10 Quarantine Friendly Exercises From an In-Home Personal Trainer

In tough times like we are going through now, the body and the mind all need to be kept as healthy as possible. Exercise is great for not only helping you keep your body moving and healthy, but to help unstress your life and get rid of the laziness and boredom that builds up in the house. As an in-home personal trainer, I see this as an opportunity to help more people in my area of expertise. For more ideas, or any questions you can reach out to me on my website www.joeszadokfitness.com, or send me a message on Instagram @fitnessszadok21.

1) Squats – The squat is the ultimate lower body exercise. The beauty of it is, it can be regressed, or progressed for people of any fitness ability and experience. For a proper squat your feet should be about shoulder width apart, and should stay flat on the floor throughout the entire movement. Your hips should move like your are sitting down to a chair that is behind you. If its too easy, pick up and object around your house, hold it as chest height to add some tension to the movement.

(If you are struggling with this movement, use a chair, couch, or footrest behind you. Ease your hips back to the object under control so it feels like your placing half your weight on it, then push up through your heels to the standing position.)

2) Push-up – One of the oldest exercises out there, yet one of the BEST upper body workouts for anyone. If on your feet is too hard, feel free to perform them on your knees. Regardless of how your position is, your abs, and butt should be engaged throughout the movement so your hips don't sag, or don't get elevated. This is what makes this a total upper body exercise. Your chest, arms, shoulder, and core should all be working. Place your hands just outside of your elbows, finger facing forward. Your elbows should NOT be straight out to the sides. As you bend your elbows to lower yourself, drive your elbows back at a 45 degree angle to your body. This will help your shoulder joints move the way they were meant to move, and keep them pain free.

(When performing them on your knees, the glutes often get left behind. Keep that straight line in your body)

3) Bulgarian Split Squat – Another for the lower body, this is a harder version than the squat as it requires you to lift your body weight with just one leg. Place your foot on an object about knee level, laces of your shoe should be down. Keep your other foot flat on the floor, bend at the knee so your back knee is as low to the floor as possible, push up through your heel of your front foot back to the standing position. If you are unable to balance yourself, use something about waist height to help stabilize yourself.

4) Dips­ - Another one that only requires a chair, foot rest, or couch and a little upper body strength. This is to get your arms a good pump. The straighter your legs are, the harder it becomes. You can adjust accordingly to make it more or less difficult. Start by sitting on the edge of the object of your choice. Put your hands on the edge, close to your hips, with your fingers pointed forward. Lower your body as much as possible, while keeping your body close to the object your hands are on. Then push up through your upper arms to straighten them.

5) Bridges – Staying home leads to a lot of people sitting on your butt. Lets activate those glutes, and keep them strong and moving! The bridge requires no equipment, just some open space to lay down. Lay on your back with your hands at your sides. Your knees should be bent, with your feet placed under your knees. From here squeeze your glutes, raise your hips to full extension (pause at the top) and slowly lower your hips to the floor.

(Too easy?? Use just one leg to lift and lower your hips)

6) Y-W-T – Another that requires no equipment, and will work the very important muscles in your upper back. Start by laying flat on your stomach. Keeping your eyes on the floor in front of you to not strain your neck, bring your hands and arms up over head to a “Y” position with your thumbs pointed toward the ceiling. From here, keep your chest down and lift your hands and arms off the floor as high as possible then slowly lower to the floor. The “W” is the same thing except for a bend in your elbows so your arms are making the shape of a W. Then lift your hands and arms off the floor, and slowly lower them. For the “T”, you guessed it, arms straight out to the side, making a T with your upper body. Repeat the same motion. This will help build muscle and increase shoulder mobility. All helping counteract too much inactivity.

7) Plank – A very common well known exercise. The plank is great for core stability, and can be done anywhere with no equipment. Lay face down with your elbows directly stacked under your shoulder, and your legs straight. From here, lift your knees off the floor and keep your abs and glutes engaged to hold your hips up at, or slightly above the level of your back. If your lower back starts to hurt at all, either stop the exercise or lift your hips up slightly, and see if this helps. Hold for as long as you can, try to work your way up to a minute.

8) Toe Touches – Start by laying on your back with your hips bent at 90 degrees. Keep your legs straight and feet up. From here, keep your arms above your chest, and hands up to the ceiling. Lift up from your abs, and reach for your toes. Pause the top of the movement, and lower yourself down. Repeat as many times as possible.

9) Frog Jumps – If the exercises above aren't enough to get your heart rate up, or you're looking for a quick cardio/HIIT option, here's one. Keep your feet shoulder width apart, bend at the knees, keeping your feet flat on the floor, and tough the floor. Then spring up and jump bringing your hands up over your head, keeping your legs spread apart. See what burns out first, your legs, or your heart rate! Try this for 20 seconds of work, and 40 seconds of rest for 3-5 rounds.

10) Stairs – As simple, but not easy as it sounds! This will make you look at the stairs in your house a in a whole new light! Try taking a few jogs up and down your stairs! You can do this in rounds of 5-10, or just do as many as you can when you have a free few minutes. Your legs and heart will be working hard!

Give these a try, and see how different you feel. Many of these can be done inside, or in your own back yard on some of these nice sunny days. If you find that you like in-home workouts, or you want some help keeping you motivated while at home, reach out and ask for help! www.joeszadokfitness.com

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