Work(out) From Home Basics

The only equipment needed are: chin-up bar and resistance bands. Both can be purchased affordably on Amazon or your preferred online retailer.

Don’t want to spend money? There are alternative of course (via a simple Google search) but these are quite inexpensive and a worthwhile investment. Don’t short change yourself and go get these.

Workouts below are split between 1 - 4 day workouts depending on how much time you can commit during the week. If you are just starting, try and commit completing one workout a week and then build from there. The key is actually moving and testing your body on a consistent basis so be realistic and get those small wins. If you’re more experienced then do as much as time permits.

Day 1

Rest - minimal. This is a circuit so go from one exercise to another.

Tempo - slow and in control.

  • Focus on controlling the descent and ascent. As you go down, you should feel the glutes stretching out and slight lactic build up in your quads.

    Don’t rest at the bottom as it will break the tension in your muscles. You want to maintain this tension throughout the rep.

    Pressure should be spread evenly across the base of your feet so consider doing this barefoot.

    I also find that squating with my arms in front of me and parallel to the floor helps maintain the correct posture.

  • 10 reps on each leg.

    Place hands on hips and then think about dropping your hips onto the floor rather than driving your knee forward. I find this stretches the glutes more.

  • If you can do 20 all in one go then do 25-30. The last few reps should be face grimace tough.

    Make sure your hand placement isn’t too wide and you don’t just drop your chest to the floor like a lead weight. Control that descent - I find that I get more tension in the chest if I pretend I’m actually trying to push chest away from the floor as I go down. Weird but it works. You should be able to feel a nice stretch across the width of your chest which should be maintained once you reach the bottom of the movement. Use this tension and squeeze those chest muscle together in order to drive your torso back up into the starting position.

    At the top try and really flex the chest - like you were trying to holding onto a pencil between each pec.

  • If you can’t do 8-10 in a row do assisted chin-ups with the bands. Use of the thicker ones, loop it around the bar and then pull it through itself so it’s anchored. Rest your knees at the bottom for the assisted chin-up.

    Remember to grip the bar tight as not only strengthens grip but helps reduce any strength leakage as you pull yourself up.

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  • These were such a game changer for my posture and I’m grateful for having found this on the AthleanX YouTube channel during lockdown. It’s such a simple exercise with extraordinary benefits. Helps prevent rounding of the shoulders that is so prevalent among workers sitting and typing all day.

    I like to hold the superman pose for a good 2 seconds before moving the arms behind.

Day 2

No legs today. Why? Because its inclusion makes me want to skip the workout. So Day 2 is more palatable for that very reason.

Supersets today though so straight from one to the other. Catch your breath before moving onto the next circuit.

  • If you can do 20 all in one go then do 25-30. The last few reps should be face grimace tough.

    Make sure your hand placement isn’t too wide and you don’t just drop your chest to the floor like a lead weight. Control that descent - I find that I get more tension in the chest if I pretend I’m actually trying to push chest away from the floor as I go down. Weird but it works. You should be able to feel a nice stretch across the width of your chest which should be maintained once you reach the bottom of the movement. Use this tension and squeeze those chest muscle together in order to drive your torso back up into the starting position.

    At the top try and really flex the chest - like you were trying to holding onto a pencil between each pec.

  • If you can’t do 8-10 in a row do assisted chin-ups with the bands. Use of the thicker ones, loop it around the bar and then pull it through itself so it’s anchored. Rest your knees at the bottom for the assisted chin-up.

    Remember to grip the bar tight as not only strengthens grip but helps reduce any strength leakage as you pull yourself up.

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Day 3

You’re liking the workout and the feel good endorphins its completion provides. You are keen to take this further.

Day 3 will be full body again - but with more strain. You asked for it.

  • Usual bodyweight squat technique but the movement pattern here is descend in a slow and controlled manner to the bottom and then squat half way up so that your thighs are parallel to the floor, back down and then all the way up. Do this 15 times.

  • Find an elevated platform (e.g. chair, sofa, bed) and search for those hip flexors when elevating your hip from the starting position. Squeeze those glutes at the top and then slowly lower your hip down back to the floor.

    15 times for each leg.

  • Lower your torso to the floor whilst feeling that stretch across the chest. Don’t break that tension at the bottom. Push the floor away from you but only go half way up - you should almost feel like chest is flexing at this point. Lower yourself back down - again don’t lost that tension in the chest. Explode all the way back up to the start position.

    Do 15 of these.

    Super set this with banded tricep kickbacks. Wrap the band around a stair post, sofa leg or door handle (ideally at waist height). Get creative. Contact me if you need help with this set up as its highly dependent on your home environment.

  • Complete the 10 and then jump up and control your descent (the negatives). Focus on contracting your biceps here.

  • With the AMRAP, I squeeze more reps by getting on my knees - this makes it less taxing mechanically but still taxes those shoulder muscles.

  • These were such a game changer for my posture and I’m grateful for having found this on the AthleanX YouTube channel during lockdown. It’s such a simple exercise with extraordinary benefits. Helps prevent rounding of the shoulders that is so prevalent among workers sitting and typing all day.

    I like to hold the superman pose for a good 2 seconds before moving the arms behind.

Day 4

You’re on a mission.

Day 4 ends the week fittingly with AMRAP sets. You’ll feel the pump flowing and confidence brewing.

  • If you can do 20 all in one go then do 25-30. The last few reps should be face grimace tough.

    Make sure your hand placement isn’t too wide and you don’t just drop your chest to the floor like a lead weight. Control that descent - I find that I get more tension in the chest if I pretend I’m actually trying to push chest away from the floor as I go down. Weird but it works. You should be able to feel a nice stretch across the width of your chest which should be maintained once you reach the bottom of the movement. Use this tension and squeeze those chest muscle together in order to drive your torso back up into the starting position.

    At the top try and really flex the chest - like you were trying to holding onto a pencil between each pec.

  • If you can’t do 8-10 in a row do assisted chin-ups with the bands. Use of the thicker ones, loop it around the bar and then pull it through itself so it’s anchored. Rest your knees at the bottom for the assisted chin-up.

    Remember to grip the bar tight as not only strengthens grip but helps reduce any strength leakage as you pull yourself up.

  • Item description

  • These were such a game changer for my posture and I’m grateful for having found this on the AthleanX YouTube channel during lockdown. It’s such a simple exercise with extraordinary benefits. Helps prevent rounding of the shoulders that is so prevalent among workers sitting and typing all day.

    I like to hold the superman pose for a good 2 seconds before moving the arms behind.