Time and space both tend to individually or collectively affect many of our hobbies and activities at home regardless of their nature. For many of us, both of those factors heavily affect our fitness and ability to work out. Fortunately, space can be eliminated as a constraint by focusing on movements and equipment choices that lessen or outright eliminate the need to have a big workout floorplan.
Here are some of our ideas for getting a big workout in a small space.
1. Focus on Bodyweight Exercises
If you’re just getting into fitness or you’re looking at trying to maximize the small space you have, then bodyweight is a great way to go. With almost no need for equipment, many of the exercises you can perform with only your body weight will yield big results in fitness and physique.
For your upper body, focus on push and pull movements such as push-ups and pull-ups in their various forms. Push-ups are simple enough and require no equipment; however, in order to do pull movements, you may want to consider investing in a doorway pullup bar. For your lower body, emphasize squats, lunges, and jumping movements of both.
2. Add Some Weight
When it comes to working out, many of us look at weights as a primary space limiter since we often visualize big barbells and plates as the things we need to achieve a weight-focused workout. While barbells and bumper plates are great, they are necessary not for a great workout and take up a lot of space.
If you’re looking to add weights to your workout regimen, consider purchasing a couple of different kettlebells or a set or two of dumbbells. Both of these types of weights are versatile and can arguably give you better workouts as they’re less limited to how you can use them. Additionally, both dumbbells and kettlebells are relatively inexpensive.
3. Indoor Cardio
Most people think of indoor cardio as pounding miles on a treadmill or hammering out miles on a bike trainer, but in both instances, that kind of equipment can make you run out of space in a hurry. That said, to get cardio in, think of using your body as the mechanism to boost your heart rate.
Movements such as burpees, high knees, toe taps on dumbbells, or jumping lunges or squats can get your heart rate elevated surprisingly quickly. If you have high enough ceilings and solid floors, you may consider adding a jump rope to the equation to further vary your cardiovascular exercises.
4. Get The Most Out of Your Space
When it comes down to getting a big workout in a small space, it’s best to optimize not only your time but vary your exercises to optimize your fitness. In other words, you can optimize both your space and your time by performing high-intensity workouts.
These workouts typically only last 15-20 minutes but pack a lot of movement, high heart rates, and weights into that space in order to maximize your home gym. CrossFit and Street Parking are two examples of programming that offer daily high-intensity workouts for users leveraging a variety of movements and weights to give you a maximum workout in an otherwise short period of time.
