No Equipment, No Problem

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Getting your exercise in can be hard without access to the gym. However, the stay-at-home order does not have to prevent you from staying active. Here are some household items that can stand in as gym equipment for your workouts.

Upper body strength and endurance exercises can be done with a folding chair. For example, an exercise like tricep dips can be done using a folding chair.

Cosmopolitan magazine suggests doing exercises like plank knee cross, incline push-ups and standing side-crunches to exercise your triceps, upper-back, chest and arms. Using a chair is safe for these exercises because it is in close proximity to the floor and is sturdy.

For cardio-focused exercises, the stairs are a perfect tool. Real Simple suggests going up and down the steps at varied paces to get your heart pumping. You can do this for multiple reps with scheduled intermittent rests.

Real Simple also suggests exercises like step-up reverse lunges, tricep stair dips, skater steps and mountain climbers.

Olushola Omomo, senior community health major at the University of Maryland, said she attempts to work out at least four times a week for about 20-30 minutes each time. For her work outs, she uses a chair and dresser.

“When I'm doing squats or something I hold onto my dresser… or whenever I do hamstring stretches... I also use my chair for my leg stretches like hamstring stretches and pulsing leg lifts,” Omomo said.

Also, if you love dumbbell workouts but don’t have any dumbbells at home, no worries!

Textbooks, canned goods, filled bottles and laundry detergents make great replacements for weights. These “weights” can be held or lifted as you do exercises like lunges, squats and weighted sit-ups.

Daniel Johnson, a personal trainer, said that benches are good for single arm dumbbell rows.

“You can use a heavy bag to do single arm dumbbell rows… you're replacing the dumbbell with an item in your house,” Johnson said.

For abdominal exercises, you can use paper plates or linen towels as sliders. A tool that can also help you build core strength is a wall, which can be used for exercises like wall-assisted push-ups, sprints, wall sits and wall planks.

Although unconventional, Temidayo Moses, a junior information science major at UMD, recommends using a couch as a household exercise tool.

“With your couch you can do jump squats,” Moses said.

However, keep in mind your body is an instrument that is able to do exercises without help from household items. For example, Moses said that he likes to jog.

Getting a good gym-level workout does not have to be impossible even though we’re in quarantine. Don’t be afraid to check out all of your options.