The Home Workout Plan For The Coronavirus Shutdown
The Quick Cut:
Being stuck at home during the Coronavirus will make staying fit harder.
This is not the time to become sedentary but to stay fit and healthy by performing your workouts at home.
Working out at home has both Pros and Cons.
To maximize your home workouts, you’ll have to create the right mindset, environment, and set up the right home equipment for your fitness level.
This guide will show you how to do exactly that.
It also includes a challenging but doable workout program you can do from the safety of your own home.
The Long Slice:
Are you stuck at home due to the Coronavirus?
Is your gym or fitness studio ‘closed until further notice’?
Then, you’re going to love this home workout guide. It will:
Help you create the right mindset to maximize your at-home workouts (this is key!).
Guide you to get the right equipment for your fitness level.
Provide you will a free bonus home workout program you can do from the comfort and safety of your abode.
Ready to get your sweat on at home? 💪🏻
1. CREATING THE RIGHT MINDSET
NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE SEDENTARY
Yes, the Coronavirus has forced our gyms and fitness studios to close and pushed us all indoors, making it harder to get our exercise.
Ironically, now is the time when we need to exercise the most, so we can be our healthiest and strongest in order to fight any potential illness that comes our way.
Undoubtedly, it will be a challenge to keep up with your exercise routine, especially if you’re accustomed to going to a gym or fitness class to get your exercise in.
But now is NOT the time to be sedentary. The risks of falling out of shape, gaining weight, and becoming unhealthier are very real when we’re stuck in the house.
Thus, I implore you to put in some effort to set up your home equipment and stay active these next few weeks or months until the virus is officially defeated. 🙏🏻
The good news is that by using the right strategies, it is absolutely possible to have an effective and affordable workout at home.
This guide will show you how.
THE PROS AND CONS OF WORKING OUT AT HOME
First, a quick qualification: While there are plenty of outdoor exercise options, such as running, biking, swimming, etc., this guide will only focus on actually doing exercise at home.
Also, this guide will focus only on doing resistance training because that is the most superior form of exercise for overall health and fat loss (vs. doing a cardio-only workout at home, yoga only, etc.)
Now, let’s dive in…
Doing workouts at home has advantages and disadvantages. Let’s look at the major Pros and Cons:
As you can see from the list of Cons above, to maximize our home workouts, we have to minimize the disadvantages that come with working out at home.
HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR HOME-BASED WORKOUTS
These techniques below ensure you will succeed at working out at home so you can keep your fitness on track until the Coronavirus passes:
1.1 GET MOTIVATED
The energy of the home is not always conducive to working out. Home is where we do many things, including eating, sleeping, relaxing, etc. This can make it harder to muster up the motivation to exercise or to ‘give it our all’ while we exercise.
Here are some strategies to help you get motivated while working out at home:
Get rid of clutter and tidy up - This will reduce your stress and put you in the right mindset to work out.
Rely on your WHY - Get present to your WHY, which is your purpose in life. Connect how being your fittest and healthiest helps you succeed at your purpose. Doing this right creates an endless source of motivation for you. (ask me how)
Blast music - This one is also huge for motivating you. Pandora, Spotify, and, of course, the Motion Traxx podcast and Motion Traxx fitness app will do the trick. 🔊
Use a workout video - Ideally, one that is primarily for resistance training vs. just cardio.
1.2 LIMIT DISTRACTIONS
This one is trickier. There are certain distractions that are easier to control, while others require some cooperation from other parties.
Here are some strategies to help you limit distractions while working out at home:
Set an ‘Anchor Time’ in your calendar - This ensures you have reserved dedicated time for your workouts vs. just trying to fit it 'on the fly', which rarely works for busy folks like you.
Communicate your anchors - Let the people in your life (including your kids, now that they’re home every day) know that you need that ‘me’ time for your workouts. This creates a healthy boundary to take care of your health.
Silence your devices - Prevent work or personal text messages, emails, and other notifications from distracting you during your workout by silencing all your devices.
1.3 GET SUPPORT
Finding a good workout buddy is hard enough when you CAN go to the gym. But now, inviting people over is not the best idea, so you may have to work out by yourself, especially if you live alone. If you don’t live alone, then that creates other challenges.
Here are some techniques to help you get support while working out at home:
Sync up with your significant other - If you live with someone, sync your schedules. Work out at the same time, even if you don’t do the same workouts. This is a great way to push each other to meet your promises. A couple that works out together, stays together.
Get an accountability partner - Having an accountability partner increases your chances of meeting a goal by up to 95%. It’s not so easy to find one, because most friends or family members won’t want to kick you in the butt, but see if someone is up for the task.
