Best Exercises for Men and Women To Do at Home

For those of you whose gym routine has been interrupted by Covid-19 and the ongoing lockdown, maintaining a regular exercise regime from home can be a challenge. The reasons for this might be many: household work, office work, lack of proper space and equipment, among others. However, staying physically active is important to boost your immune system and prevent other health risks. Exercising daily, especially morning workouts, can help refresh and energise you. This, in turn, can alleviate stress & tension and enhance your productivity at work. Thus, if you are looking for simple and easy at-home exercises for men and women, then the following exercises are the best way to get started.

A] Best Exercises For Men To Do at Home

1. Side Plank:

Planking is a great way to improve your balance and build stronger abs. One of the simplest exercises for men, side plank is efficient for defining and strengthening the side muscles of your core. It also helps protect your spine without stressing your back.

How to do Side Planks

• Lie on your side with your feet together and knees straight.
• Keep your forearm below your shoulder and slowly raise your body up on your elbow & forearm to form a straight line from head to feet.
• Raise your opposite hand or rest it on your hip.
• Hold the position for a few minutes and repeat on the other side.

2. High Knees:

Another exercise for men at home, high knees is a fast-paced, high-intensity cardio-workout the engages your core, improves coordination & flexibility and strengthens your leg muscles. It is a full-body workout that requires no equipment and can be performed at any time.

How to do High Knees

• Maintain a good posture by standing straight and keeping your feet hip-distance apart.
• Lift your right knee to your chest (or as high as it will go) and raise the opposite arm.
• Quickly switch to your left knee and continue the movement by alternating legs and moving at a pace comfortable to you.

3. Cross Crunches:

It is an easy beginner exercise that helps to strengthen your abdominal muscles and tones your abs. It also targets your oblique muscles and muscles in your lower back, hips and pelvis. This helps improve your posture, stability, and alleviates back pain.

How to do Cross Crunches

• Lie flat on your back with your knees bend and feet on the floor.
• Place your hand behind your head and your elbows to the side.
• Now lift your shoulder off the floor and extend your right hand across your body towards the left ankle.
• Return to the starting position and continue on the opposite side.
• Repeat the same as many times as you want.

4. Dumbbell Squats:

Squats are a popular exercise routine for men at home and the best exercise for the lower body. They particularly target the quadriceps muscles of the thighs and gluteus maximus. They help improve stability and builds functional fitness. Dumbbell squats are one of the variations of squat and easy to perform.

How to do Dumbbell Squat

• Maintain a good posture by standing straight with dumbbells on the sides and feet slightly wider than the hip.
• Keep your back straight and lower yourself into a squat position until your thighs are parallel to the ground.
• Return to the starting position by extending your hips and knees.
• Repeat the same for a specified amount of reps.

5. Lunges:

This is a full-body workout that engages all your muscles and makes them flexible. There are
different types of lunges that you can do; walking lunges, side lunges, stationary lunges, reverse lunge and kick, among others. It is one of the best at-home exercises for weight loss and helps improve balance, stability, endurance, and strength.

How to do Lunges

• To do a basic forward lunge, stand with your feet hip-width apart and keep your shoulders & back straight.
• Next, lift your left leg and take a big step forward.
• Lower your body until the right thigh is parallel to the floor.
• Press into the right heel to return to the standing position.
• Repeat with the other leg.

Take a look at this video to learn more about reverse and forward lunges.

6. Russian Twist:

Popular among athletes, Russian twist targets the core muscles, builds stability in your spine, and tones the midsection of your body. There are variations in the Russian twist, including punch twist, decline twist, leg-cross twist and weighted twist. Each variation focuses on different parts of the body and is a great rotational strength exercise.

How to do Russian Twist

• Sit on the floor and lift your feet slightly while keeping your knees bend.
• Lean back slightly to form a V-shape with your torso and thighs.
• Now, clasp or interlace your fingers and twist your torso from side-to-side without moving the legs.

7. Burpees:

This exercise for men consists of a push up followed by a leap or jump in the air. It can be a challenging exercise, but a great way to burn calories. It will also help boost your cardio fitness and as a full-body workout, it helps build endurance and strength.

How to do Burpees

Check out this guide to learn more about the different burpees variations.

B] Best Exercises For Women To Do at Home

1. Yoga:

Yoga not only improves your physical health, but enhances mental and emotional health. The benefits of yoga are numerous and this is one exercise that you can do at any time and anywhere. It also helps you de-stress your life and there are various yoga poses that you can try based on your comfort.

2. Bridge Pose:

This exercise for women helps strengthen the back, glutes, and legs; and stretches the chest, neck, hamstrings, and spine. If you can’t do squats due to knee problems, you can opt for the bridge pose.

