Good at home routine to build strength and fitness?

March 14, 2022 11:01 PM

What it says on the tin. Snowflake details inside!

I do have some experience exercising, though it's been a while. But in general I'm pretty good at paying attention to form as long as I do the research on all the movements. I want to prioritize being healthier, especially building some strength, but I don't really want to go to a gym, and I definitely cannot afford a personal trainer at the moment. Maybe one day I will be down to go to a gym, but right now with where I live it just isn't very convenient, and I know that the key to building momentum with this habit will be making it as easy as possible. If I can just throw a mat on the floor and get started, I will be much more likely than if I have to trek to the gym.

That said, I have no idea what routine would be good to do. I am willing to invest in relatively small things...say, free weights (well, those can get big/heavy! so as long as it's not tooo many), bands, that sort of thing. I don't have space for a squat rack or bench or anything like that.

I'm not interested in yoga. I'm definitely open to having mobility work in a routine, I just think many styles of yoga emphasize things that I'm not interested in emphasizing.

My main goal is to just have a routine I can settle into that I don't have to think about. Put a mat on the ground, grab whatever things I need, get going...and ideally build some basic strength and fitness. Then perhaps let that serve as the basis for building a gymgoing habit in the future (the truth is at some point I would like to get into more serious weightlifting again, it's just hard to incorporate into my life for various logistical, time, and psychological reasons...but I have a build that is very receptive to weight lifting, and I think it would have various health benefits).

The issue I invariably have with fitness stuff is there are 10000 websites, many of which contradict each other, or agree but in slightly different ways, and I just get super overwhelmed. A personal trainer would be ideal for this, but alas, it's not in the cards at the moment. So I just want to find a routine or site or something that I can trust and just sort of take the stress out, because I am extremely prone to analysis paralysis for this stuff.

posted by wooh to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

Whether you choose to do it in 7 minutes or not, the 7 minute workout contains a good range of indoor exercises you can do without equipment, and there are apps and a lot of youtube content to talk you through it.
posted by mani at 12:37 AM on March 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

Nerd Fitness is always a good place to start
posted by Faff at 12:55 AM on March 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

What honestly has worked for me was to sign up for the Joe Wicks/Body Coach 90 day plan (link here). Similarly to you, I just wanted someone to tell me what to do. If you sign up to the plan (i.e. the 'original' plan but not the app, you get a pdf with diet stuff (which you can ignore if you want) and links to the workouts. It doesn't run out after 90 days so you can keep doing it.

This was the only strength exercise plan I've ever stuck to and I found it really rewarding. There are three stages, but you can repeat if you want, and all the exercises are scaleable - e.g. if (like me) you can't do proper burpees or press ups, there are alternatives etc. The first phase just uses body weight, and then you can get some weights for phase 2 and 3. I have moved on from this and lifting heavier stuff now (with a trainer) but I still do them sometimes. It's £67 but well worth it - no need to trawl through a trillion videos/plans. You just put it on and do it. I do the workouts in a relatively small space in an apartment, and it's fine. It's interval training, and I felt like the emphasis on you can do anything for 30seconds was really helpful! Personally, I find his style a bit annoying, so after the first time I just turn down the volume and listen to a podcast. He does do free videos, but then it comes back to the too much choice issue!

Signing up does lead you to diet/food stuff and measurements, but you can ignore all of that if you want. I think you need to submit something to get through the phases, but you could just put in arbitrary measurements. I'm no expert, but it got me off my butt for the first time in years, and now I'm working on doing pullups and getting better at bouldering. It was just so much easier to have something I could just turn on and do. Plus, each phase has 5 different workouts you do for a month (or longer) and so there's variety.

TLDR: Joe Wicks, £67, a bunch of graded workouts. Just put it on and do it - no thinking required!

PS. memail me if you want more details or a link to try it
posted by sedimentary_deer at 1:25 AM on March 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have enjoyed, and seen moderate success with following the programs on the ACHV PEAK youtube channel. I initially started following their videos because they were some of the few non-douchey workout videos that still seemed intense-enough to get good results (I'm sure there's more out there, but it seems to be hard to find). They release videos fairly regularly, and have had some "30 days of fitness" type challenges where there's a different workout each day, with consideration to giving different muscle groups / joints rest in-between days. Most of their workouts are with resistance bands, but they have many bodyweight-only videos too. I purchased a cheap set of resistant bands, a yoga mat and a kettlebell and have followed their videos ~6 months now. It's not quite as effective for strength building as going to the gym, but it's kept me relatively fit while also not being a financial or time strain (most workouts are <35 mins).

