30 NO EXCUSES home exercises for beginners

Now you have no more excuses! Here are 30 great exercises that you can do at home, without the need for any equipment!

Walking – If the weather is nice, it’s wonderful to get outside and enjoy the scenery around you while you exercise. However, if the weather has other ideas, you can just as easily get an effective walking workout at home. If you have a flight of stairs, go up and down them a few times. (You could even grab a load of laundry as you’re going that way anyway!) This will help to tone up your legs, while getting some low impact aerobic exercise as well. If you don’t have any stairs available, just walk around the house a few times – it may not be very exciting, but it will do the job!

Jumping Jacks – These are always fun, as they bring back memories of being a kid! Who hasn’t done jumping jacks for fun as a child? Well, surprise – they are also great cardio exercises, and good for warming up, too.

Pushups – These are probably not the most favourite exercise of many people, but while they can be hard to do, you can find easier ways to do them. You don’t need to pretend you’re “Rocky”, and do them with one hand; just do what works for you. Do them on your knees, instead of keeping your legs straight. Or, do them standing up against a wall. You will be building up arm strength and working out muscles in your chest area. Lie face-down on the floor, with the hands shoulder-width apart and palms facing inwards. Now, push up your body until the arms are straight. Lower the body and repeat the process. To raise the level of difficulty, place your toes on an elevated bench, while your hands are on the floor. Lower your body until your chest touches the floor, before going back to the original position.

Dips - For this exercise, you need to place yourself between two sturdy surfaces (chairs would be a fine option). Keep your head up and body as vertical as possible. Start by lowering yourself, until your upper arms are parallel to the seat of the chairs. Hold the position and then push up to the top, until your arms are fully extended again. Make sure you look straight while doing this exercise. Dips are a great workout

Chair Dips - Chair dips are a simple way to get a good workout for the triceps. Sit on the edge of a chair and grip the edge of the chair beside your glutes. Ease yourself off the chair so that your hands are supporting you. Bend your arms and dip your body down, but do not sit on the floor. Push yourself back up and repeat the exercise.

Leg Lifts – These are great for building up strength and muscles in your legs. If you find it hard to do the exercises with your legs straight, try bending them slightly.

Crunches – The best exercise for building up and strengthening abdominal muscles. When you’re just getting started, don’t worry about getting your head all the way up. So long as you’re going up until you feel the stretching of the muscles, you will see some benefit.

Squats – These are wonderful exercises for your legs and buttocks. You can even just try these by sitting and standing up again from a regular chair, if you’re finding them to be too difficult. As long as you’re able to do a few repetitions, you will be providing some benefit to your body.

Light Weight Lifting – No, you don’t need to go out and buy expensive weights for this! Just use whatever you can find in your house. Start out with something lighter, such as a can of peas, and work yourself up to heavier items. You can use milk jugs, laundry detergent bottles or even water jugs.

Dancing – Dancing is a wonderful exercise, which is great for your heart. Not only that, but it can lift your spirits as well, and give your overall feeling a boost.

Step Exercises – Using the steps in your home, you can do repetitions which will tone your leg muscles. (Just remember to be careful!) A great aerobic workout can be achieved at home by walking up and down the stairs. Stair stepping is also a good exercise for the lower body. Taking two steps at a time increases the intensity of this at-home exercise. Walk up and down the stairs for several minutes in order to get a decent calorie burn.

Fidget while you watch your shows. Science has proven that people who fidget even while sitting down can burn up to 350 more calories per day. If your body’s in motion, it’s burning calories.

Move your exercise equipment in front of the TV. If you have a treadmill stuck in the corner doubling as a clothing hanger, now is the time to dust it off and move it right in front of the TV. You can’t see around it, so you’ll be forced to get on and walk while your favourite shows are on.
 Set up a circuit training route in front of your TV. If your living room is large enough, you can set up “stations” that you go to in order to perform cardio routines while your shows are on. You can jump rope, walk in place, or use equipment like dumbbells, exercise balls or steps to get your heart rate up.


See how many pushups you can do during a show or commercial. If you’re just starting out, then you might start with commercial pushups, but once you become more adept at exercising, see how many you can do during a half hour or hour long show! (Always within reason of course!)


Do lunges while you watch TV. You can do lunges in place or walking lunges around the room while your shows are on.


