Your House is a Gym Part I: 10/01/2012

Your house is full of versatile items that you can put to use to make a gym out of your own home. Just look around you and you will see that in your home there are a multitude of items that you can use to get a good workout. Having limited or no access to a gym should never be an excuse to not get a workout in, and, in actuality, that excuse is simply lame. This is the beginning of a small series that will focus on using your home as a gym.

Item #1 Bench

A bench is the perfect item in your home. Not only can it be used for a chest press or a chest fly, but you can use it to angle your push-ups,  perform single leg squats (see video), or to train your triceps. A sturdy bench will even give you the opportunity to perform side steps, side jumps, or even heavy lifting. Check out the quality and sturdiness of your bench before doing heavy lifting or jumping.

Item #2 Heavy Duty Trash Bags and a Duffle Bag or Two

Put some sand into heavy duty trash bags and double them up to secure the sand then put them in different sized duffle bags and you suddenly have a bunch of different weighted sand bags for some fabulous functional training. Weigh each bag and mark the weight with spray paint so you are sure of the weight that you are lifting. Looking for some ideas? Check this video out.

  

Item #3 Basketball

A basketball is a simple item that can have many different uses. Use it to add some instability to a push-up, mountain climbers, or to give you some extra resistance to a Russian Twist. Another great option would be for side ball tosses or even wall balls[see video (though you will not get much weight out of a basketball, you can still get a good workout with one)]. Don't have a basketball? Substitute a volleyball or soccer ball for the basketball, anything round that can bounce.

More items to come in the next few weeks. Have any household item workouts that you would like to share? Feel free to leave a comment and share them with everyone.