7 Household Items for Makeshift Exercise Equipment
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Do you not want to reduce the intensity of your workouts even if you can’t go to the gym? Before we get to the household items you can use for working out, we must tell you that you can get equally good results, if not better, from bodyweight exercises. Checkout live workout classes on FITPASS-TV to stay fit at home.
If you like to exercise a certain way, inaccessibility to gyms should not stop you. You don't need to spend lots of money on buying expensive equipment and not everyone can afford it. However, having a few basics like a pair of dumbbells, kettlebells, jumping rope, resistance bands, etc. wouldn’t be such a bad idea. The good news - you can find plenty of objects in your home that you can use to build a better body and stay healthy.
Everyday Objects That Work As Workout Equipment
You do not need a stepping machine if you have stairs at your home and there’s a good chance that you do. Start your cardio beginner for a high-intensity workout by running on your stairs or walking up and down multiple times. Actually, you can avoid running down the stairs if you have tightness or other knee problems. Living in a high-rise apartment building, in this case, is a blessing. Let’s say you live on the 4th floor or above. Even if you climb down and up once, it’s a good warm-up for your heart and glutes. However, running up and down on stairs can be a little tricky, so make sure your shoelaces aren’t untied and don’t lose concentration. Finally, it’s always a good idea to run UP the stairs.
Don’t have a bench at home? That’s okay, chairs will help you do those various types of dips. You can do a full-body workout with a simple chair and get toned arms. Needless to say, the chair should be sturdy and must be able to take your weight without moving. Chairs are great for improving your squatting resistance – place it under you while you squat. You can also do some leg raises. The best use of chairs for working out is to do triceps dips. Do it on one chair with your feet stretching out straight on the floor or use two chairs with your feet straight ahead of you on the other chair.
If you’re active on popular social media platforms, you must have come across people working out while wearing their backpacks. Just like in your childhood, fill your backpack with some heavy books and strap it on your back before lunging, squatting, doing push ups, etc. Wear it while taking the stairs for if you’re up to the challenge. Try to do all the cardio exercises while wearing the backpack. You can also use it to do curls, swings, and shoulder presses.
Have you used those glider discs at your gym or fitness studio? You can simply use a couple of plastic plates at home when working out on carpeted or smooth surfaces to increase muscle engagement. They assist you with bodyweight exercises. When you’re doing lunges, you can make them harder simply by placing a paper plate under the foot that moves during the exercise. The plate removes friction and allows you to slide from the starting position to the lunge and back again. The motion of sliding becomes challenging. Do it slowly and take care of your posture.
Don’t have a yoga mat? Can’t buy one due to the lockdown? That’s okay, just use a beach towel. The small ones can also be used for slider exercises if the noise made by the plates makes you cringe.
You can do plank slide-outs with towels. Place a hand towel beneath both your feet and slide them apart and back together (till the starting position) repeatedly while you hold the plank to make it much more challenging. Also, towels can be used instead of resistance bands for an arm workout or starching. Finally, you can always roll them up and place them under the small of your back for support.
Want to stretch your hamstrings? Stack a few books on one another in front of you, bend forward, place your hands on the books, and press down as much as you can.
Want better abs? Place a heavy book on your chest when doing crunches for increased tension. Or you can always hold one in your hand and bring your legs and arms together using the strength of your core, especially lower abs.
You can simply use water bottles instead of dumbbells. Water bottles (most of them) can be grabbed easily and you can perform curls and swings with them. Preferably, use a bottle with screw-on caps, or else you might end up spilling water on yourself. A gallon, which is equal to 3.8 liters of water will equal a weight of around 3.6 Kgs. Make sure the bottle is full to the top or it might be hard to balance it with the water flowing around. You can also swing your arms with bottles in your hands or do lunges.
