard as you can, as fast as you can. This work-out is for time, so the faster you accomplish the goals without cheating the better you performed.

"Angie" - For Time: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats.
(The real "Angie" also includes doing 100 pull-ups, but I am assuming you don't have a pull-up bar at home.)

For beginners, I'd say aim for a time of about 22 minutes. Considering I'm actually somewhere in between a beginner and intermediate level (as far as my overall CrossFit score is concerned), I finished the real "Angie" in about 27 minutes. And that's with doing my pull-ups really slow, so doing 3/4 of "Angie" in 22 minutes should be completely reasonable.

Other modified CrossFit workouts you can do:

1) "Barbara" - 5 rounds for time: 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, 50 squats.
2) "Annie" - Go buy yourself a good leather or plastic speed jump-rope. Then do 50-40-30-20-10 reps for time: Double-unders and Sit-ups. Don't have a rope or can't do double-unders? Replace with tuck-jumps.
3) "Helen" - Get an empty paint-can with a good handle (tape it up to thicken the handle if you need to). Fill to the top with sand, then fill with water. Seal off the top. Use your paint can as a kettlebell. Then do 3 rounds for time: 400 meter run, 21 kettlebell swings, 15 push-ups.

Other exercises you can do at home:
1) Hand-stand push-ups
2) Alternating one-legged squats
3) Walking lunges
4) Dips on two chairs parallel to each other
5) Burpees
6) Krav-Maga situps
7) Box jumps

Remember, the key is to be creative with your workouts. Mix and match any exercises you can do, push yourself to the limit. The best way to do that is set a time goal for yourself. Most of the time you can get in a grueling workout in less than half an hour.

No excuses. Hit the floor.