Fitness at home: Try bodyweight conditioning

Here he talks us through some home workouts that you can do during the current UK lockdown.

One of the best things about Elevate is the community we have built up, who enjoy coming to our classes. It’s a real mix of people, ages and backgrounds but they all want to come and train and get the best out of themselves and help others. Having that group of like-minded people around you really helps to you to push you and keep going and we all really miss that.

We’ve tried to make the most of the situation we’re in and one of the most popular online classes we’re running is a group workout on Zoom. These take place every Friday at 6pm and we’ve seen some great responses from the people who have got involved.

This week’s workout actually comes from one of those sessions, so you can see what they are like. It can of course be done on your own but if you want to take part in one, check our or Instagram (@elevatefitnessukgym) or Facebook (@elevate_fitness_uk) to get the details. We hope to see you there!

This routine is a body weight conditioning circuit. No equipment needed, just a 1 by 1 metre space and a willingness to work yourself through each routine! As with all of our workouts, they can be tailored to all abilities, crank it up or reduce it if you need to, as long as you are pushing yourself as much as you can.

Warm Up

If you don’t get this right, then it will impact the rest of the workout. It’s really important that you loosen up the whole body, so follow the exercises in the image for the ideal way to get things started. Don’t forget to take on fluid during this and throughout the workout.

Now we move into the workout, which is a set of 8 different exercises. Each exercise is 30 seconds on and 15 seconds off and we’re doing 4 sets of each one, so its quite an intense workout. Rest for 90 seconds in between changing each exercise.

Squats

Everyone should know these but stand with your legs shoulder width apart and bend your knees. Don’t over think it, squat down keeping that chest up, like you’re descending in a lift or going to sit on the toilet. Work with the range of movement available to you, going down as far as you can but gold standard would be with your thigh parallel to the ground.

Press-Ups

Another one everyone knows, this time working the upper body. Start in either a full press up position or on your knees if you need to. Bend at the elbows and go as low as you can. Keep your hips and weight forward and make sure your head goes forward, ahead of your hands.

Dead bug

Laying on your back, put your arms up and bend your legs in, with all limbs up in the air – which should show you why this exercise is named so. The movement we’re doing here is to lower one arm to the floor, while also bringing the opposite leg down to the ground at the same time. Do one rep and then switch to opposite sides. If extending your limbs the full way is too hard only take them as far as you comfortably can.

Lunges

A test of your thighs, these are simple but effective. Standing straight, step forward and lower the back knee as close to the ground as you can then. Keep your shoulders back and stay staring forward. Once you’ve lowered the knee as far as you can, stand up and repeat the process on the opposite leg. A set is one leg each, don’t forget!

Cobra Press-Ups

On all fours, push your bum back and into the air. From this starting position, lower your head to the ground and then bring it up in front of you, while lowering your hips to the ground. When you’ll do it you’ll notice the movement is like a snake, hence the name.

Single leg Supermans

From a standing start, hinge forward so you are stretching both arms out in front of you and are now standing on one leg, with the other leg out directly behind you. Hold the pose and bring the leg down and the body up, before repeating for the opposite leg.

Burpee

As we’ve said before, a favourite at Elevate! From a standing position, put your hands on the floor and jump your feet back so you come to a press up position. Then bring your chest to the floor as far as you can, before pushing up with your arms, jumping to your feet right through to as high as you can - the hands should be pushed into the air as a full jump. All of this should happen in one smooth movement.

Russian Twist

Sitting on your bum, rotate your torso to one side and aim to touch the ground with your hands to that side. Repeat on the opposite side, moving through each smoothly from side to side. To make it harder raise your feet off the floor.

Warm down

And you’re done! There’s been a lot going on in this session so take some time to cool off, bring your heart rate down and shake off all the muscles you’ve used.

If you want to see more of our workouts, either live or recorded, check out our Facebook @elevatefitnessukgym and Instagram pages @elevate_fitness_uk. They’re free and available to everyone – we’ve got a great community at Elevate so come and join us!