Walk / Jog on the spot as you catch up on your favourite show. Walking / jogging on the spot requires no special equipment and it won’t put a strain on your body while you do it. Just march your legs up and down and rest during commercials.


See how many squats you can do. Squats can be done in place or up against a wall in a sitting position. See how long you can hold it. Can you reach a certain number of squats before the next commercial?


Become a commercial crunch Queen (or King)!
Crunches take less effort than a full sit up, but they help tone your abs a lot better. See how many crunches you can do during commercials or if you’re brave – during the length of the show itself!

Watch exercise shows on TV and move along with them. You don’t have to invest in a lot of pricey exercise videos if your budget is strapped. There are tons of free channels that have daily exercise shows on them for all levels – beginner through advanced.

Switch up your exercise routines with your TV watching habits. You don’t watch the same TV show over and over every hour, do you? No – you switch it up between the news, a reality TV show, and maybe a sitcom or police drama. So do the same with your exercise routines, too. Switch it up so that you don’t get bored and are more likely to stick to it for the long haul.

Wall Push-ups An easy way to do push-ups at home is to do them against a wall. To practice wall push-ups, stand a couple feet away from a wall and place your hands on the wall at about shoulder-width apart. Bend your arms and lower yourself toward the wall. Push back off the wall to starting position and repeat. Do traditional push-ups on the floor to make this exercise more difficult.

Wall Sits Another easy exercise to do on the wall is wall sits. Stand with your back against a wall and slowly lower yourself into a seated position. Your hips should be parallel with your knees and your knees should be directly above your ankles. It should appear that you are sitting on an invisible chair against the wall. Hold the wall sit for at least a minute to get a good lower body workout.

Standing Calf Raises The calves are often overlooked during exercise routines, but there is an easy way to work the calves at home. Find a telephone book and stand on the edge of the book with the balls of your feet. Lower your heels toward the floor and then raise your heels up as high off the floor as you can. Repeat this exercise until you feel a good burn in the calves. Keep your legs straight while performing the calf raises.

Ball sitting (if you have one) several at-home exercises can be done on an exercise ball. One of the easiest things to do is to simply sit on the ball while you are watching television or surfing the Internet. Sit on the ball and your core muscles will go to work to help you keep your balance. The exercise ball also forces you to keep good posture while sitting on it.

Squats For this exercise, you need to first position your feet about shoulder-width apart, keeping the back straight and the head up. Now, squat down i.e. sit on your heels, with the top of your thighs parallel to the floor. Hold the position for a second and then stand up, exhaling your breath as you come up. Squats help build the thighs and shape the buttocks, apart from improving the endurance. 

Lunges You need to stand upright. Now, spread the legs, one forward and the other backward. The distance between your feet should not be more than two feet. Keeping your abdominal muscles tight and chest high; lower your upper body, while bending your leg. At the time of bending, do not allow your knees to go beyond your toes. Repeat the exercise with the other leg as well.

   

Bent Over Row For doing this exercise, position your right hand and right knee on a sturdy flat surface that provides good support. Now, pick a dumbbell or something that is heavy in your left hand. Thinking your arms to be hooks, bring the dumbbell or the heavy object up to the side of your chest. Keeping your back in a straight position; lower the weight back down to arm’s length. Repeat the whole process using the right arm.  

Couch Kicks You can work out your thigh and gluteus muscles by using your couch as a piece of exercise equipment. Stand up facing the couch, with one of the couch arms in front of you. Bend forward, supporting your weight on the arm of the couch. Keep your head down so that you do not put stress on your neck muscles. Kick your right leg back, so that the bottom of your foot is parallel to the ceiling, and then bring it back down. When you are doing the exercise properly, you should feel it in your thigh and butt. Do fifteen repetitions on your right leg, and then repeat with your left leg. Continue switching back and forth between your legs until you feel like you have to stop. You will get results after a few weeks of this “uplifting” workout.

 Laundry Lifts A laundry basket full of clothes can be more than a household chore – it can be an arm sculpting piece of exercise apparatus! Hold the basket above you head, and lift upwards and back down. Do at least three repetitions of fifteen lifts each. If it is too heavy for you, all you have to do is take out some clothes. This exercise will work your shoulders, upper arms, and upper back muscles. Vary this workout by laying flat on your back, and lifting the basket up and down from your chest.