Working out with household items

woman squatting in living room

We know that you’ll be missing the equipment at the gym – our functional rig, all of the Matrix kit, our spin studio… But you can still get a good workout in at home using what you can in the meantime.

Try these exercises using everyday household equipment and find out how easy it is to get a sweat on indoors.

If it’s not the same without your gym gang, why don’t you get them on a video call and you can motivate each other as you follow the routine!

1) Broom twists

This is a great warm-up exercise for your workout! Hold a broom above your head with both arms in a wide V. Lean to one side and touch the floor with the end of the broom. Then lean to the other side and touch the floor with the other end.

Tip: you can also use a broom to provide an extra stability challenge when yourself doing squats, twists and kicks.

2) Milk bottle weighted squats

Fill up an empty 2 litre milk bottle with water. Holding it in both hands in front of your chest, with your feet wider than shoulder with apart, do 30 standard squats.

Repeat with your legs even wider apart for a sumo squat – this will add an extra dimension to your leg workout with more focus on your inner thigh.

Tip: If you’re struggling, just tip out some water to lighten the load.

3) Get cooking

Grab a pan or a wok from the cupboard for an arm workout! Hold the pan in front of you as though you’re about to flip a pancake. Extend your arm forwards and twist your fist so the pancake falls to the floor.

Bring your arm to the starting position and twist it with your elbow staying tucked into your side.

Repeat slowly 10 times on each arm for a surprisingly challenging strength exercise.

4) Wall sits

For this one, you only need a wall to lean on. Simply stand about 2 feet away from a wall and slide down until your knees are at a 90-degree angle, adjusting your legs if you need to. Hold for a minute and stand back up again.

5) Chair press up

There are so many workouts you can do using just a kitchen chair. One of our favourite exercises is using a chair to make press ups a little easier.

Keeping your hands on either side, extend your arms to push up your upper body. Try and repeat these 10 times.

6) Tin can arm workout

Firstly, find two cans of baked beans or whatever you have in your cupboard for each hand.

Start with curls. We’ve all seen bodybuilders do these – simply hold the cans by your side and raise them upwards, bending your arms at the elbows but not quite to your shoulders.

You can follow these with some shoulder presses: holding the cans next to your ears, straighten your arms upwards until fully extended.

Finally finish off with arm raises, hold your cans by your sides and bring your arms upwards so that they form a straight line from your shoulder.

Repeat these exercises 20 times each (or more if you find they’re quite easy). You’ll find those dumbbells super light once you’re back in the gym!

We hope you enjoyed that short indoor workout, great for keeping your arms and legs toned up without the specialist equipment.

Have you been designing your own workouts at home? Let us know what you do to stay fit indoors!

Sources:
Shape.com
Broomstick Full Body Workout on YouTube
Lucy Wyndham-Read on Youtube
eHow Fitness on YouTube

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