Written by travel blogger Tiffany Ammerman
Is social distancing putting a cramp in your fitness regimen?
Are you finding it difficult or frustrating to get a sweat session in without access to your normal workout equipment? With so many of us now finding ourselves doing nearly everything from home, we’re longing for the days when attending a HIIT, yoga, CrossFit, dance or spin class was the norm in our daily routine.
Photos of epic and creative home/garage gyms are popping up everywhere, as we adjust to our new-found quarantine lifestyle. To help you stay fit during SIP, we've curated a list of five different types of fun and effective workouts that will get you sweating with little (or no) equipment. Bonus: if you’re missing your workout buddies, you can easily do these circuits over Zoom/FaceTimeⓇ with a friend.
Grab your water bottle, some tunes, a virtual friend, and get ready for some simple at-home workouts that will get both your heart rate and mood boosted!
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HIIT
HIIT (high-intensity interval training) has become popular among those who are looking for a heart-pumping workout often using just your bodyweight combined with high reps.
Check out this HIIT workout you can try at home, repeat the circuit 3-4 times:
20 Speed Skaters
10 Air Squats
10 Squat Jumps
30 Mountain Climbers
10 Sit-Ups
10 Seated Ab Tucks
10 Push-Ups
10 Burpees
10 Pulse Lunges (per leg)
10 Glute Bridges
Max. Plank Hold
HIIT workout courtesy of @healthy_bree
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Yoga Flow
There are many subsets of yoga, from hot yoga to Bikram to Ashtanga Vinyasa and more! Some yoga flows can be meditative, slow and peaceful while others will send your heart rate soaring or have you completely inverted.
Check out these sans-equipment home yoga sequences. Repeat each exercise for 15 reps, complete 3-4 rounds:
Downward Dog to Upward Dog
Knee Hover to Downward Dog
Knee Hover + knee-to-shoulder taps
Handstand Tuck Jump
Hand Plank to Forearm Plank (with alternating knee hovers)
Yoga workout courtesy of @fitveganyogi
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Cardio
Cardio is typically defined as any sort of workout that increases your heart rate. Whether that is running, climbing stairs, swimming or high-volume body movements, it is guaranteed to spike your heart rate and get you sweating.
Check out this spicy at-home cardio circuit, try repeating the circuit 4-5 times:
1:00 Skaters
0:15 Run, turnaround, then 0:15 Run back
1:00 Squat Jumps
0:30 Run, turnaround, then 0:30 Run back
1:00 Burpees
0:45 Run, turnaround, then 0:45 Run back
1:00 Jumping Jacks
Cardio workout courtesy of @gomadtfitnesstoledo
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Dance HIIT Out
Workouts incorporating various dance movements have become a fitness trend that has cultivated a huge following. From barre to ballroom dancing to Buti yoga, there are many dance-infused fitness routines for you to explore, even from home.
Give this at-home dance circuit a go, repeat 3-4 times:
10 Passé Jump Step Touch
10 Squat Jump Twist
10 Tricep Tap Clap Plank
10 Plank Jack Knee Crunch
Dance workout courtesy of @sequinjillian and @carbon38
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Strength Training
If you’re wanting to get some strength training in but don’t have any dumbbells or barbells on hand, we’ve got you covered. During this time, getting creative is key! Please feel free to adjust the movements for whatever equipment you have, and always be safe.*
Here’s an upper-body strength circuit that uses items you can easily find lying around your home! Aim for quality reps and complete the circuit 2 times:
5 Single-Arm Shoulder Lifts with a weighted/full backpack (5x per side)
5 Single-Arm Fly with a weighted/full backpack (5x per side)
5 Shoulder Lifts with a heavy box/bag
0:30 Overhead Hold with a heavy box/bag
5 Arm Raises with a heavy box/bag
5 Single-Shoulder Press with a milk jug/bottle (5x per side)
5 Around-the-Worlds with a broom handle/stick
5 Tricep Extensions with a milk jug/bottle
Strength workout courtesy of @dina_homeworkouts
C O N C L U S I O N
Hopefully, these at-home workouts will help get you motivated and moving. But, like all things during this time, please don’t let failure or missed workouts become a point of shame—remember that your mental health is equally important right now. So if you find yourself getting more frustrated than fit, just give yourself a break for the day, go for a walk, then get back to it tomorrow. Utilize this unique time to explore different types of workouts and just have fun moving your body today!
*Please always consult a physician before starting any exercise regimen.
Photos courtesy of: @healthy_bree and @meganashleyfitness
About the Author:
Georgia native Tiffany Ammerman is the thru-hiker and CrossFitter behind the travel blog The Goodish Traveler. She spends the majority of her time traveling, eating sushi and searching for hiking trails. When she's not blogging, Ammerman can be found training at CrossFit LaGrange and teaching art to kids.
> > > Stay well.
We’ve all heard the expression, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
1. Teach in three places or less.
You cannot be everywhere, so don’t try. Focus on finding two or three (one, if you’re lucky) “yoga homes” where you enjoy practicing, teaching, and connecting with the community. Make sure your “homes” are not struggling and can compensate you appropriately for the work you put in. Negotiate your pay so you feel comfortable with what you receive for your efforts. Even as a newer teacher, you still deserve to be paid competitively for your work.