As an unrelated perk, they also have an adorable dog that often sits in the video frame during the workouts.
posted by unid41 at 2:11 AM on March 15, 2022

I have found the programs at GMB.io useful — they do cost money, but not a whole lot for the amount of material. They’re sort of mobility/flexibility oriented which is my weakness — I’ve always been pathologically inflexible. It hasn’t been fast, and we’re not talking about all that much progress, but they’ve improved my flexibility and agility more than anything else I’ve ever tried.
posted by LizardBreath at 3:43 AM on March 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

Couch to Barbell is a beginner strength program from Casey Johnston (of “Ask a Swole Woman” fame) that can be done at home in the early phases with minimal equipment. You can stick with that or it will help you transition into using barbells at a gym or at home, it’s a flexible program for a variety of needs and situations.
posted by Fuego at 4:50 AM on March 15, 2022 [6 favorites]

Thanks to the recommendation of a friend, I have become a big fan of the videos of Sydney Cummings. She posts workouts five days a week and also has an extensive back catalogue of workouts tagged by duration, body part, equipment, program/theme, etc. It's a mix of strength training, cardio, and agility, and I like her personality (motivating without being syrupy) a lot. But what I like most is the "just press play" ease of the whole thing. She does all the thinking and you just follow along, 30 to 45 min five days a week. It's all free and there is an occasional dog cameo too.
posted by fiery.hogue at 5:03 AM on March 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

See my comment here if you like barbell-type work but can't have that setup at home
posted by lalochezia at 5:18 AM on March 15, 2022

I use the Fitbod app for this. It is an annual subscription- I found a coupon online someplace that knocked that price down a bit.
What I like is you can set up your gym in the app - I do have some small dumbbells and a couple kettlebells as well as some resistance bands, etc. I selected the stuff I have and every time I open it, it gives me the day’s workout.
You can also input things like the amount of time you want to work out and if you want warmup / cooldown exercises and so on.
I don’t like strength training much, but this app has motivated me enough that I now manage it several times a week.
posted by hilaryjade at 5:20 AM on March 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

If you are at all interested in progressing to actual lifting of weights (which I highly recommend) may I point you to Liftoff: Couch to Barbell which starts with at-home stuff you can do for actual functional fitness work, progressing to going to a gym and using dumbbells and barbells.
posted by Medieval Maven at 6:46 AM on March 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

bendy introduced me to Shovelglove, and I love it.
posted by Snowishberlin at 7:47 AM on March 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

I'm a big fan of the Nike Training Club app. It's totally free and they have workouts for every equipment setup (including bodyweight). You can choose a 4-6 week pre-made program and just follow that. I've always had good results from NTC.

Another option is Darebee, which also has a bunch of programs. A lot of options, which you may find overwhelming - but there's a Foundation and Foundation Light program which may be what you're after?
posted by thebots at 9:19 AM on March 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

I am in a situation similar to yours and found darebee through another askme question, and I like it a lot. It is very clear and straightforward. One thing I like is that I pick a program and the site tells me what to do every day. I don’t have to think about it at all. Plus the diagrams are clear. I was really struggling to put something together but I don’t know enough about fitness to create a program for myself. Darebee really solved this problem for me, doesn’t have any grody diet culture stuff, isn’t based around a particular individual’s personality, and it’s free.
posted by jeoc at 9:24 AM on March 15, 2022

Orange Theory put a ton of at home workouts on their YouTube channel during quarantine. They can all be done with no weight, or with easy household weight-type items like soup cans, water bottles, hardcover books, etc. (IIRC, in one video a guy demonstrated a move holding a brick, and in another, a ski boot.) I find those workouts to be easy to follow, and they have plenty of accompaniments like stretching vids, relaxation vids, etc.

I also like Darebee and Couch to Barbell.
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:06 AM on March 15, 2022