Workout at Home: Bring Your Exercise Routine Indoors
At the start of this year I decided to stop my gym membership and try a home exercise routine. And with the current state of things going on, I’ve been feeling more committed to sticking to a home exercise routine. After browsing and testing out a bunch of apps, I’m excited to share below some of my favourites I’ve come across so far!
Back when I was at the gym, I was following Tom and doing weight training exercises, however when it comes to my home exercise routine, my favourite type of exercise is a combination of yoga and bodyweight exercises, things like yoga, pilates and anything that can be done on a mat without much equipment. So most of my recommendations will revolve around these sorts of exercise!
APPS:
Nike Training Club: NTC is one of my favourite free apps which has been taking up residence on my phone for years. NTC has heaps of bodyweight workouts which definitely get you sweating fast. What I love about this app is the number of short workouts available (5-15 min length) which makes it easy to commit to and feel accomplished when you’re done. They also have quality yoga workouts too on the app which is great. Everything is super well presented so definitely motivating to watch and follow along.
Headspace, Smiling Mind, Calm: These three meditation apps are the top meditation apps I’ve come across. All of them come with a trial period or free samples of guided meditations and if are interested, you can then go ahead and sign up for a subscription. I love uses guided meditation apps in the morning to start my day & if I’m not in the mood for listening to a guided meditation, sometimes I’ll do a simple deep breathing exercise instead.
Daily Yoga: This yoga app comes with a number of free workouts however if you pay for a subscription (they often do really good sales, so keep an eye out) you can get access to the whole library. I bought a subscription to this app earlier this year after scouring through a number of workout apps and find it to be really great as it has all sorts of different yoga workout series. You simply pick what you’re interested in and check out all the workouts in that series.
Yoga With Adriene: Yoga With Adriene was one of the first online yoga instructors that I followed when I first started looking for online yoga videos. She has a huge number of free videos you can watch and follow along on YouTube. Adriene now also has her own app ‘Find What Feels Good’ which you can check out as well. Again you can access some sample content for free but you’ll have to sign up to a subscription to unlock everything.
Pop Pilates: Pop Pilates is a really accessible pilates app by Cassie Ho of Blogilates fame. And she is full of energy and bubbles! You can purchase a month of workouts for only a couple of dollars (I’ve done about two months’ worth of her workouts in the past) and then you simply follow the calendar as your workout programme. The app also comes with lots of simple and free recipes as well.
My personal exercise goal is to get in 30 minutes of moderate activity daily, or at least 3 times a week and I also walk our little papillon Toro which helps meet my goals. We try to go for speed walking where we can, but it really depends on how many things Toro wants to sniff hehe.
EQUIPMENT:
If you’re looking to start a home exercise routine, you’ll probably need to start off with a few essentials. A yoga mat is really handy to have at home as you can do all your yoga and pilates workouts on it. If you want to do more strenuous stuff or use it outdoors with shoes, you can also keep an old yoga mat aside for this purpose. I recently discovered the cutest yoga mat brand which is totally up my alley - Yogi Peace Club, based in Bells Beach, Victoria. They do beautiful printed yoga mats made from recycled plastic bottles and natural rubber + plant a tree for every yoga mat sold! The one I’m using here in this post is the Desert Sand yoga mat!
Other things you might find handy include a little seat cushion or cushion for meditation, as well as a cork block for some yoga exercises. If you don’t have one, you can be like me and just use a thick book or anything else you have lying around the house that might work!
YOGA WEAR:
If you’re looking for a sustainable yoga wear brand, then one of my favourites that I love is Indigo Luna, based in Torquay, Victoria. I first discovered them a couple of years ago whilst looking for a new bikini and found the prettiest set from them. They do gorgeous eco-conscious yoga, swim, intimates and basics. Their yoga wear range in particular is beautiful - plant-dyed styles in great cuts that are made to be worn season after season. I’m in love with this Ananda set in lavender I have from them!
SPACE:
Some of my main personal tips for trying to stick to a home exercise routine is to really think about and commit a time to exercise every day, whether that be first thing in the morning, or right before you go to bed. Another thing I find helpful is having a dedicated space for your workout and having everything there ready to go so that you’re ready to go and have no other obstacles in the way. If you’re doing yoga, I love having a dimmable lamp around for some ambient lighting, as well as a candle or essential oil diffuser if I’m feeling real extra.
Make sure you also have space to prop up your phone or tablet. With tablets, you can get covers that also double as a stand which is great to use. For my phone, I find leaning it against the leg of a side table, sitting on my jumper (haha sounds complicated but it isn’t!) works well for me!
I actually recently did a post on creating a space for wellness (in general) at home, which also pointed towards some tips on creating a space for exercise - you can check it out here.
I hope you find this post helpful :)