Home Workout Routines

Whether if you’re a novice, intermediate, or in a advanced level of fitness, full-body workout routines can prove beneficial for any level of experience. One of the most common mistakes that beginners make is that they jump the gun and attempt to do advanced level workout routines. And what I mean by advanced, they take routines coming out of muscle and fitness magazines and try to implement these routines at the gym. Yes, most of the routines recommended by such magazines can be effective, but most of the times these routines are done improperly by inexperienced lifters. Another thing to mention is that these routines were original designed by professional trainers that are usually aiming towards intermediate/advanced level athletes. So with this in mind, I have designed a home workout routine that can be done at home with no equipment what-so-ever. We will be using weights in future workouts, but with this basic home workout routine, it’s designed to get you conditioned for higher levels of training.

As said before, full-body workout routines can be beneficial for any level of fitness, just as long as its designed appropriately and performed properly. If I were talking one on one, I’m going to talk as if you have no experience in exercising and are currently at a beginner/novice level. What we want to do first, is build the foundation aka the “core.” The core is made up of the lumbo-pelvic complex, the thoraic and cervical spine. The core is where the body’s center of gravity is located and is where all movement begins. Having an efficient and conditioned core is necessary for maintaining proper muscle balance throughout the entire kinetic chain. So with that said, let’s begin with 4 exercises designed to improve te functional capacit of the stabilization system:

Marching

Preparation: You want to lie supine on the floor with your knees bent, feet flat, toes pointing straight ahead, and arms by sides. This is the starting position.

Movement: As the movment begins, you want to draw navel in and lift one foot off the floor only as high as can be controlled while maintaining the drawing-in manuever. Hold this position for 1-2 seconds and then slowly lower down. Repeat this on the opposite leg.

Repetitions and Sets: First starting out, you want to hit 20 reps altogether in one set, 10 reps for each leg. And also, you want to make sure the region just below the navel stays drawn in throughout the duration of the exercise. By doing so, this ensures the intrinsic core stabilizers are to stay activated.

Two-Leg Floor Bridges:

Preparation: In the starting position, lie supine on the floor with knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and toes shoulder-width apart and pointing straight ahead. Place your arms to the side with your palms up.

Movement: As the movement begins, draw your navel in, and activate your gluteals. Next, lift your pelvis off the floor until the knees, hips, and shoulders are in line. At the peak, slowly lower the pelvis back down to the floor and repeat.

Repetitions and Sets: Perform 3 sets of this exercise with 20 repetitions each. Also, when performing a bridge, do not raise the hips too far up off the floor because this will place unnecessary and excessive pressure on the lumbar spine. Make sure at the end of the position, the knees, hips, shoulders are all in alignment.

Floor Prone Cobra:

Preparation: In the starting position, you want to lie supine on the floor with arms in front of the body, with palms facing toward the ground.

Movement: First, drawl the navel in, activate gluteals, and pinch shoulder blades together. Next, lift your chest off the floor and hold for about 1-2 seconds for the duration. Afterwards, slowly return body to the ground while keeping the chin tucked in.

Repetitions and Sets: Perform approximately 20 repetitions for 3 sets total. And also just like the floor bridge, do not come too high off the floor because this will put too much stress and pressure on the lumbar spine.

Prone Iso-Ab:

Preparation: In the starting position, you want to lie supine on the floor with feet together and forearms on the ground.

Movement: As the movement begins, draw your abs in and activate your gluteals. You want to lift your entire body up off the ground until it forms a straight line from head to toe, resting on forearms and toes. Hold this position for 1-2 seconds and slowly return body to the ground while keeping chin tucked and back flat.

Repetitions and Sets: Perform 20 repetitions for 3 sets total. Also to note, if this exercise position is too difficult for you to perform you can apply other positions as well:

-Perform in a standard push-up position.
-Perform in a push-up position with the knees on the floor.
-Perform with the hands on a bench and the feet on the floor.