By Mike Kubas
Now is the season for excuses.
February. Right about now is when we see all those New Year’s Resolutions begin to be a bit draining; and The excuses start to come out.
- to workout consistently
- eat better
- spend less time on your phone
One of the main excuses I hear in the fitness world is “I just don’t have the time to work out.” Obviously, being in the fitness industry, this one in particular fires me up. In my humble opinion, this one just doesn’t fly. It says to me that you haven’t made fitness a priority and that’s very different then truly not having ANY time.
How often do you have a doctor’s appointment that you just don’t show up to? Sure, those appointments aren’t 3-5 days a week, like your gym schedule should be, but you make certain concessions to make sure you are available for the appointment. You might even “zoom” into an online doctor’s visit if you needed to see them. You make it happen. The same effort to attend the doctor’s appointment should be applied to your gym time! In some cases, your gym time directly impacts your health even more! So be prepared! When life gets in the way of your valuable gym time, have a backup workout ready! This way you’re sure to keep your fitness “gains” coming, even if it’s not in the gym! You only need about 30 mins or so to get a solid workout in and most people can even work out at home with just a few pieces of equipment. ANY workout is better than skipping it all together, so here’s a compilation of some creative workout ideas you can do just about anywhere with minimal equipment. Make sure you get that workout in and keep it as a priority!
#1 Body Weight Circuit
5-8 Rounds of 20-30 seconds ON 15 seconds OFF
Equipment: Pull Up Bar
- BW Squats / Pushups (modify on a couch or fixed object) / Rev Lunges / Pullups / Dead Hang
- Lateral Lunges (5 ea then switch) / Close Grip Pushups / Mtn Climber / Calf Raises / Hanging Knee Raises / Bent over Shoulder Y’s (5 sec hold)
#2 Water Gallon Workout
5 Rounds 10-20 Repetitions of each exercise with minimal rest in between, no more than 60 seconds. You can also use the same timing as the above BW circuit and perform as many reps as you can for the time interval. Additionally, these can be performed with 1 jug in an offset fashion, performing the same number of reps on each side.
Equipment – 1 or 2 1-Gallon Jugs
Water Jug Front Squats / Water Jug OH Press / Water Jug SL RDL / Water Jug Bent Over Rows / Water Jug Lateral Shoulder Raise
This workout assumes you have 2 1-Gallon Water Jugs fully filled.
#3 Dumbbell Circuit
5 Rounds 15-20 Reps of each exercise, paired exercises, no rest in between exercise, rest 60-90 at the end of each round. The exercises are paired to utilize the same weight for each exercise, if using adjustable dumbbells should only need to adjust them in between pairs.
Equipment – 1-2 Dumbbells
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| A | Dumbbell Reverse Lunge 10ea Leg | Dumbbell Single leg RDL 10ea Leg | Dumbbell Front Squat | Russian Twist 10ea Side |
| B | DB Bent Over Row | Dumbbell Bicep Curls | Dumbbell Rot Overhead Press 10ea Arm | Pushups on Dumbbells |
#4 Metabolic Circuit
5-8 Rounds, 15 repetitions of each exercise with minimal rest in between, no more than 60 seconds. You can also use the same timing as the above Body Weight circuit and perform as many reps as you can for the time interval.
Equipment – Medicine Ball (MB). You can perform all the exercises with the same ball or use different weighted MBs depending on the exercise.
- Reverse Lunge with Twist / Uneven Pushups / Tall Plank MB Pull Throughs / Squat + Press
- Squat + Push away / Squeeze + Bicep Curl / Close Grip MB Pushup / MB Mtn Climber / Front Raise
Photo by Kampus Production from Pexels
