How to Make Your Home Workouts More Fun

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Working out is a part of my weekly routine. I like to be active, get a sweat going, and feel sore the next day. I even look forward to going to the gym and trying out new workouts. However, with the current Stay-at-Home orders, my routines were completely decimated. No more getting up early, walking the dog, and then heading over to the gym.

For the past two months, I have been faced with the challenge of adapting my workout routines to my home with no preparation. I don’t have any of the home workout gear I would have liked for this situation. On top of that, my local stores quickly ran out of free weights and other workout materials. All this meant I had to get creative.

Through experimentation and frustration, I’ve come up with strategies and ideas to keep my workouts feel fresh and fun.

Deck of Cards Challenge

This one has been my favorite as of late. In order to do this challenge you will need a deck of cards. If you don’t have a physical deck of cards, you can download a free deck of cards app to a phone or tablet. The goal is to have a random card flip over as you go through the entire deck.

Begin by picking four exercises and assign each to a suit in a standard deck of cards. For example, diamonds will be sit-ups, hearts will be lunges, spades will be push-ups, and clubs will be dead bugs. I encourage you to write it down and keep it in front of you, so you do not forget the exercises during the workout. Go through the entire deck, doing the same number of repetitions of each exercise for the corresponding card. The jacks are 11 reps, the queens are 12, the kings are 13, and the aces can be your choice of 1 or 14.

(If you are unfamiliar with these movements you can type into google “dead bug exercise” or “lunges exercise” and you will see hundreds of videos and photos depicting the movement.)

You can play with this challenge by shuffling the deck and giving half to a household member. The random set of cards will give you each a different set of reps for each exercise.

An additional way is to organize the cards prior to starting the workout in a specific pattern. You can do all of one suit and then work your way through all four suits. There is the method of organizing the cards from highest to lowest number of reps.

Complete the challenge in any method you would like, however, I encourage you to maintain some element of randomness to the deck challenge. This way you will have to keep focus and attention on your exercises by flipping the card to see what comes next.

Variety

I was taught to work out by going into the gym, moving weights around, and doing some cardio. And that’s the way I’ve been working out for most of my adult life. However, a workout doesn’t have to be limited to just this method.

Explore the different types of working out that you’ve never tried before. Right now, I’m learning more about calisthenics and how to get a great workout with body weight alone. I don’t care who you are lifting up your body weight for a pull up is challenging. But with time, practice, support, and training, a pull up can become just another exercise in your workout routine.

Try out a beginner’s yoga routine. YouTube is absolutely full to the brim with different instructors walking you through different types of yoga sessions. With all of those resources you can try out which instructor’s style matches what you’re looking for.

If you’re looking to switch up your cardio, look into Zumba classes online. Again, YouTube is your friend. For the first time, I typed in “Zumba workout” and top ten videos offer 20 and 30-minute follow along tutorials.

Look through what you already have. If you have a bike in the garage, break it out and go for a 20 to 30-minute ride around the neighborhood. Break out the old dusty baseball mitt or football and play catch for half an hour. Learn how to juggle a soccer ball. If the weather permits, go for a long walk outside. See how many squats you can do holding your pet until they get tired of it.

Right now, is the perfect time to experiment with different types of exercises and workouts. Learn what helps you feel good and active. Notice what makes you feel excited and motivated and stick to those new routines.

Competition

As a coach and former athlete, I thrive on competition. The most amazing athletic performances happen during competition, not during practice. Having a number to measure up to and beat can make you work just a little bit harder and gain that daily improvement you need to reach your goals.

The Best Competition is Against Yourself

Track your numbers. Design the workout before you start by writing it down, then log the results. How many reps were you able to get in today’s workout? How quickly could you get through an established circuit? What felt too easy and which movements were really challenging?

Use this information to fuel your next workout. Go for more reps, aim to be faster, or make those difficult movements feel easy! Compete against your past results and you will begin to see measurable improvement.

Compete with Others (but don’t rely on it)

It is fun to compete with others, to outperform a friend or family member can feel great. Knowing that your friend might be a little stronger can push you to go harder.

Timed Circuits

Design a list of exercises and a number of reps and rounds for each movement. For example: 4 rounds of 10 push-ups, 15 dips, 20 squats, 30 mountain climbers, and 40 jumping jacks. Start a timer and see how quickly you can get through all of the exercises in the 4 rounds.

You can do this with someone in your household and compete at the same time. Or you can share your workout and time online then encourage others to beat your time. Not only will you get yourself moving but you will be inspiring others to give it a go as well.

Static Movements

A type of exercise that is definitely harder than it looks is holding body weight positions. No matter who you are, if you hold one of the following positions long enough you will begin to shake and feel the burn.

Test your strength with a friend by seeing who can hold a wall-sit the longest. Wall-sits are a simple hold against a wall or door with your legs bent at 90 degrees. While it looks simple, wall-sits will set your legs on fire.

Similar to the wall-sit is the plank. Depending on your preference you can do this one on a push up position (hands flat on the ground and under your shoulders) or on your elbows (with your forearms resting on the ground). The goal is to keep your core tight and back as flat as possible, do not let your behind sink towards the ground or rise upward.

Another hold is getting into a push up position, then bend your arms so you’re half halfway between the full arm extension and the floor. With your arms at about 45 degrees, you will feel your chest, shoulders, and arms working hard. Make sure you don’t cheat by arching your back and keep everything tight and flat, similar to the plank.

However, Be Cautious with Competition

Do not rely on competing with others to measure your overall performance and self-worth. Too many athletes use their win-loss record as a measure of how good of an athlete they are. They get wrapped up in the statistics. In doing so, they lose sight of the process of improvement and the whole thing becomes less fun.

There are amazing athletes who are on teams that have losing records. Just because the team as whole isn’t doing well does not mean that the athlete isn’t talented. Do not equate your worth to the outcome of a competition. The win or loss of competition is not 100% within your control. You cannot control what the opponent does (in games you cannot control the weather, the referee, the field, the crowd) therefore you only have minimal influence on the outcome.

Focus on what you can control by competing against yourself.

Summing It Up

You don’t have to feel stuck in a boring workout routine. If you find that your workouts have lost their spark, change it up by involving the randomness of a deck of cards. Do the deck challenge for seven days in a row and see how much stronger you feel on the other side.

Sprinkle in more variety, you don’t have to do the same eight movements every week. Try some new styles of working out, involve yoga, Zumba, and bike riding. Create some at home challenges by squatting while holding the family pet. Have fun and get creative with what you already have in your home.

Bring in some competition. Challenge your friends online to beat your time for the workout you created. See who can hold a wall-sit the longest in your house. Race someone across the yard and back.

Seek out your best competition by competing with yourself. Challenge yourself each day to do one more rep than yesterday. Go a little bit harder than last week. The best way to see and feel improvement is by competing against yourself.

Thanks for reading! I am a Certified Mental Performance Coach, get strategies and tools straight to your inbox.