5 simple tips for working out at home

 Looking to burn calories during lockdown? Here are 5 super easy tips to help you out
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1.   Maximise what you are already doing. Use a backpack to increase calorie burn throughout the day. Simply fill up a backpack and wear it while you do your daily physical tasks such as cleaning and cooking. According to the Compendium of Physical Activities you can more than double your calorific output while walking around by carrying 10kg of weight. 

2.   That same backpack can be used as a kettlebell for swings(I can send you a video if you need), or wear it while you are doing squats/lunges and push ups to add resistance. 

3.   Another useful household item for exercise are towels. They can be used to maintain and even build overall strength. Simply stand on a towel, gather up one end and with deadlift form try to pull the towel straight up from underneath your feet. Nothing will move and you can put maximum effort. Perfect for a home setting with limited space. This exercises uses Isometric pulling which is a very old strength building exercise used by strong men like George Hackenschmidt (Previous strongest man in the world and all time wrestling great) and martial artists like Bruce Lee. 

4.   Use water bottles as dumbbells. Yes they may be too light but you can increase the difficulty with some minor adjustments. Take the bicep curl. Simply move the elbows slightly in front of you. Now the biceps have to work harder to perform a repetition. Most people can get a solid bicep workout with a 5L bottle of water. 

5.   Bed sheets. This is a simple one. You can replicate a TRx suspension trainer easily by tying a knot in a bedsheet and closing that knot in the top of a door. You can then hand from the bedsheet to do Pull ups, lean back while holding it to do rows and use it for stability and assistance to squat or pistol squat. Almost any suspension trainer exercise can be emulated using a bedsheet shaving you £££ and no waiting for home delivery.