Summer is coming up, which means it’s time to get yourself in beach-body shape! Fortunately, you don’t need to get an expensive gym membership, and you don’t even need fancy equipment to get in great shape at home.
Here are five of the best ways to get in shape for summer!
1. Use your House to your Advantage
Most of us have stairs, kitchen countertops, hard chairs, and doorways in our homes. You can use your actual house as your workout equipment! Walk up and down the stairs slowly, while engaging your core and your lower body. Feel your glutes working harder with each step, and keep your tummy tucked in. You can use countertops for incline pushups so you can stay off of the floor. Chairs are great for triceps dips, and doorways are great to do wall-sits against.
2. Weight, don’t wait!
If you want a heavier weight workout, like bicep curls and weighted squats and lunges, you can use objects around your house. When you empty a gallon of milk, you can clean it and refill it with water. And since it has a handle, you can use it for a variety of exercises for your upper and lower body.
3. Walk it off
Walking by itself is a great way to tone your muscles. Take long, deep steps that let your hips and core twist. That will help give you some nice definition around your abs, and help flatten your tummy. Walking not intense enough for you? Grab that gallon jug weight and do walking lunges instead. You’ll be toning and firming your whole lower body, and you’ll have a nice round bum to show for it.
4. HIIT it hard
HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training, and you’re going to want a little bit of space for this. The idea is to push yourself REALLY hard, then take a full rest. A good timer is for 1 minute of hard, intense activity followed by 90 seconds of complete rest. The activity you choose is up to you. Sprinting outside is a great option. If you have a pool, doing fast laps will do the same thing. You can also do jumping jacks, squats, or any other move that gets you out of breath in that minute.
5. Hike your Heart Out
As though you needed more of an excuse to get outside in the beautiful weather! Hiking is great for your health not only because there is walking, sunshine, and fresh air involved, but also because you’re using your body in ways you don’t in normal, everyday life. There’s more climbing and balancing, you might be jumping or even crawling in your hikes, depending on what kind of parks you have near you. Venture into new environments by exploring caves (make sure they’re safe!) or even try a bit of mountain climbing. These activities all use your muscles in combination, keep your heart rate elevated, and help you get in shape while you have fun.
These five ideas can be done on your own, or with friends, and since they don’t require a gym or any special equipment, can be done on most any schedule. Keep at it and make your fitness a healthy habit, and you’ll be in summer ready shape before you know it!
Photo by: hamza