7 Ways To Exercise In A Condo With No Equipment
Resourcefulness is a trait that we can appreciate in other people. Using everything at our disposal to solve the problems we have without buying specialized equipment is wonderful. But can we do this with our fitness? We believe so, which is why we are going to share our 7 ways to exercise in a small condo with no equipment.
How can we be Resourceful with our Fitness Regime?
Let’s start with what we need to do to exercise. Basically, if we can do some physical activity that elevates our heart rate to a certain degree, and sustain that for a period of time, we are in effect exercising.
Therefore, if you can find a way to move your body systematically, raise your heart rate, and sustain that for a period of time within your condo, you are doing what you need to derive the health benefit of exercise. To that end, you can use a variety of objects you can find in your living room or right by it:
- Staircases
- Chairs and tables
- The floor
Use your Imagination!
Take the objects in the list above and use your imagination:
- If you have a staircase, you can go up and down the stairs for a period of time – do so if your body can take the impact
- Sturdy chairs and table scan be platforms you can use to stretch before and after you exercise
- You can also use chairs and tables to strengthen or to tone your muscles – and we are definitely not telling you to lift them repeatedly!
- The floor is the empty canvas of exercising. You just need a small area to work with it!
Start Exercising in your Condo by Stretching
There are many more objects around you that you can use to work out, but let’s focus on the ones we mentioned before. Start by stretching:
- Use a chair or a table to stretch the muscles in your legs
- Do the same with your arm muscles
- Stretch your back and core on the floor
Exercise #1: Push Ups & Crunches
For the actual exercises, we can start from the most obvious: push ups & ab crunches. These are pretty simple exercises that you can engage in on the floor. If you want, you can use a yoga mat.
Mix it up to challenge yourself:
- Shift each hand either forward or backward on your push ups
- Play with the distance between your hands to change your push up exercise regime
- If you can, clap on every push up
- Do some bicycle crunches
Exercise #2: Squats & Lunges
After you finish working on your upper body and core strength with those push ups and crunches, you can work on your lower body. Squats and lunges are the perfect kind of exercise to build lower body strength.
Exercise #3: Jumping Jacks
If you want to shift from muscle toning exercises to more of an aerobic activity, jumping jacks are a great choice. As you jump and move your legs and arms by opening and closing them, you are elevating your heartrate and making your lungs work as well.
Jumping jacks are also probably the kind of aerobic exercise that requires the least amount of space. An area of about 6 or 7 foot by 2 feet will suffice.
Exercise #4: Burpees
You can make your jumping jacks more challenging as well. Just turn them into burpees:
- This is a combination of jumping jacks and push ups
- Do a push up
- After you go through the full motion of one push up jump
- Jump by taking your legs up to put them under your body after the push up
- While in the air, bring your arms together just like you would if you were doing jumping jacks
- Then, you can drop to the push up position again and do another round
Exercise #5: Dips
After you are sweating from the burpees, you can do a couple of sets of dips. This exercise requires a chair or another sturdy object that can take your weight without moving. It works on your triceps. Here is how you do it:
- Face away from the chair
- With your back to the chair, put the palms of your hands on the chair
- Stretch your legs out such that your heels are on the floor, but the rest of your body is not touching the floor
- Then lower your body and bring it back up again using your arms – dips!
Exercise #6: Mountain Climber
Going back to aerobic exercises, mountain climbers can be a good, challenging part of your workout. They involve upper body strength to keep your shoulders off the floor, and then cardio when you move your knees up and down under your body. Here is how you do mountain climbers:
- Lower your body to the pushup position
- Open your arms a little beyond the line of your shoulder
- With your arms fully extended, move one knee towards your torso while the other one stays fully stretched
- Then retract the other leg as you stretch the opposite one – same motion as climbing, just under your body
- One important point is to keep your hip from moving up and down as you exercise
Exercise #7: Yoga!
To diversify your exercise regime, you can also do some yoga. It is extremely popular and doesn’t require specialized equipment. Yes, you read that correctly, you don’t have to have a yoga mat!
If you want to try yoga out, you can check out the myriad of YouTube clips there are on how to do yoga properly.
Before you Exercise, Check What you Are Doing!
Of course, not every yoga clip on YouTube is reliable. You must check who the instructor is and how much experience they have. It is also good to check the reviews and read a little more about yoga before you start.
The same goes for all the other exercises that you can do in a small space. Read about them first and make sure your body can handle what you want to do. There is no need to go over the top either. Fitness is something that you attain step by step.
What you should take away with you from this post, however, is that you can exercise in small places like apartments or condos and you don’t need to invest in specialized equipment!
