While in quarantine, I have been thinking. Every now and then I will get the sudden urge to want to work out and then I remember I left my yoga mat in my dorm and buying one isn't really the most essential purchase right now. But, if you have spare blankets or a comforter at home, lay it down and get moving!
Of course, stretch first.
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Before any physical activity or sport, you want to stretch and warm up your muscles. Since this gets your blood flowing to your muscles, you will have more endurance and you'll have less of a risk of pulling a muscle or another injury. I used to take dance classes and we would do a 15-minute stretch circuit that went something like this: First, stand with your feet together and try to touch your toes. Take deep breaths as you try to go further down. When you come back up, your head should be the last thing to come up. Then, take your right elbow and tuck it behind your head as your right-hand stretches down your back and repeat on the other side. Next, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and lean over to the right with your left arm above your head. Try to stretch as far as you can and repeat on the other side. For legs, if I'm doing leg day I'd do more than this next stretch but usually, there is less emphasis on legs during a full-body workout. To stretch your legs, get into a lunge position, but stand on the ball of your back foot. Then, push forward on your front foot to stretch your hips. Then, do some high knee jumps to get your heart pumping. Now, you're ready to work out!
First, we'll do abs. Lay on your back with your knees bent.
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Go ahead and turn on some upbeat music. I love doing abs with every workout because although they can be sore for a bit the next day, they're the only muscles that you can really hit every day without taking a break. Another bonus: you'll look amazing at the beach this summer! Remember though, no one truly has a "flat stomach". Women have reproductive organs and sometimes they will stick out a bit but it's completely natural. In this position, lift the top half of your body into a crunch position but use/squeeze your abs so you don't strain your neck. Do 3 sets of 20 reps.
Next, we'll do mountain climbers.
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Start by getting into a plank position. Then, push your knees to your chest one at a time and do 3 sets of 10 reps per leg. This will keep your heart rate up, warm up your legs and keep your core engaged.
Now, let's switch to arms.
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Since this is a bodyweight workout, let's keep our heart rate up by doing jumping jacks. For quick exercises like this, I'll play songs like "Timber" by Pitbull or "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore. Jump and land with your feet shoulder-width apart and with your arms over your head. Complete 75 jumping jacks. Then, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and complete 30 arm circles.
Now that we've done abs and arms, let's do legs.
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Surprisingly, leg day is my favorite. I know people hate it because the gym equipment can be scary or you feel like you're not strong enough but go at your own pace! To start, I like to do either walking lunges around my house but if you don't have the space you can do jump lunges in place. To do the jump lunges in place, lower into a lunge position and then push up and land into a lunge with the opposite leg now in front. Complete 3 sets of 15 reps. Next, stand with your feet a bit more than shoulder-width apart and turn your toes out and complete a squat. These are called sumo squats. Complete 3 sets of 10 reps. The last exercise is going to be calf raises and hamstring curls combined. Stand facing close to a wall and have the toes of your shoes almost touching the wall. For the calf raise part of this exercise, lift up onto the balls of your feet and try to squeeze your calf muscles. When you release, don't come all the way down onto your heels. Instead, stop right above the ground and repeat for 3 sets of 10 reps. In between each set, stand with your hands on the wall and lift your leg behind you like you're in a cheesy rom-com. Squeeze your thigh and calf muscles and then put your foot back on the ground. Complete 3 sets of 10 reps.
I hope this gives you guys some motivation to work out during the quarantine! I should probably go work out, speaking of!
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