You decided to set up your own home gym. You have a few basic pieces of exercise equipment like dumbbells, push up handles, an exercise ball and a floor mat. The question is, what are the best home gym exercises that you can be done with the limited amount of equipment that you have?
Not to worry. There are plenty of exercises that you can do to get a total body, metabolism blasting workout. These exercises will not only improve your strength but also build some muscle and help you burn fat.
The following list covers every body part so that nothing is missed.
Arms (Biceps – Triceps – Forearms)
When working out your arms you need to realize that there are three muscles that you can exercise, the forearms, the biceps and the triceps.
Many people work their biceps and skip their triceps and forearms, big mistake, as those muscles are important in helping you do the things of life, like twist the tops off of beer bottles.
The following three exercises will work those three muscle groups…
- Standing Dumbbell Curl
- Tricep Chair Dips
- Seated Dumbbell Wrist Curl
Abs (Upper – Lower – Obliques)
Ab muscles come in three basic flavors, upper abs, lower abs, and obliques (side muscles). To work all three types of ab muscles you have to use three different exercises. Here they are…
- Crunches (on floor or on a stability ball)
- Standing side bends with dumbbells
- Russian Twist with Dumbbells
Back (Upper)
A lot of people recommend doing pull ups to develop their upper back. I agree that pull ups are great for the upper back but the average person doesn’t have a pull up bar or couldn’t do a pull up even if he did, therefore, it’s difficult to gain any benefit from doing them.
Here are a couple of exercises that will help you develop your upper back.
- Bent over Dumbbell Rows
- Bent over Reverse Dumbbell Flies
- Dumbbell Straight-back Straight-leg Dead lifts
Back (Lower)
The lower back is a trouble spot for a lot of people. If you hurt it your life becomes a misery. Ask me how I know that.
You want to be extra careful when you do this exercise. Being careful is always true for lower back exercises. So, my final caution is to start out with light weights and BE CAREFUL.
Chest
Go into a fitness gym and half the people will be working their arms and the other half will be working their chest. Developing a sizable chest is the first thing that bodybuilders shoot for.
Here are a few simple chest developing exercises.
- Pushups with or without handles / elevated or not
- Dumbbell Press on flat bench
- Incline Dumbbell Press
- Dumbbell Flies on flat bench
Legs (Calves – Hamstrings – Quadriceps)
Your leg muscles are your biggest muscles. The stronger you make them the better. The stronger they are the easier it is to walk up a flight of stairs. The stronger they are the better your balance is. So, let’s make them stronger.
3 great leg exercises are…
- Walking Lunges
- Squats with dumbbells
- Toe Raisers (with or without dumbbells, together or alternating)
You will gain three obvious benefits from doing walking lunges.
- Strengthen your hamstrings
- Strengthen your quadriceps
- Improve your balance
Some fitness experts claim that squats is the single best exercise of all. It’s hard to disagree with them.
Here is a bonus leg exercise that I just couldn’t leave out as it are so effective at strengthening your legs, improving your balance and helping out with cardio to boot. It’s called the…
- Bench Step Up (with or without dumbbells)
I use a sturdy chair when I do this exercise. Stand in front of your chair or flat bench and proceed to step up and down.
You can alternate legs by stepping up with your right and then with your left. I prefer stepping up with my right leg five times in succession and then do my left leg the same way and then back to my right leg.
Be careful as this exercise requires balance, and the more tired you get the more careful you need to be.
Shoulders
Developing your shoulder muscles is easy with dumbbells. Sit in a straight-backed chair or on a balance ball and do…
- Seated Dumbbell Presses
The chair forces you to lift with strict form the balance forces you to use more core muscles as you lift.
Another great shoulder exercise is…
- Standing Dumbbell Fly
Stand straight up with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a set of dumbbells together in front of you at approximately stomach level. Slowly raise them up in an arc so the dumbbells are at head level. You will be in the classic stick-em-up position.
Conclusion…
There you have them, 19 of the best home gym exercises that you can do with minimal equipment.
Do these exercises with a high degree of intensity and you’ll start building muscle and creating a fat burning metabolism that will melt the fat off of your body.
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