The best exercises to do at home, not just for beginners

Training at home has plenty of advantages and it is certainly not true that it would not be an effective tool for losing weight, for example. On the contrary, for beginners it can be considerably more effective than going to the gym. For advanced trainees, home training is a fast and very effective way to stay in shape if they find themselves away from their standard training routine in the gym.

Whether you fall into one category or the other, if for some reason you cannot or do not want to go to a gym or a public workout park and want to carry on training, choosing suitable and effective exercises may be a question.

Because we ourselves add standard home training to the gym, we have put together a list of exercises that has worked best for us over the years. In the description of each exercise you will always also find a video with the correct technique and any variations. We should note that the exercises below are suitable for women and men alike.

Exercise	Repetitions/duration	Part of the body involved
Push-ups	50-100	chest, arms
Squats	50-200	thighs, glutes
Lunges	50-200	thighs, glutes
Jumping lunges	50-100	thighs, glutes, calves
Glute bridge	50-200	glutes, hamstrings
Single-leg deadlift	50-200	hamstrings, glutes
Burpees	50-100	whole body
Plank	2-5 minutes	core, shoulders
Lying leg raises	50-100	abdomen, thighs
"Snow angels" lying on your front	50-100	core

You can find all the information about putting together an effective home workout in the article “Bodyweight strength training at home”.

The 10 best bodyweight exercises to do at home

---

Push-ups

1. Start in a front support with your arms straight at shoulder or chest level, with a braced core and a flat back without unnecessary arching of the lower back. Think about pulling your shoulder blades together (so that they do not stick out from your torso) and pulling your shoulders down away from your neck.
2. Start the downward movement by bending your elbows along your torso (at an angle of no more than 45 degrees) while breathing in. 3) Bring your chest towards the floor under control and, breathing out, push yourself back up into the front support while keeping the original body position.

Muscles worked: chest muscles, deltoid muscle (shoulders), triceps (+ stabilising involvement of the shoulder girdle muscles, abdominal muscles and serratus anterior)

---

Pike push ups

This is a harder variation of the push-up.

1. The starting position is a pike position (feet and hands on the floor and the glutes the highest point of the pike).
2. You start the movement by rising onto your toes, bending your elbows, moving the body forward and bending at the shoulders so that you bring your forehead towards the floor, as far in front of your fingers as possible (the glutes still remain the highest point of the pike). The aim is to shift as much of your body weight as possible onto your shoulders.
3. By pushing off the floor and straightening your arms you return to the original pike position.

Muscles worked: deltoid muscle (front shoulders), triceps and upper chest

---

Squats

1. Start with your feet roughly shoulder width apart and your weight spread over the whole of your feet for maximum stability.
2. Breathing in, bend your knees so that your hips move towards the floor. Choose the depth so that you can keep your back flat, your heels firmly on the floor and so that nothing pulls uncomfortably anywhere. The line of the knee should be in line with the ankle and the toes. The knees must not wobble to the sides.
3. Then, breathing out, push yourself back up into the original position.

Muscles worked: quadriceps, glutes (+ a whole range of stabilising and assisting muscles)

---

Jump squats

1. We have already covered squat technique; the point here is to engage the calves as you return to standing and to perform the movement so dynamically that you jump.
2. With this exercise you will not only properly strengthen your thighs and backside, you will also add the calves and work the cardiovascular system more intensely.

Muscles worked: quadriceps, glutes, calves (+ a whole range of stabilising and assisting muscles)

---

Lunges

The principle of the lunge is that by bending one knee you significantly load one limb. For symmetry it is important to alternate limbs and to do the same number of repetitions. There are a whole range of variations which work the muscles from different angles, with different ranges and different levels of difficulty.

