Home fitness program

The best solution for ordinary people to exercise at home is never to cram in a full hour of exercise time or buy a complete set of yoga mats and dumbbells. Instead, it is to embed the movements into the existing rhythm of life and choose content that suits their physical fitness. The effect of persisting for three months is far better than practicing on a whim for a week and then lying flat.

Believe it or not, I have fallen into the pitfalls of many "standard fitness plans" before. When I first started working, I saved up money to buy an elliptical machine, a yoga mat, and a full set of dumbbells. I arranged for myself to practice for one hour every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night. As a result, I lasted for a week at most. When I got home after working late, I just wanted to slump on the sofa and browse my phone. Those equipment are still piled on the balcony to hang my coat. The average cost of each exercise is almost 200 yuan, which is heartbreaking.

When it comes to this, some people must have different opinions. My childhood friend who has been practicing bodybuilding for 5 years firmly opposes the idea of ​​"fragmented fitness". He believes that scattered movements of a few minutes can at most relax the muscles. If you want to increase muscle, remove fat, and develop obvious lines, you must have a full training time to ensure the capacity and rest interval of each group of movements. He currently trains at home for 45 minutes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday night. He uses a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a yoga mat to perform separate training on the chest, back, and legs. Each movement is performed in 4 groups of 12 times. The weight is selected to the point of failure on the 12th rep, and then another 20 minutes of low-intensity training are performed. He is aerobic, his body fat is maintained at about 15% all year round, and his muscle lines are clearer than many people who go to the gym every day. He always said, "As long as you practice at home with standard movements, it can replace 80% of the equipment training in the gym. Isn't it delicious to buy steak with the money you save on travel expenses and card applications?"

But if you get off work from 9 to 6 and still have to cook and take care of your children, and it’s hard to even spare 10 minutes, then there’s really no need to force yourself into the excitement of systematic training. My former colleague Liu Genghong, who is a mother in the same department, used to force himself to wait for the baby to sleep for 40 minutes every day. After three days, he was so tired that he had a fever. Later, he changed to lying in bed for 10 minutes in the morning to do abdominal breathing and core activation. He also did 3 sets of silent squats against the wall while cooking and waiting for the water to boil. After eating, he did levator anus and shoulder and neck stretching for 15 minutes. When she got tired from sitting in front of the computer and changing her plan, she stood up and did two sets of YTWL arm raises to relax her shoulders and back. The total time spent moving every day was more than half an hour. In half a year, her waist circumference was reduced by 4 centimeters. The lumbar protrusion that had troubled her for several years has not returned. She always said, "Don't force the sense of ritual if you don't have the time. Exercise that can be crammed into your life is your own."

In fact, both statements are correct. There is no universal "best home fitness plan". It all depends on your own time and needs. If you just want to improve the shoulder, neck, and low back pain caused by sitting for a long time, and maintain your basic health, then fragmented exercises are enough. You don’t even need to buy any equipment. You can do it in pajamas. ； If you have clear goals of building muscle and losing body fat, and can devote more than 40 minutes to it 3 to 4 times a week, then systematic training will definitely be more efficient.

I currently mix the two modes. During the working day, I am so busy that my feet don’t even touch the floor, so I just take some breaks to move around, do a few squats while printing documents, and stretch my shoulders and neck while waiting for takeout. I don’t specifically set KPIs for myself.； When I have free time on weekends, I take an hour out to do strength training, along with some aerobics. I haven’t been to the gym for more than half a year, and my body fat has stabilized at around 20%. My waist, which used to hurt after sitting for a long time, has never had any problems again. To be honest, I am much better than before when I forced myself to go to the gym three times a week and spent most of the time scrolling through my phone.

By the way, there is another pitfall that reminds everyone not to step into it. Don’t believe in those quick plans that “lose 10 pounds in 7 days” or “build your waistline in 3 days”. Those plans either make you hungry, or they are water lost from high-intensity running. I have tried a high-intensity HIIT plan of jumping for 2 hours straight before, and after training my knees After suffering pain for half a month, I went to the hospital to find out that the meniscus was slightly worn. Later I learned that there was no coach at home to correct the movements. People with heavy weights should really not blindly do running and jumping movements. They should give priority to non-weight-bearing movements such as sitting and leaning against the wall, such as seated leg kicks, silent squats against the wall, and seated dumbbell shoulder presses. Safety is more important than anything else.

In fact, to put it bluntly, the last thing you need when doing home fitness is a sense of ritual. You don’t have to wait to buy all the equipment before you start, and you don’t have to wait until you are free to start. Today, if you think of doing 5 push-ups, you can still make money. Don’t regard it as a task to be completed, just treat it as a daily habit like drinking water when you are thirsty or sleeping when you are sleepy. On the contrary, you can persist for a longer time. After all, we ordinary people are not going to compete in fitness. Being healthy and moving comfortably is better than anything else, right?