Bodyweight Workouts to do in the home: Day 6

Oct

Bodyweight Workouts to do in the home: Day 6

homeworkout, day 6, bodyweight

Bodyweight Workouts to do in the home: Day 6

This is the sixth blog in my series, ‘Bodyweight Workouts to do in the home’, giving you advice on the various bodyweight exercises you can do that are useful for working different muscle groups on different days, giving you an all-body workout at home over the course of six days. If you have completed ‘Day 1 – Shoulders, Chest and Triceps’, ‘Day 2 – Legs’,‘Day 3 – Back and Biceps’, ‘Day 4 – PSit-upslyometrics’ and ‘Day 5 – Shoulders, Chest and Triceps’ well done you are nearly there! The following advice will complete your six-day workout. Keep doing these workouts weekly on a consistent level in your own time and you will see progress and results.

Day six is now focusing on building core strength. Find a spacious area free of obstacles and try the following exercises. Perform as many repetitions as possible for each exercise for 30 seconds, a minimum of 10 repetitions per exercise, however we are looking to aim for much more than that! After each exercise rest for 30 seconds and then move on to the next one. Once you have completed all of these, start with the first move again.

Test yourself by keeping a track of your personal best. See how many reps you can do in the 30 second time frame and then try and do even more the next time. This encourages healthy competition and motivation where you are pushing yourself even harder each time. Complete three circuits in total (that’s all the exercises below three times). To make it even more challenging aim to complete four circuits in total.

Day 1 – Core


1. Sit-ups (30 seconds)

Sat down with knees bent and back flat on the floor, squeeze your abs and glutes and raise your upper body off the ground halfway up and slowly lower back to the ground. For beginners as an alternative you can perform the crunch which is a shorter movement to a standard sit-up where you are just raising the head and shoulder blades off the ground. When performing this exercise maintain your neck in a neutral position so your head is pointing upwards and imagine there is a ball under your chin so you are not straining your neck and spine in a forward motion. Rest for 30 seconds.

2. Leg Raises (30 seconds)

Laid flat on your back, legs together and hands flat by your sides. Raise your legs up to a 90-degree angle with knees slightly bent then lower them towards the ground slowly, stopping a few inches above the ground and repeat. Squeezing your glutes throughout the move and exhale when your legs reach the top part. You can adapt this exercise if you are a beginner by bringing your knees into your chest rather than raising your legs fully upwards. This is a shorter range of motion. Rest for 30 seconds.

3. Heel Reaches (30 seconds)

Laid flat on the ground with arms extended down the sides of your body and knees bent, raise shoulder blades slightly off the ground and crunch your torso forward slightly and to the right until you can touch your right heel with your right hand. Exhale as you perform this manoeuvre. Return to the starting position and repeat on the other side. This targets the obliques and abs. Rest for 30 seconds.

4. Toe Touches (30 seconds)

Laid on your back, extend your legs straight up in the air. Tighten your lower abs, raise your shoulder blades, head and neck off the ground and reach up towards your toes flexing the upper body. Exhale as you reach up. Return upper body and legs to starting position and repeat. For beginners maintain the legs in a raised position throughout the movement and just raise your upper body off the ground reaching for your toes. Rest for 30 seconds.

5. Russian Twist (30 seconds)

Sit on the floor with knees bent and raise your legs off the ground slightly. Lean back so your torso is raised from the ground at about a 45-degree angle and maintain this position throughout the movement. Holding your hands together twist to the right as far as you can, pause, and then twist over to the left. You can adapt it slightly by keeping your feet flat on the ground to make it a little easier, ideal for beginners. To make the exercise more challenging hold a weight in your hands and twist left to right. (household items eg plastic water bottles, canned goods, bags of rice). Rest for 30 seconds.

6. Hollow Hold (30 seconds)

Lie down on your back, contract the abs pulling the belly button towards the floor. Reach out with your arms extended and legs raised slightly from the ground and extended out. Your shoulders should also be raised from the ground with lower back in contact with the floor, so your body is forming a bowl shape. Remember to take deep breaths whilst holding this position. This is the position you will maintain throughout the movement for 30 – 60 seconds. It is a very challenging exercise that helps build core strength. Rest for 30 seconds.

… and repeat (3-4 circuits)

Here we have focused on a range of exercises to work on building core strength. If you have followed the advice and attempted them all well done! Click on https://www.elemental-fitness.com/our-blog for my full series of blogs titled ‘Bodyweight Workouts to do in the home’ giving you more advice. The best thing about them is that because you don’t need any equipment you can do these wherever and whenever whether this is at home, work (on your break of course!) or outdoors.

Attempt the full range of exercises from Day 1 to Day 6 and try to keep doing them consistently. They will provide you with an all-round body workout. They are perfect if you are a beginner to exercise. If you are a bit anxious about joining a gym for whatever reason it would be a good idea to start working out at home following the advice in the blogs before making small progressions and moving onto more advanced techniques with weights and using resistance machines in a gym. Even if you are a more experienced gym goer you can still incorporate these bodyweight exercises into your regular routine at the gym. The main thing is that you exercise on a consistent level in order to reach your fitness goals.

If you need further advice or are thinking of taking your fitness to the next level our personal trainers at Elemental Fitness have different specialisms and are on hand to give you guidance and create an effective programme to meet your needs. For further information on what we can offer you at Elemental Fitness click on this link: https://elemental-fitness.com/training/personal-training-leeds


See day 1 here: https://elemental-fitness.com/our-blog/bodyweight-workouts-to-do-in-the-home-day-1

Day 2 here: https://elemental-fitness.com/our-blog/bodyweight-workouts-to-do-in-the-home-day-2

Day 3 here: https://elemental-fitness.com/our-blog/bodyweight-workouts-to-do-in-the-home-day-3

Day 4 here: https://elemental-fitness.com/our-blog/bodyweight-workouts-to-do-in-the-home-day-4

Day 5 here: https://elemental-fitness.com/our-blog/bodyweight-workouts-to-do-in-the-home-day-5