workout from home with limited time

Ideas for What You Can Do to Workout From Home on a Time Crunch

  • Posted By: Jain, Deepak on 2018-03-01
Category: Home Living News

Between working, running around with the kids, and taking care of the house, you may feel like you never have enough time for yourself or time to workout. We get it! While we are not fitness experts, over the years we have learned several ways to get a good workout from home using little to no equipment when time is limited. According to PopSugar, a recent study found that it doesn't take much to help build strong muscles researchers found that exercising for just 20 minutes causes immediate changes in muscle tissue DNA.


1. Take the dog on a mindful brisk walk.

Instead of just walking the dog so he or she can do their business, put some energy into walking the dog. Throw your arms back and forth and speed up your pace to get your heart rate up. Don't go back in the house until you've done this for at least 20 minutes.


2. Get moving during your favorite TV show.
Instead of sitting down during your favorite TV show move around. Grab two water bottles or free weights and mix up several exercises. We like the ones from the Greatist's list and found that these moves don't interfere too much with watching TV:

  • Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

  • Single Arm Dumbbell Snatch

  • Dumbbell Front Squat

  • Dumbbell Side Lunge

  • Dumbbell Shoulder to Shoulder Press

  • Dumbbell High Pull


3. Utilize a dining room chair for a total body workout.

Grab a chair for this low impact total body chair workout. Doing this workout with any sturdy chair will work but here are a few chair suggestions:


4. Step it up
Simply running up and down steps a few times can speed up your heart rate. Run up and down them for at least 10 straight minutes a day and you should be burning a sweat. If you don't have steps in your house or want to get more out of a step workout, an aerobic stepper is a cost-efficient piece of equipment with big perks.


Sunny Health and Fitness shared a few moves to do with a stepper to get your heart rate up:

  • Mountain Climbers. 30 second mountain climbers with 15 second rest, 7 times. Go fast or go slow, just do what's right for your body.
  • Squat Pop-Overs. Engage muscles in the legs, gluts and thighs. 30 seconds, 15-20 second rest, 5 times.
  • Split Squat. Challenge yourself on each leg to start building those calves, legs, and gluts.
  • Pushup/Dips Dips will engage the trap muscles. Pushups workout the core, chest, back, and shoulders. Try 30 of each during your workout.

Here are a few more stepper exercise ideas:

Sunny Health and Fitness

Photo credit: Sunny Health and Fitness


5. Use your couch as a home gym.
Your home furniture is dual purpose! Beauty and Tips Magazine offers 10 simple and effective exercises you can do at home on your couch. Some of my favorites include:

  • Couch leg extensions
  • Couch crunches
  • Couch leg raises
  • Couch pushups


6. Break for burpees and jump and jacks in between cleaning each area of your home.
When cleaning your house, take little breaks for cardio moves. Burpees and jump and jacks can really get your heart rate up. Try this:
  • Clean the kitchen sink.
  • Break for 3 burpees and 10 jump and jacks.
  • Clean out the refrigerator.
  • Break for 5 burpees and 15 jump and jacks.
  • Repeat, challenging yourself.

7. When it doubt, follow a pre-recorded home workout routine.
If you feel like you need to be more structured with your home workouts, there are a ton of free or cheap workouts you can follow online. Some resources to check out:
  • iFit Coach
  • XHIT Daily
  • Autumn Calabrese
  • Jessica Smith TV
  • BodyFit by Amy
Making excuses not to work out is impossible with exercises that are as quick and convenient as the ones mentioned above. We hope you've found them helpful!