Home Gym Exercises

INTRODUCTION

Home gym exercises comprise the same productive and efficient movements that I would suggest commercial gyms goers to do. The difference is in the means by which the movements are produced i.e equipment used.

Finance is a limiting factor for many people and so prohibits the purchase of the large or expensive equipment found in gyms.  Great results are still possible with 

home gym fitness equipment

• Bodyweight exercises - incorporating leverage, suspension training and variable resistance equipment (elastic tubes and bands)
• Dumbells or Kettlebells

and / or

• Home gyms / home multi-gyms   e.g. total gym, pilates equipment

The numerous types of home gyms / home multi-gyms mean reviews are best covered in a separate section. This will be uploaded at a later time.

Most of the exercises listed below can be performed regardless of the type of home gym equipment used (e.g. horizontal pushing is satisfied by either push ups, bench press type or  a horizontal cable pushing movement on a multi-gym) 

TYPES OF  HOME GYM EXERCISES

There are 2 main types

• Compound - multi-joint movements involving many muscles
• Isolation - single joint movements involving a very low number of muscles

COMPOUND EXERCISES - "Must haves"

The exercises will be listed according to the number of joints involved. Injury prevention should always be a priority and the need for precise and flawless technique increases as the complexity ( number of joints and muscles) increases. There are many excellent websites providing this information so including it here would be unnecessary duplication. The focus is to outline my approach to obtaining sustained and fast workout results via home gym exercises.

1 ) Total Body

• Snatch 
• Clean and Press/Push Press/Jerk
• Explosive vertical jump
• Swing
• Deadlift (primarily a pulling exercise with a secondary pushing aspect)
• Squat (primarily a pushing exercise with back input to stabilise the load)

The snatch and Clean & Press/Push Press/Jerk would use much less weight than seen in a weightlifting gym (unless an individual has invested in a fully kitted home gym area). When dumbells or kettlebells are used the emphasis is less on pure extreme power and more on athletic power and body conditioning.

Unless there is a specific objective of medium to long distance running I believe resistance cardio can produce better overall results than aerobics, treadmills or jogging. Fast high rep movements using a weight (body or otherwise) improves both strength, cardiovascular fitness (anaerobic & aerobic), body composition (fat %) and muscle to some extent. The tempo would be interval based with varying combinations of work/rest patterns. Long durations would be avoided to ensure anerobic and aerobic improvements. Outdoor sprinting is also an option for conditioning (and body fat levels). As stated in the fitness section, people competing in endurance events can benefit from adopting an anaerobic / aerobic approach instead of just slower high mileage training. 

2) Upper Body Pushing

• Horizontal - push ups / bench press
• Vertical - hands above head : shoulder / military press/ handstand push up variations
• Vertical - hands towards waist : dip variations

3) Upper Body Pulling

• Horizontal - rowing or inverted body rows (pulling the body towards the hands, gripping an object or handles of suspension training equipment)
• Vertical - raising body up : pull ups / chin ups / machine or cable pulldowns
• Vertical - raising an object towards the chest/head : upright row / high pull

4) Core & Mid-section

• Deep abdominal breathing
• Sit ups
• Leg raises
• Resisting and initiating whole body twisting
• Back extensions / Superman holds
• Waiter's bow

All the above are best performed with adequate muscle tension to stabilise the spine in order to avoid injury.

5) Mobility & Flexibility

If time or energy levels are limited home gym exercises can be modified by varying the angles between the torso and arms, choosing positions between the vertical and horizontal points :

• Pushing - incline / decline pressing   or dips with a forward leaning upper body
• Pulling - inverted rows with feet raised on a chair or pullups with torso angle back
• Core & Mid-section - Leg raises provide most effect for effort expended

Provided attention is given to ensure

• Controlled full range of motion (incorporating scaled workouts to cater for ability & age)
• Correct technique e.g. shoulder blades pulled back and downwards whilst performing horizontal pulling movements. Technique is important for effective results not just injury prevention.
• Proper posture is adopted in daily movement

very little, if anything will be missed and the 80/20 rule will apply itself.

ISOLATION EXERCISES - "Can / Like to haves"

These exercises can be performed if there is sufficient time, energy and desire. They are divided into

• Functional - develop the neck, fingers/grip/forearms and calves/ankles.
• Aesthetic - target specific areas (often associated with bodybuilding)

The functional ones are more important than the aesthetic and should be prioritised before the latter. If time etc is limited the movements / muscles involved will still get some development when the compound exercises are performed.

1) Functional

• Neck - forwards & backwards, tilting left & right, twisting left & right
• Fingers/Grip/Forearms - holding a load for time, hand grippers, rolling up  / unrolling a load suspended by rope
• Calves/Ankles - calf raises

2) Aesthetic - there are too many to be listed here and will be covered in the bodybuilding section.

SCALING  HOME GYM EXERCISES

Home workouts using the listed home gym exercises can tailored for an individual's ability, age etc by using

• body leverage
• 1 limb movements
• suspension training equipment
• variable resistance rubber/latex tubes and bands
• adjustable position settings on multi-gyms
• combinations of the previous methods

More detail will follow as to how exactly this is possible.

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Site under construction - apologies for any gaps or apparent inconsistencies. In time as more information is added the whole site should "hang together".

Initially the focus will be on general information which should assist with achieving results regardless of the approach you take in working out.

Later I will provide more detailed information.