How to do the Bridge Pose

• Lie on your back with the knees bent and feet hip-width apart.
• Place your hands to the sides with the palms touching the floor.
• Now, gently push your heels into the floor and raise your hips off the floor.
• Hold this position for 20-30 seconds and return to the starting position.

3. Leg Raise:

One of the best exercises at home for legs, a leg raise workout helps improve the flexibility of your hip flexors and strengthens the lower and upper abdominal muscles. They also help burn extra fat around the belly area. Beginners are advised to start with 2 sets of 20 leg raises, which can then be increased over time.

How to do the Leg Raise

• Lie on your back with your feet extended.
• Place your hands underneath the lower back and glutes.
• Now, press your thighs together and raise your legs towards the ceiling.
• Lift it high until your hips are fully flexed (or as high as it can go).
• Lower them back down and repeat.

4. Breathing:

This simplest exercise for women is often overlooked, but provides a tremendous amount of benefits if practice daily. Even doing breathing exercises for 5 minutes can make you feel rested and calm & soothe your mind. It is a great at-home exercise to relieve anxiety and helps lower the heart rate and blood pressure.

5. Single Leg Stand:

One of the simplest exercise routines for women at home, this exercise helps improve your balance and strengthens your hips and lower parts. This exercise can be done by young and old alike and can help prevent injury by enhancing your leg strength.

How to do a Single Leg Stand

• Stand upright with your feet together and lift the right leg off the ground.
• Hold the position for 5-10 seconds and return to the starting position.
• Switch to the left leg and repeat at least 5 times. Increase the count gradually.

6. Bicycle Crunches:

An excellent workout for the waist, this exercise is ideal for women who want to get back in shape. It is an easy exercise that helps improve stability, flexibility, and core strength. It also improves heart health and makes the blood flow more seamlessly in your body.

How to do Bicycle Crunches

• Lie on your back with the knees bend and place your hands behind your head.
• Now, slowly raise your knees and go through a bicycle pedal motion.
• You can also gently rotate your torso, so the elbow can touch the opposite knee as it comes up.
• Do this in 2 or 3 sets with 10-15 repetitions.

7. Hip Rotation:

This involves twisting your thigh inward/outward with a hip movement. Both internal and external hip rotation exercises can help improve mobility and decrease the risk of hips, ankle, and knees injury. They also help alleviate lower back pain and reduces knee pain. While internal hip rotation activates the muscles in your thighs, hip and buttocks, external hip rotation activates legs, buttocks and pelvis muscles.

How to do Hip Rotation

Check out this video to learn more about Internal vs External Hip Rotation

C] Common Exercises For Both Men and Women To Do at Home

1. Walking:

Going for evening or morning walks is the best exercise there is. Due to the lockdown, going out for walks may be difficult. But this is an excellent cardio workout that can also refresh and uplift your mood after a long tiring day.

2. Jumping Jacks:

This is an excellent warm-up exercise for men and women. The movements of jumping jacks stimulate the heart muscles and ensure that the blood flows more smoothly throughout the body. Jumping jacks are also a fun at-home exercise that can be done by anyone with caution. So just widen your legs and arms and start jumping. It’s as easy as it sounds!

3. Plank:

There are a lot of benefits from planking; one of them is stabilising your core and making it rock solid. A strong core gives you a good posture and improves endurance and flexibility. Also, a few minutes of planking will help you to burn extra calories as well.

4. Squats:

The most common exercise for men and women, basic squats must be included in your workout session. They help increase energy and reduces the risk of injuries. You could even include some weights, dumbbells while doing squats to add some variations.

5. Push-ups:

They are exceptionally good for your upper body, but when done properly can benefit your whole body. You could add different variations to your push-ups while increasing their count. It is a fast way to build up strength.

6. Heel Touch:

Good for abdominal muscles, heel touches are also wonderful for your lower back muscles. You just have to lay back with your knees up, shifting a little to the side to reach your hands to your ankles.

7. Jump Rope:

The easiest way to burn up calories, jumping ropes is also good for the heart’s health. They also increase your bone density and reduces the risk for injuries.

Conclusion

Keep yourself physically fit and mentally agile by practising these easy exercises at home. Even during these trying times, you should maintain a workout schedule to improve your overall general health. What’s more, these at-home exercises for men and women require no equipment and can be done any time you want. Thus, don’t let the pandemic and lockdown hinder your fitness journey and make the most out of these exercises. Also, check out our blog on pre and post workout nutrition to ensure that you are eating healthily, which will help you to reap more benefits.