Mar
An Exercise Routine That You Can Do Anywhere
Photo by The Kosovar - now independent
Are you a fitness fanatic wondering how you’ll get your fix of happy hormones whilst you’re on the road? Or maybe you’re planning to get your body swimsuit-ready in preparation for your location independent life…
Me? I’m just trying to get myself back to some sort of regular fitness routine after a few months of sporadic attempts here and there and one too many fish & chip suppers - and I should really know better as a qualified personal trainer & health coach.
What if you could do an exercise routine that helped you:
- Lose weight
- Improve muscle tone & firm up
- Improve your strength
…and requires no equipment whatsoever (except perhaps a gym mat or beach towel). Like the sound of that?
The following is a routine that you can do that takes no more than 20-30 minutes and is suitable for almost all levels (except if you’re a bodybuilder trying to pack on the muscle).
I have included 2 options for some of the exercises - largely to help you mix and match when you’ve got use to one…
Exercise #1 Squats
Option 1: Aim for 3 sets of 12-15 with a 1 minute break in between.
Option 2: Aim for 2 sets of 12-15 on each leg with a 1 minute break in between.
Exercise #2 Press Ups
Option 1: Aim for 3 sets of 12-15 with a 1 minute rest in between.
Option 2: Aim for 2 sets of 12-15 on each arm with a 1 minute rest in between.
Repeat the exercise but balance on 3 points rather than 4 (so use just one leg on the floor, or if you’re strong enough, just one arm).
Exercise #3 Shoulder Press
Aim for 3 sets of 12-15 with a 1 minute rest in between (remain standing and use bottles of water or other for the hand weights).
Exercise #4 Side Plank
Aim to hold for 30-60 seconds either side; repeat twice with a 1 minute break in between.
Exercise #5 Plank
Option 1: Aim to hold for 30-60 seconds; repeat twice with a 1 minute break in between.
Option 2: Aim for 3 sets of 12-15 with a 1 minute break in between
Some of you may be wondering about cardio…this exercise routine can be turned into a great cardio workout by completing it in the style of a circuit.
Rather than do three sets of each exercise with your 1 minute rest in between, then moving on to the next exercise and repeating; try instead completing one set of each exercise immediately after the other, rest for 1 minute then repeat twice. I can guarantee your heart will be pumping after that!
Caution: As ever, always check with your medical practitioner first before starting any new exercise routine and especially if you have a bad back or other medical condition.
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Fantastic post!
I found your blog a couple weeks ago, and immediately subscribed. I’ve been freelance writing from my hotel room in Brazil since January (while my husband works out at the mill as an engineer in the pulp & paper industry). Luckily, my hotel has something of a gym. But the fact that it’s less than 200 meters from my room still hasn’t gotten me there more than about once a week on average. This little circuit I can pull off in my hotel room (or in my home office when I get back in a couple weeks). Thanks for the inspiration!
Hi Jacqui - I had a read of your blog, sounds like you’re having an interesting time down there in Brazil! Glad you enjoyed the post - have you tried the workout yet???
Lea
Actually, I have been doing the workout, or pieces of it at least! I’ve been skipping the side planks because they were very uncomfortable on the tile floor in the hotel here. If I want to do the whole thing straight through, I’d need to go put a towel down first. But instead of just getting up to stretch and walk around the room every hour or three, I get up and do squats and push-ups. I could barely get out of bed the morning after this post because my legs were so soar and locked up from all those squats! Now I’m getting used to it, and remembering to stretch once or twice a day as well.
I’ve been doing the shoulder presses at the desk whenever I’m waiting for a page to load. Two days ago I had a lot of pictures to upload for work. But the system only lets me do them one at a time. So it was click browse, click file, click ok, click submit, arms up, arms up, arms out (for variation), arms up, arms up, arms out, click add new image, repeat. It actually made the process a lot more interesting, because there was a delay while it uploaded and refreshed the page anyway.