• Classic lunges
  1. Breathing in, from standing we step forward with one leg and bend the knee so that the hips move towards the floor. The back leg should be stable on the toes, with the knee coming close to the floor but not touching it. The front knee must be in line with the ankle and the toes and the front foot is stable on the floor along its whole length.
  2. Breathing out, we push off with the front leg and return back to standing.
• Reverse lunges
  1. From standing you take a step back onto your toes and bend both the front and the back knee, so that the back knee comes just above the floor and the front leg does a lunge. As much of the weight as possible stays on the front leg, which is being worked.
• Side lunges
  1. From standing, the leg steps out to the side. The direction of the toes, the bend of the ankle and the knee are all in one line, slightly to the side and in front of you. After the lunge you return back to standing.
• Bulgarian split squat
  1. This is in fact a lunge in which you have your back leg raised on a support, which allows you to load the front leg more.
• Box step-ups
  1. You place your front foot on a markedly raised surface and do a lunge so that you stand up on the raised front leg. This allows a greater range of movement.

Muscles worked: glute muscles, thigh muscles (+ assisting muscles, the calf muscle)

---

Jumping lunges

This is a very effective and demanding exercise which requires a higher level of dynamic strength, fitness and coordination.

1. Start by stepping forward and do a classic lunge.
2. Instead of returning to standing, push off the floor, switch your legs and do another lunge repetition.
3. With the following lunges you also jump and switch the front and back leg.

Muscles worked: glutes, thighs, calves, hamstrings (+ stabilising muscles)

---

Glute bridge

1. Lie down on your back, bend your knees and bring your heels close to your glutes. Your feet near your glutes, your rear shoulders and the upper back are the points of support.
2. The movement starts from lifting the hips so that the thighs, hips and torso form one inclined plane.
3. You can either hold the position at the top for time or repeatedly lift and lower the hips. If this exercise is too easy, try the variation using only one leg, keeping the other one raised off the floor.

Muscles worked: glutes, hamstrings and the back muscles along the spine

---

Single-leg deadlifts

1. From standing, shift your weight onto one slightly bent leg and hinge so that you lift the unloaded leg backwards and bend your torso forward (the back leg and the torso stay in line, perpendicular to the leg on the floor).
2. Then return back to standing and repeat the movement. The back stays flat and the arms are either alongside the body or above the head.

Muscles worked: hamstrings, glutes and the back muscles along the spine

---

Burpees

A complex dynamic exercise that starts and ends in standing. By involving most of the body's muscles you combine coordination training with cardio and burning a higher number of calories.

1. First, from standing, place your hands on the floor in front of you.
2. Jump your feet back into a plank and then do a push-up.
3. After the push-up jump your feet back to your hands and, by bending your knees, straightening your torso and raising your arms above your head, start a jump, from which you land back in standing.

Muscles worked: the whole body

---

Plank

A static exercise aimed mainly at the abdominal muscles. You can do the variation on your elbows or on your hands with straight elbows; the second point of support is your toes.

1. Hands or elbows are placed under the shoulders, the torso is flat without arching in the lower back, the shoulder blades do not stick out from the torso, and the hips neither drop towards the floor nor sit higher than the rest of the torso.
2. You hold this position statically for as long as possible.

Muscles worked: the core, arms, hips, glute muscles, legs and upper back

---

Side plank

This is a type of plank in which the side of the body faces the floor.

1. One hand or elbow and the outer side of one foot are the points of support on the floor.
2. Keep your torso and hips in one line for as long as possible.

Muscles worked: the side abdominal muscles and the serratus muscle

---

Lying leg raises

1. Lying on your back, raise your legs with your knees straight or bent to 90 degrees.
2. Then bring your legs back to just above the floor and start the next repetition. Raise your legs as you breathe out and your lower back must not come off the floor.

Muscles worked: the rectus abdominis and the hip flexors

---

Reverse snow angels and the superman position

1. The superman is a static exercise in which you lie on your front and your legs and arms (above your head) are straight and raised a few centimetres above the floor.
2. Reverse snow angels are a dynamic version of the superman. In them you lie on your front, keep your arms and legs raised a few centimetres above the floor and move them out to the sides and back.

Muscles worked: back muscles, rear shoulders, the muscles between the shoulder blades