Most people think that in order to get in a good workout, equipment is needed. Dumbbells, benches, bands and cardiovascular equipment can definitely give your workout more options. But when you’re working out from home, these accessories aren’t always available. Rest assured, it is possible to get into great shape without a single piece of equipment. In fact, the benefits of at home workouts without equipment are pretty impressive. 

If your goal is to shape up, but you don’t have access to a gym, or perhaps don’t have the room or the budget for equipment, don’t worry about it! Here are a few reasons your body will appreciate going the equipment-free route when it comes to getting fit. 

The Benefits of At Home Workouts Without Equipment

Long before gyms, health clubs and boutique studios became a mainstay of fitness around the world, people had to rely on the only piece of equipment they knew how to use to keep moving: their very own bodies. 

This article talks about the real benefits of using your own body as the primary source of staying fit. You can certainly stock your home gym with plenty of equipment, but if you don’t have the funds in your budget, don’t sweat it! There are plenty of reasons a no equipment workout from home is the way to go to get your body fit…and keep your budget healthy, too! 

The Rise of Functional Fitness

Functional fitness is a buzz term that gets thrown around a lot without much understanding of what it really means. Taking advantage of functional fitness means that you’re using your body to strengthen itself in a way that moves in all planes of motion. 

Exercises that use equipment, such as leg extension machines, chest press machines, leg curl machines or even abdominal machines force your body into a plane of motion that is fixed. While you’re able to isolate one specific muscle or group of muscles with these machines, you neglect the periphery muscles that help to maintain the muscle you want to get stronger. 

With at home workouts without equipment, you teach your body to engage multiple muscles at the same time, increasing strength. 

In addition to strengthening multiple muscles, you’re increasing mobility and balance as well. When you rely on your body to do a majority of the work, as opposed to using machines or other pieces of equipment, you teach your body to recruit different muscles to do the job. This reduces the likelihood of injury and generally improves the way you move. 

They’re Easy on Your Budget

At home workouts without equipment are ideal for anyone on a tight budget. It’s easy to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on expensive exercise equipment or gym memberships. When you workout at home using no equipment other than your own body, you save money – and lots of it! 

Check out these at home workouts with no equipment to help get you going. 

Convenience 

You simply make like a lot easier on yourself when you start doing workouts from home with no equipment. There is no hustle to get into the gym and you don’t have to worry about packing a gym bag before you leave your home. You can also get in a good workout from the comfort of your own home without having to compete with other gym-goers for a space to exercise or finding a locker to put your valuables away. 

Saves time

Quite possibly, one of the greatest benefits of doing an at home workout with no equipment is that you don’t have to deal with any sort of a commute getting to the gym or fitness studio. If you workout regularly, this means saving hours of time every week that could be spent doing something more productive with your time. 

People skip their workouts when they don’t have enough time to squeeze it in. Save hours a week on the commute into the gym. While you’re at it, you’ll also save yourself the excuse that you just don’t have the time.  Even a short, 15-minute workout from your living room before hitting the shower in the morning is better than nothing! 

Social Anxiety

One of the biggest drawbacks of working out at the gym is knowing that other people are catching a glimpse of you in your workout gear doing squats in front of a big mirror. If the idea of being around a lot of other people turns you off, rest assured that you do not have to deal with a single person watching you exercise, or getting too close to your personal space. While it’s certainly nice to be around other people from time to time, it’s also nice to have the freedom to move your body around without worrying about other people watching your form or getting too close.

Kick social anxiety to the curb and start working out without all of that periphery stress.

At-Home Nutrition

One of the biggest mistakes people make after they workout is not getting proper nutrition. Usually the optimal time for getting protein reuptake is 15 to 45 minutes after a hard workout. If you’re at the gym, it’s easy to miss this window. By the time you finish your workout, shower and get ready for the day, an hour could slip by. Add in the time it takes to leave the gym and get to where you need to be, you’re looking at 90 minutes to two hours before you can give your body any real sustenance. 

If you decide to grab something at the gym, you’re spending money on snacks or meals that may not always be the best for your body. 

When you workout at home, you have everything you need at your fingertips. 

Germs

Have you ever taken a minute to think about how much of someone else’s bodily fluids you expose yourself to when you’re working out at a gym. Even though no one’s home is going to be germ-free, it is going to be a much more sanitary environment. 

When you jump on a piece of equipment used by dozens of other people in the same day, or if you lay down to stretch out on a mat that’s been walked all over in other gym-goers’ shoes, you’re picking up what they leave behind. 

Exercising in your own personal space is a significantly more germ-controlled environment than the populated space of a gym. 

You Workout When You Want To 

Thanks to videos that can stream just about any workout at any time, exercising from home means that you can work up a sweat when it works best for your schedule. One of the nicest things about working out from home is that you don’t have to stress about sticking to the group fitness schedule of a gym to take a class, and if you want to workout extra early or extra late, you can do that, too. 

All you need for a good a-home workout is a little bit of space, some comfortable clothing and you’re ready to go. If you want to get the feeling that you’re participating in something, there are thousands of classes that can be found online for free.