4 Week Home Workout Plan

If you’re looking to start a new fitness regimen or schedule, you might be considering joining a gym. While this can certainly boost your workout potential as a beginner, it’s also important to understand that you don’t need tons of equipment (or no equipment at all, really) to get a great workout in.

In fact, you can build muscle, increase tone, and burn fat very efficiently and effectively from the comfort of home.

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Benefits of Exercising from Home

Some of the biggest perks to at-home workouts are as follows:

You use way less time. Traveling to and from the gym, checking in, waiting for equipment to be available, these all add up to likely double or more the time it would take you to get a comparable workout in at home. Who has time for that in their schedule?
You don’t need any equipment at all. Though lots of home workouts can certainly be pumped up with some inexpensive hand weights, you need very little or no specialized equipment or space to work out at home.
Your options are limitless. From HIIT, to circuit training, to yoga, home workouts can take you anywhere. Especially with the plethora of workout video content out there, you can feel like you are in a class right in your living room.
You can be more consistent. It’s so much easier to convince yourself to simply stand up, change clothes, and start a workout than it is to motivate yourself to plan your daily schedule around getting to the gym. Home workouts can mean more frequent and regular workouts, which means better results!

When considering home workouts, we want you to know that strength training is not only possible, but highly effective and recommended. Effective strength training techniques at home will lead to more lean body mass and a healthier overall body style.

As a woman, even a woman who is a fitness beginner, home strength training is imperative. Couple strength training with cardio, and you are well on your way to having a well-rounded and effective fitness routine right at home.

Weight Training

Weight, strength, and resistance training really all mean the same thing. You are using your muscles while an outside force is acting upon them. With a weight, you are picking up a physical (typically heavy) object and moving against its gravitational pull on your muscles. This causes stress in the muscle fibers and, in turn, causes them to grow stronger.

When strength training at home, you have several options for how to create resistance. You can use your own bodyweight, also known as bodyweight training. These would be exercises like HIIT and Yoga that don’t tend to use weights. You can also use free weights that you keep at home, resistance bands, and even alternative weight sources like household objects.

Building an effective strength training program from home means first deciding what, if any, equipment you plan on using. If you’re a beginner, you may decide to start with the very basics and include no weights at all. Here, we will provide you with an all-levels workout that can be done at home either with equipment or without.

Exercising with resistence or exercise band

Resistence or exercise bands are versatile, convenient and effective, perfect for home use.

What You’ll Need

When you’re ready to give this workout a try, you’ll need to prepare a comfortable space for training. Find a place in your home that has some room for you to move and make sure that you have any equipment you’ll require handy.

You don’t need any equipment at all to do our workout routine, but here are some items that may be helpful:

an exercise mat
resistance bands or tubing
dumbbells
a kettlebell
a stable bench or chair
a medicine ball

Extra Tips

Here are some additional tips for starting a strength training routine:

Make sure to work all the major muscle groups at least twice a week.
Practice warming up for about 5 minutes prior to strength training, cooling down and stretching for about 10 minutes after, and allowing at least one day of rest in between training sessions.
Don’t be afraid to increase weight or reps when you feel an exercise is too easy.
If you’ve had joint repair or replacement surgery, check with your surgeon before doing lower body exercises.
Never jerk or throw weights into position. Aim for slow, methodical movement. This not only helps prevent injury, but also helps ensure that your muscles work harder.
Maintain slight bends in knees and elbows much of the time during strength training.
You can also practice purposeful breathing techniques like blowing air out when you are exerting yourself and taking air in when your muscles are relaxing.
Muscle soreness and acute fatigue are quite normal when you are new to strength training. Symptoms may last a few days. However, if you feel over exhausted, extreme soreness or pain, you may need extra rest or a doctor’s visit.
None of the exercises you do should cause pain. Your range of motion will make it very clear where to stop. Do not try to go past this point.

Chest and Triceps

Circuit

Chest Press

8-12 reps or 30 second interval

Lie on your back either on the floor or across a bench. Begin with arms extended to the sides at the shoulder and elbows bent at 90 degrees. Press your hands up and together over your chest.

Decline Push-up

(with bench and floor) 8-12 reps or 45 second interval

Position yourself in an elevated plank position with your feet up on a solid bench, chair, or other stable surface. Lower your chest toward the floor before pressing up to a high plank again.

Triceps Kickbacks

8-12 reps or 30 second interval

Begin standing with feet hip distance and a slight bend in the knees. Hinge slightly forward at the hip and tuck your elbows into your ribs. Press your hands back and up, squeezing your triceps at the top.

Superset 1

Chest Fly

8-12 reps or 30 second interval

Lie face-up on the floor or over a bench. Spread your hands wide with a slight bend in the elbow. Maintain your arm positioning while you bring your hands together up over your chest.

Triceps Push-up

8-12 reps or 45 second interval

Start in a standard pushup position but with hands only shoulder distance apart. When pressing down toward the floor, aim your elbows straight backward so that they brush against your ribs. Press upward in the same fashion.

Superset 2

Staggered Hand Push-ups

8-12 reps or 45 second interval

Get into pushup position. Stagger your hands so that one is a few inches in front of the other. Perform pushups with hands positioned this way before alternating which hand is in front.

Triceps Dips

8-12 reps or 30 second interval

Using a bench, chair, or other stable surface, position your body facing away from it and place your hands on the edge facing outward. Lower your body toward the floor by bending your elbows straight back behind you and press back up to straight.