4 Week Home Fitness Plan

I know the problems. I know the excuses. I know the obstacles. There’s the time issue. I mean, by the time you get changed, get to the gym, hit the gym floor, do your thing, come home, shower, and change again you’re talking about an hour and a half. Who’s got an hour and a half?  That’s why I’m here to help.  I have come up with a 4 week workout plan for you.  Each workout can be done at home, without any equipment, and in 20 minutes. They are intense but can be modified to your personal fitness level. There is no reason, no excuse for not being able to do these workouts. 

Each week contains three workouts. It is important that you keep a log so you can track your progress (for more on this click on my article The Importance of Measuring).  If you really want to see results repeat each workout in the same week (6 workouts per week) and then see if you improve your numbers the second time you do each workout.  If you can’t swing 6 workouts a week, pick one of the three to repeat so you’ll see progress.  You can also repeat the entire 4 week cycle to see if you can improve your numbers

 

 

 

 

Here’s an explanation of the exercises with links to some more info.

Push ups – The wikipedia on this is good and can be found here.  If you can’t do a full push up, do it with your knees on the ground.  Most likely, at the end of the four weeks you will be able to get it done.

Sit ups – Feel free to substitute crunches for this one.  I like to do the sit ups the Crossfit way by swinging my arms to save my neck.  See the photo on the right.

Air squats – This is just another way of saying a squat without weights.  Try to get your butt below your knees.  That’s where you see the real results.  If this is too hard for you just sit down on a chair and stand up.

Burpees.  For the wikipedia on these, click here.  I would recommend that people with some fitness experience go all the way down with their chest to the ground and then come up.  If this is too hard, do it the way it’s done in the video.  If that is too hard you can put your legs back one at a time instead of jumping them back with each rep.

Jump squats – These are just like they sound.  You go down for a squat but instead of standing up you jump up.

Lunge – Click here to see how to do a stationary lunge.  You can also do a walking lunge where instead of coming back up to where you started you march forward with your lunge steps.

Jumping lunge – Just as with a jump squat, instead of coming up to your starting position, you jump and switch legs in the air.  If this is too hard for you, substitute regular lunges.   An instruction video can be found here.

Planks –  The instruction on this can be found here.

Moutain climbers – An instruction video on this can be found here.  If you can’t do it by jumping and alternating your legs you can step back and forth.

Plank Jacks – Check out the video showing these here.

Scissor kicks – These rock the abs and are demo’d here.

Chair Jumps – For these you just jump up onto a chair and then jump down.  If a chair is too high, try a step or something lower to the ground.

Chair dips – This picture says it all:

Supermans – This is essentially and upside down sit up.  Here’s a picture of the up position: 

All of these exercises are described on multiple websites in the event that you don’t like the links or explanations I gave.  . Remember the key is to keep a log and then improve on your time the next time you do the exercise.  This does not have to be just a four week program.  This is a list of a bunch of different exercises that you can mix and match to create your own workouts.

If these are too tough for you in the beginning, just go take your time.  It’s ok to start off doing fewer rounds or taking a bit longer. If you stick with it, however, you’ll see how quickly you can get stronger and do more than you thought you ever could.  You could also find a partner to take the journey with you.  Just keep with it and I promise you’ll see great results.  Good luck!