Sign up with an online fitness coach - If you want to take your accountability, knowledge, and your fitness & fat loss results to the next level, sign up with a coach.
This is exactly what I do with my Sharp Body Transformation Program. I work with you, online, and teach you how to think, train, and eat to permanently transform your body so you can stay lean & mean for life. Ask me about my 12-week fat loss program by emailing me (my email is at the bottom of this post). ⬇️
1.4 GET BASIC EQUIPMENT SET UP
Obviously, working out at a gym provides you with a much wider range of equipment options than you will have at home. Luckily, you don’t need a wide range of equipment to have a solid workout at home.
Personal Story: By the time I was 10 years old, my parents had saved enough money to buy their first house since coming to America. The prior owner of the house had left behind a set of rusted, gold-colored barbell set.
Three years later, when I hit puberty, discovered bodybuilding magazines, and started lifting weights (the first of all my friends), that rusty barbell set in our basement was all I needed to get started on my life-long fitness journey.
Having solid workouts at home requires just a basic set of equipment. The amount and type of equipment will vary depending on your fitness level and your goals.
2. GETTING THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT FOR YOUR FITNESS LEVEL
HOME EQUIPMENT GUIDE: BEGINNER
Here’s what I recommend you get if you’re a beginner, or haven’t worked out in a long time:
Thera Bands - Offer the mildest resistance and are the easiest with which to travel.
Resistance Bands - Offer more resistance and challenge.
Mat - You’ll need this for floor work, stretching, yoga, etc.
Optional Cardio Equipment:
Treadmill - Long walks on the treadmill are great for burning fat and are easy on the joints (especially important if you have a lot of weight to lose).
HOME EQUIPMENT GUIDE: INTERMEDIATE
Intermediates can start with what beginners need, and have it as part of your collection and add what’s below, or you can jump straight to this equipment below:
Dumbbells - To me, this is the most versatile and useful piece of gear you will own for successful home workouts. 👍🏻
Kettlebells - A great alternative or addition to dumbbells. It allows for more explosive movements and cardio benefits.
Pull Up Bar - The pull-up is a tremendous upper body building exercise. It's challenging though, so make sure you’ve been able to do a pull up in the past before buying a pull-up bar.
Jump Rope - Did you know that jumping rope burns more calories than any other cardio exercise? Great for warming up, cardio finishers, or as its own cardio workout.
Optional Cardio Equipment:
Spin Bike or Elliptical Machine - These machines get expensive, so make sure you really love it and will do it before committing to one. On that note, if you’re a fan of spinning (a.k.a. indoor cycling), you can opt for the super fancy Peloton bike but if you want to get a great spinning workout at less than half the price, all you need is a decent spin bike and Motion Traxx coached audio workouts in your ears.
HOME EQUIPMENT GUIDE: ADVANCED
This is for the elite exerciser who wants to take his or her weight lifting to the highest level, while still training at home.
Squat Rack - They say squatting is the king of all exercises and I couldn’t agree more. I love the Rogue brand of powerlifting equipment. Really can’t go wrong with them. They have bigger and more minimalist style squat racks and power racks. Go with the one that fits your budget and your space.
Olympic Barbell + Bumper Plates - For your squat rack you’ll need a barbell and weight plates. If you opt for the bumper plates instead of cast iron weight plates, you’ll be able to use your barbell set to do deadlifts as well, with less risk of damaging your floor (and pissing off your spouse and neighbors from all the clanging of weight plates!).
Bench - Get a proper bench with a bench press rack. Ideally, one that inclines and reclines. This will provide a whole range of options for lifting workouts at home, especially for the upper body (chest, back, arms, etc).
Optional Cardio Equipment:
Rowing Machine or Assault Bike - Most people find using cardio machines to be boring, and in my opinion, these are some of the most boring out there. Personally, I only use the rowing machine to warm on my back / ‘pull’ days. But if you’ve used these machines before and know for a fact you love them, then, go for it. They do provide a challenge, especially the assault bike, which can be a killer full-body workout.
3. BONUS: COMPLETE HOME WORKOUT PROGRAM
Once you get your equipment set up, you’ll need a workout you can do.
Here’s a challenging but straight-forward workout program you can do at home by using the equipment laid out in the ‘Intermediate’ section above.
NOTE: If you’re a beginner, you can start out by doing these moves with your bands instead of dumbbells.
You will be working out 3 days per week, with an optional 4th day.
Get ready to build muscle, get stronger, and cut fat with my Sharp Body Fat Blasting Home Workout Plan.
In closing, you now have what you need to show that nasty Coronavirus that it can’t stop you from having your best body and living your best life.
You got this! 🏋🏻♀️
