How to start exercising at home?

Welcome to another #Beshaped post! On our blog, you will find tips on nutrition, exercises, suggestions for choosing the right clothes, and a bunch of advice on typical women's issues.

This post is entirely dedicated to the topic of exercising at home! You will find motivation, suggestions, and answers to questions such as:
How to start exercising at home?
How to effectively exercise at home?
What accessories are useful for home workouts?

But before we get to the most important issues, a bit of motivation and self-justification :) You will find a ton of guides online about consistency, setting goals, plans, determining exercises for specific muscle groups, engaging heart rate monitors, diet control, and so on... Of course, all the mentioned issues are very important, and at later stages, it is worth gradually implementing further solutions; however, at the beginning, the most important thing is to simply start exercising and persist until you become dependent on at least minimal effort, making it a part of your daily routine.

So, how to start? From what? How to exercise at home? What accessories for workouts are recommended for beginners? Do I need to have professional gear, or can I replace it with something at home? What equipment for home workouts might be useful? Let's start from the beginning!

Home workout - how to start?

Everyone knows that physical activity is necessary in our lives, but it is much harder to systematically perform exercises and incorporate activity into our daily routine. Why? Primarily because we often approach this topic in a black-and-white manner, now or never, everything or nothing. Instead of starting with short, twenty-minute workouts, basic warm-ups, and a set of simple exercises, we begin with elaborate training programs that often feature demanding cardio programs aimed at maintaining a high heart rate and boosting metabolism.
The starting point for introducing physical activity into your daily life (if you don't exercise at all) is to adopt the overarching assumption:
It's better to do less but consistently than rarely but intensely.

How to start exercising at home?

1. Start by preparing comfortable clothing that makes you feel good.

2. Next, prepare a set of exercises that you will perform during your first workouts. The first goal here is to find exercises that will bring you relative pleasure, are not too exhausting, and that you will be eager to perform. The choice of exercises you will enjoy is very individual - we recommend using free workout apps available for download on your phone or selecting exercises from those we have listed as suggestions below.

3. Prepare a series or music that will fill the time during your workouts - this is very important, first of all, so that you don't have to choose between exercising and studying, watching a series, or listening to a training session, your favorite podcast, etc. Combining exercises with such additional activities is particularly important if you have limited time or if at the beginning the exercises are too exhausting for you and you can't focus your attention.

In summary of the above information - how to start exercising at home? First, you need to prepare everything that you will simply need to tick off this activity so that you don’t waste time each time gathering strength, will, ideas, plans, and motivation. With such a prepared background, you will never again ask yourself how to exercise at home.

Exercising at home - what will you need?

Before we move on to a set of example exercises, let's establish one thing - you don't need much to perform workouts at home, and with complete certainty, all the items that may come in handy are associated with a one-time investment.
Strength training at home, what might you need?
- Resistance bands
- Dumbbells
- Mat
and that’s really the entire base that will be enough for you to perform basic training.

How to exercise at home if you don't want to spend any money on it?
Replace the accessories mentioned above with water bottles (1.5 L) and a towel or yoga mat.

With these tools, you can successfully perform strength training at home, stretching, and aerobic training.

How to effectively exercise at home?



We have already discussed accessories for workouts - if you want, you can equip yourself with them, but remember all the time about the method of small steps. Workout accessories are not a necessity to start and perform strength training at home or aerobic training at home.

Strength training at home - preparation for exercises:
This type of training is generally a static workout; however, to perform many exercises, minimal space is needed. For safety, check if you have enough space, lay a mat on the floor, lie down on it, stretch your arms, and roll your bent legs to the left, then to the right side. Is there nothing to trip over? Is nothing obstructing your exercises?
If not, we can start!

Strength training at home - exercise suggestions:
If you have prepared workout accessories such as resistance bands or dumbbells, you can additionally use them during the workout; we have prepared a list of exercises that you can perform with your own body weight, without accessories.

Warm-up duration 10-15 minutes:

• arm circles backward and forward - 30 seconds on each side,
• hip circles - 30 seconds,
• lunges alternating on the right and left leg - 30 seconds each,
• jumping jacks - 60 seconds,

Repeat the set three times; you can also add running in place with heel kicks to your buttocks. After warming up, you can do some basic stretching exercises to increase mobility - this will allow for faster recovery.

Proper strength training at home for beginners (for women) duration 30-40 minutes:

• Wall push-ups - stand on your toes at a distance "the length of your arms" from the wall, perform push-ups while standing, always standing on your toes. When bending your arms, keep your elbows close to your body. 20 repetitions in a set.
• Kneeling plank - go into a lying position, knees and elbows bent. Hold for 30 seconds in an elbow support position in one set. Your head should be an extension of your spine.
• Lunges on the left and right leg - 20 repetitions on each side in one set. When doing lunges, make sure that your knee does not exceed the height of your foot. Keep a right angle in the bends. While doing lunges, you can hold dumbbells or water bottles.
• Knee to elbow in a supported kneeling position - go to a supported kneeling position. Alternate bringing the opposite elbow to the knee. 20 repetitions in a set.
• Hip raises lying on the mat - if you have dumbbells or weights, you can place them on your pelvis during this exercise. 20 repetitions in a set.
• Mountain climbers lying down - 30 seconds in a set.
• Dumbbell squats - 20 repetitions in a set. During squats, ensure that your knees are directed outward.
• Torso raises lying face down on the mat - lie on the mat on your stomach, lift your torso up - 15 repetitions in a set.

This is a sample set of 8 exercises for beginners, targeting different muscle groups. This set should be repeated 3 times (3 sets) with 15-20 repetitions in each set. Between sets, take a maximum one-minute break. Strength training should be concluded with simple stretching exercises.

What equipment for home workouts can you use? A chair, stool, and sofa are excellent pieces of furniture that, combined with your own body weight, will help you effectively perform many exercises!

Useful accessories for home training - checklist

1. Dumbbells or bottles with water x2 1.5 L
2. Resistance bands
3. Exercise mat
4. Heart rate monitor belt or sports watch

Is everything ready? Let's get started!