Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 90 days, you know that most gyms, swimming pools, yoga studios, and almost every other place to exercise is closed. Hell, Colorado even closed the ski mountains.
Staying at home for days on end is a double edged sword. First, it creates boredom, and that in-turn leads to more and more visits to the fridge for a bite. Second, it limits the the options available for fitness. As beach body season is just around the corner, this doesn’t bode well for the millions of men cooped up in their apartments, condos, vans, house, etc…
Fortunately, there has a virtual tsunami of online and home workouts that have emerged. These are fitness routines that can be easily done in the privacy of your home, or outside with very limited space. Most of the these workouts include props that are readily accessible around the house, like a chair or towel, and many use only body-weight and gravity.
These stay-at-home workouts are sometimes referred to “prison workouts”. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out why. When prisoners are locked up 23-hours a day, they have to find creative ways to get their reps in. Forgoing any homemade tattoos, dodging butt-sex in the shower, and trading cigarettes and ramen noodles for cough medicine, let’s dig into some of the best home workouts.
Basic Training
The brave new world that we currently find ourselves isn’t that new at all, and neither are some of the best exercises to keep your level of fitness while stuck at home. Push-ups, sit-ups, bar dips, and lunges are classics. These body movements work all of the major muscle groups, are scalable for difficulty and can really kick your ass much harder than you might remember from high school gym class.
Push-ups
The Terminator
When it comes to being strong, who better than Mr. Universe himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. The former champion body builder, movie star, Governor of California, and so much more shared his home workouts on his instagram page.
Here’s the routine, straight from the man who killed The Predator. For more in depth description of the workout, visit the original article on Schwarzenegger’s website.
Pushups
Beginner: 25 Reps
Advanced: 50 Reps
Dips between chairs
Beginner: 20 Reps
Advanced: 50 Reps
Row between chairs
Beginner: 30 Reps
Advanced: 50 Reps
Sit-ups
Beginner: 30 Reps
Advanced: 100 Reps
Bent-leg raises
Beginner: 25 Reps
Advanced: 50 Reps
Bent-over twists
Beginner: 25 Reps
Advanced: 50 Reps
Knee bends (squats)
Beginner: 25 Reps
Advanced: 50-70 Reps
Calf raises
Beginner: 25 Reps
Advanced: 50 Reps
Chin-ups
Beginner: 10 Reps
Advanced: 30 Reps
Get Outside
It’s not a crime to go outside…. yet. So, as long as you’re following your local protocols, GTFO. Tune the bike. Sharpen the axe. Lace up the running shoes. Abandon the comforts of indoor gyms. Mirrored walls, high speed wifi, televisions, and even more distractions only reduce the effectiveness of time spent working out.
Trail running
Getting off the beaten path can be an invigorting exercise. It opens your your eyes, lungs and mind all at once. You may get lost once or twice, but as long as you’re not running in the Yukon, you should be able to self rescue. Mud won’t kill you either, so get dirty and go run among the trees like modern-day commando.
Chopping wood
Nothing is more manly than sharpening up the old axe in the shed and go head-to-head with that dead tree in the backyard. Let’s be honest, some of you reading this article are struggling with “dead wood” anyway, am I right? Dick jokes aside, go out and do some logging.
Just in case you think chopping wood is only for dudes, here’s one bad ass chick who knows how to handle some wood of her own.
Uphill skiing
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