You want to get in shape but can’t find the time or motivation to get to the gym. We’ve all been there, however, did you know you can get just as good results from home and build muscle? If you follow these 4 in-home workout rules you can actually get better results than in the gym and still build muscle. These rules are simple and effective because I’ve always lived by the model K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid. The best results come from mastering the basics with simple bodyweight exercise.
1: Make the exercise challenging.
Finding the right level of bodyweight exercise is essential to in-home training. Take a squat, for example, some people will struggle with just a bodyweight squat. Meanwhile, others will find body weight too easy and need to do single-leg squats for strength training. If you’re not challenging yourself, then there will be no growth, mentally or physically in your muscle building goals. If you’re not challenging your muscles enough they will adapt, and you’ll see diminishing returns on your gains. Obviously, everyone wants to get closer to their goals so it’s key that you push yourself.
2: Execute Proper Form
As an in-home personal trainer, the most common issue I see with people is their form is subpar which is hurting their muscle gain and muscle growth. If you go through reps as quickly as possible, or with little focus, you will not hit the muscle group you want in turn leading to a poor body workout. Whether you’re trying to lose fat or gain muscle, with excellent form and a proper workout plan your results will be amplified and you’ll see growth in your muscle tissue. You see, when you perform a squat, for example, you don’t want to drop down as quickly as you can then come back up. You’ll only be using your joints and not stressing your muscles at all.
The proper form consists of two things:
- Proper Eccentric
- The eccentric portion of an exercise is when you are lowering the weight. This portion of the exercise is the most important. This is due to the fact that the lowering portion puts far more strain on your muscles than the concentric (lifting portion of the exercise). When training at home you’ll notice how much harder even a bodyweight squat is when controlling yourself on the way down fir muscle gain. Continuing that idea, you want to make sure you go through a full range of motion for upper body, shoulders, and bodyweight exercises. Continuing with the squat for a lower body example, if you go as low as possible from your starting position, ie: your knees are over your toes, that would be considered full range of motion which will increase muscle size. The reason you would do exercises like this is that it makes your muscles do the maximum amount of work. More work means more muscle which means burning more calories and looking better.
- Going Just Shy of Lockout
- When you perform the concentric (lifting portion of the exercise) you want to go just shy of lockout. Going back to the squat example when you are coming up you don’t want to end with fully straight legs. What happens when you straighten your legs is you eliminate all muscle tension. Essentially, your muscles are getting periods of rest. Instead, by keeping constant tension not only will your muscles experience more stress, they’ll also get more toned, gain strength, and burn more calories. Remember, because you are training at home you need to get the most out of every rep, and leave nothing in the tank. If you really push yourself you’ll quickly learn you don’t even need a gym to get results.
When you implement these two strategies into your repetitions you’ll feel your muscles more than ever. Your sets most likely won’t last long because you feel your legs working constantly. This is what scientists call mechanical tension, and this is the best method to tone up and get in shape.
3: Use the Talk Test to Measure Rest Time
The talk test is a way to measure how hard you are working. It’s pretty simple, after an exercise you want to be able to speak in short phrases, but not in full sentences. This is a way to be sure that you are training hard enough. If you finish a hard set of an exercise, like a squat, you should be breathing pretty hard.
People are failing with their in-home workouts because they aren’t working nearly hard enough. Pushing yourself close to failure is key to any type of training. You’re going to have to build mental toughness in order to keep your repetitions great and push through the pain of training. Whenever you perform an exercise I’ve found it helpful to remember why you’re doing this in the first place. If you can remember your why then you will be able to withstand the pain that comes with proper training.
4: Track Your Progress
Piggybacking on top of the last rule, you also need to be tracking progress in a muscle building workout. Your body is built to adapt, therefore if you do the same workout and the same reps day after day you’ll get fewer and fewer results. Accordingly, it’s important that you track every workout to see if you’re making progress. Compare your workouts weekly and ask yourself: “Am I getting better, worse, or staying the same.” If you answer the last two, then something must change. You see, something needs to improve whether it’s your form, number of reps, or the weight used. If you’re not growing you’re dying.
Persistence Over Resistance
The trick to succeeding at anything fitness-related is with the Persistance Over Resistance mentality when having a personal training weight loss program. Whenever you are making a change in life expect obstacles. By expecting obstacles you can prepare to tackle them.
You may not be able to implement all of these rules at once, however, by simply adding one into your at-home workout routine you can already start getting results. Just to recap the 4 in-home workout rules are: pick challenging exercises, execute the proper form, use the talk test, and track your progress.
For more on all things, health and fitness check out our blog.
POST REPLY