No Equipment, No Excuses Workout

When your trainer is not around – work out at home!

Let’s face it, who can afford a trainer four times a week? (I wish everyone could !) So when you are pressed for time keep on track by working out at home with these fat-buster exercises. 

The more intense the workout the more fat you will burn. Try interval training and more intense strength training. It takes less time and you become a more efficient fat burning machine!*

You don’t need any equipment. So it’s the No Equipment, No Excuses Workout – ENJOY!

(Please note that I do not advocate starting a fitness regime without first checking with your doctor to make sure it is safe for you to start to exercise & I can not take any responsibility for what is listed below, these are simply exercises for my clients that I have already screened and allows them to keep exercising when I am not around.)

* Supported by 10 years of study at Laval University in Canada and Duke University led by Dr Cris Slentz

1. Perform a 5 minute warm up first – this can be a walk or knee ups – basically move arms and legs. Start out performing 3 sets of 8–10 repetitions of each exercise, then build up to 12–15 repetitions.

2. Squat – stand with feet hip width apart and imagine you are about to sit on a public toilet seat but you don’t really want to rest on it. Keep your butt out and feel the weight travel through your heels.

Variation – turn feet out wide.

Muscles – Quads (thighs), glutes (butt), hamstrings (back of legs).

Progression – super slow 8 counts down 8 counts up. 

3. Push up – hands out wider than your body but in line with your chest. Let elbows go out at a 90 degree angle when lowering your body evenly toward the floor. Use your abdominals as well as your upper body.

Variation – for beginners try it on your knees, for new-to-exercisers or the elderly try it on a wall instead of the floor.

Muscles – Pecs (chest) deltoids (shoulders) and triceps.

Progression – To advance try holding it down the bottom for 5–10seconds then come back up.

4. Lunge – take along stride so that you back heel is off the ground, feet are hip width apart and then lower your body toward the floor, by bending your knees, creating right angles with your legs

Variation – for elderly hold on to a chair for balance

Muscles – Quad (thighs), hamstrings, calves and glutes

Progression – hold dumbbells or filled milk cartons by your side

5. Tricep dips – sit on a chair, place palms of hands on a chair next to your butt with knuckles over the edge. Feet are out from the chair and are slightly bent. Bend from the elbow and move body down close to the chair. Toes are up.

Variation – for beginners keep entire foot on ground.

Muscles – Triceps (also known as aunty arms or tuckshop arms) chest and shoulders

Progression – try it on one leg or move more slowly up and down.

6. Slides – lie on back with feet about 30–40 cm away from butt, draw belly button in toward spine and place entire palm on legs. Slide palms up legs as you raise your shoulder blades off the ground.

Variation – for beginners hold one hand behind head to protect neck.

Muscles – Abdominals (tummy).

Progression – slide higher than knee height and hold

7. Side Bridges – using elbows and knees as support use your obliques to raise your torso and backside off the ground and hold for 20–30seconds each side.

Muscles – Obliques (side bits of tummy).

Progression – raise onto toes and hold for longer.