2. Pursue teaching in corporate environments.
I never thought teaching in an office setting would be one of my favorite places to work, but they are genuinely the best. Pros: students are delighted to have a break from their desk; pay is consistent and often higher than in a studio or gym setting; your work is valued and appreciated in a professional way. Also, snacks.
3. Prioritize quality over quantity.
As an East Coast Jew, my go-to is: Always do more and say "yes!" to opportunities. However, this has come back to crush me many times during my career. As a teacher, you must learn to focus your energy on gigs that pay and/or add a significant amount of value to your business. I’ve often taught free classes in partnership with companies or causes that I’m passionate about. These opportunities can increase your visibility, and ultimately lead to monetary gains as you encounter potential new students. But, teaching a free class requires the same amount of energy as a class that pays your $250/hour, so schedule your time wisely.
4. Network like a nutcase.
Every teaching opportunity I’ve been offered was a direct result of knowing someone who knew someone who referred me. I haven’t updated my resume in eight years, my website often looks like carriebradshaw.com, and I wouldn’t even know where to start when applying for a teaching job.
My advice: talk to everyone.
They’re all potential students and/or employers. Your friend who works at Google, the barista at Philz Coffee, your local lululemon community, other yoga teachers, bloggers, family friends–you name it– could be responsible for your next best teaching opportunity and paycheck.
C O N C L U S I O N
Stop reading this, get out there, meet everyone, prioritize quality, know your worth, and create the yoga career of your dreams. I look forward to reading your story in the next volume of “Eat, Pray, Love Made Me Do It.”
> > > Live well.
Professional athletes do not wake up every morning and begin their training session by playing a full game, start to finish, of their specific sport. Rather, they lift weights, practice skill transfer exercises, run sprint drills, do yoga (if they’re smart) and learn the required strategies to help them become better athletes in their sport. So, why do the most serious yogis in the world practice yoga six days a week as their training?
Answer: We can do better.
Here are five (5) movements any yogi can practice during training to help enhance their experience on the mat and remain injury free:
1. Box Squats
Two words: Posterior chain. Yoga does a great deal to build our anterior chain—hello, Chaturanga!—but when it comes to our glutes and hammies, we’re often left with all stretch and no strength. We love the box squat for its capacity to build strength in your back body while also creating stability in your core. It’s also an effective movement to help prevent wear and tear on the cartilage surrounding your hip joints.
2. Strict Pull-Ups
Yoga is all about balance. Pose, counter-pose, pose, counter-pose. Unfortunately, as yogis, we push and push and push with no pull. Adding strict pull-ups (or ring rows) to your routine can help balance all the pushing we do on our mats, allowing us to better hold our own if we’re ever challenged to a game of tug-o-war with a group of paddlers.
3. Hollow Body Rocks/Holds
All yogis want to stand on their hands and have a few arm balances in their back pocket as fun party tricks. Hollow body rocks and holds are a perfect way to build the core stability needed for achieving complex gymnastics movements such as handstand. The best gymnasts in the world use these movements as part of their regular training, which allows us as yogis to benefit from their expertise, mirror their techniques in practice and improve our abilities to gravity surf like a boss.
4. Hill Sprints
Yes, it’s as simple as running up a hill — fast. Yoga is an amazing practice, but it’s not a complete physical practice because we rarely encourage a spike in our heart rate. By adding (up-hill) sprints into your practice, your body gets a stimulus that is imperative to maintaining overall physical health. Having that extra stimulus will also prevent you from pushing too hard on your yoga mat where overexertion often leads to injury.
5. Turkish Get-Ups
Stability, balance, strength, rotation and unilateral loading all come together into this one elegant movement. The Turkish Get-Up is an incredible exercise to help you practice stabilizing your body under a load. Many yogis struggle to balance on one foot and/or create a stable shoulder position in downward-facing dog. Practicing the Turkish Get-Up with a dumbbell or kettlebell will drastically improve these two essential pieces of your yoga practice while also building core stability and breath awareness.
C O N C L U S I O N
Now that you have the tools, it’s time to find yourself a badass coach and supplement one day of your practice per week with these functional training techniques.
You’re guaranteed to be the strongest, most sustainable yogi on the mat as a result.
Debbie Steingesser, E-RYT 500, CF-L2, has been teaching her inspired approach to Vinyasa yoga for over a decade. She holds her Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher certification at the 500-hour level with the Yoga Alliance and is a CrossFit Level-Two Coach. Debbie was named one of the “Top Yoga Teachers in the Bay Area” by Common Ground Magazine in 2008, and has been a featured presenter at Yoga Reaches Out, Bhakti Fest and various international retreats. For the past eight years, Debbie has been a committed brand ambassador for Lululemon Athletica.
Debbie’s mission is to guide individuals towards a deeper sense of strength, balance and personal power through yoga and movement. She is the creator of YogiWOD.com, a website and interactive community bringing accessible yoga practices to athletes. Debbie provides regular content and offers her Functional Yoga For Athletics seminar through MobilityWOD.com. Debbie’s classes and workshops are fun, challenging and open to all experience levels.
To find out more, visit: YogiWOD.com and follow @debbiesteingesser on Instagram.
> > > Live well!