No dumbbells at home? Try these workouts with household items

   While working out at home has some advantages in comparison to going to the gym, one of the main issues is having no access to specialized equipment like dumbbells or machines. Although these can be found at fitness shops or online, their prices can be unaffordable and require lots of free space, making them inaccessible for many people. In order to help beginners and anyone wanting to start their fitness journey at home, workout enthusiasts from all over the world have created ways to substitute popular fitness equipment with everyday items found in most houses.

The house items I use to replace dumbbells and yoga blocks

Aerobic step: giving new life to a retro prop

  Fitness trends have changed a lot in the last four decades. The 80s aerobic craze ignited a health revolution, inspiring millions all over the world to move their bodies with easy to follow routines and upbeat music.

My step bench, got it from my grandmother

 As a result of the demand for novelty in aerobics, routines became riskier and more bombastic, leading to an increase in injuries during class due to the excessive intensity. Gin Miller, at the time an aerobic instructor, had to undergo physical rehabilitation and was advised to stay away from high impact exercises. Inspired by having to step on a milk crate for her recovery, Miller developed the step, a prop for low impact exercises for all levels. The step started as a long wooden bench (24 feet long/7.32 meters long) with heights of 10, 11 and 12 inches available. The routines, then known as Bench Blast, were fairly slow with simple moves, small hand weights were also used to add resistance for the upper body. In 1989, Miller partnered with apparel brand Reebok and the original step was further redesigned as an individual bench made of plastic. The aerobic step became a worldwide trend, with video classes being released from the home workout market.

Pilates on YouTube: choosing instructors, equipment and more for beginners

  Pilates is a form of resistance training invented by German trainer Joseph Pilates during the early twentieth century. Originally created to help war prisoners with physical rehabilitation, the Pilates method is based upon principles of controlled natural movement and breath work. With an emphasis on balance and precision, Pilates is meant to be a full body practice with a focus on mind muscle connection. With these foundational principles, Joseph Pilates designed a series of equipment known as apparatus to help bedridden patients with their recovery; the well-known Pilates reformer and others used springs and straps for added resistance for the limbs. The Pilates method has been popularized around the world for decades for its proven benefits: improvement of balance and flexibility, better body awareness and increasing core strength. Like many other practices, Pilates has evolved over time to cater to newer trends and audiences, currently being extremely trendy online due to misleading content about its supposed aesthetic results. 

Photo by Alexy Almond from Pexels

How to choose the right YouTube workout program for you

   One mistake I made at the beginning of my fitness journey was choosing random workouts, just picking randomly according how I felt during that particular day. While being consistent is important, following a structured routine can help to get balanced workouts and achieve better results. Overworking specific areas without rest can lead to muscle imbalance and eventually injury, therefore following a workout program with a balanced structure should be recommended for all beginners. 

   Most workout programs divide the body according to muscle groups: upper body (chest, shoulders, biceps and triceps), core and lower body (quadriceps, glutes, hips, hamstrings, calves). Exercises to target each muscle group are sequenced according to their specific agonist/antagonist role, then the routine is assigned to an specific day alternated with routines for other areas. Besides focusing on specific zones, full body routines are present in most workout programs, consisting of exercises targeting the full body and comprehensive training including specific muscle groups. Weekly programming usually consists of four to five active days, the remaining days being denoted as rest days for recovery. Regardless of programming, beginners should consider starting with two or three days a week in order to get acclimatized to the new routine.

Resistance bands 101: one of the best fitness prop for beginners

   Maintaining and building muscle mass is key to improving your overall fitness and health. Skeletal muscles are the tissue that allows voluntary movement of the body, permitting all sorts of motions and supporting the bone structure. Composed by fibers and connective tissue, muscles require movement and nourishment to prevent atrophy and upkeep their structure. Resistance training and strength training are the most effective types of exercise to reach muscle fatigue, which is crucial alongside proper nutrition for achieving muscle hypertrophy.  

   Resistance training and strength training both have the same goal of challenging the muscle; their primary difference being in that the latter requires using weights like dumbbells or barbells and is usually performed with the sole goal of increasing strength. On the other hand, resistance training is defined as any sort of motion in which muscle contraction is resisted by an outside element or force; this outside element can be the body's own weight, resistance bands, workouts machines like the pilates reformer or even sliders. Both types of training are effective for training and building muscle: strength training by using heavy weights and low repetitions and resistance training by pushing muscle to fatigue with more repetitions and frequency of the movement. The need for progressive overload; meaning the periodical increase of repetitions, weight used or frequency when performing specific exercises is also important for developing muscle no matter the form of movement used. In summary, resistance training and strength training play a vital role in improving muscle mass hence should be present in any ideal fitness routine alongside cardio.