Hula Hooping, Jump Roping & 4 Other Fun, Effective Workouts to Try From Home
This content is brought to you in partnership with OrthoCarolina, one of the nation's leading orthopedic practices with offices across the Southeast.
Raise your hand if after 7 months of a global pandemic, you are BORED of your fitness routine.
...I'll assume everyone raised their hands.
We've been in a bit of an exercise rut here at Work For Your Beer. We aren't able to go to our usual brewery workouts, which has been a bummer — but we've been letting that bummer lead us not to exercise at all, which is not a great solution!
So, we reached out to Warren Green at OrthoCarolina to find out if there were any fun at-home workouts that could help us get out of our exercise rut and back into our usual fit, balanced lifestyle.
He offered us some awesome ideas for activities that would motivate us to get moving in a new way, while safe at home!
Hula Hooping
Whether you use a weighted hula hoop or a regular hula hoop, this fun activity from your childhood can actually help you meet your exercise goals!
Green noted that hula hooping is great for hip and core conditioning, as well as improving your balance.
And if you think that's a load of "hoopla," think again! The Mayo Clinic actually reported that on average, women can burn about 165 calories from 30 minutes of hula hooping, while men can burn about 200 calories for the same amount of time.
Try It Free: 5-Minute Energy Blast Hula Hoop Workout
Jump Roping
No one said you had to do your old recess rhymes while jump roping (although man, does that sound fun! Miss Mary Mack, anyone?), but if you've got a jump rope at home, you've got the potential for an excellent aerobic activity at your fingertips.
Green shared that jump roping is a great workout for improving your coordination, cardiovascular health, and ankle strength and stability.
As WebMD put it: "What piece of exercise equipment sells for under $20, fits into a briefcase, can be used by the whole family, and improves cardiovascular fitness while toning muscle at the same time? And using it for just 15-20 minutes will burn off the calories from a candy bar? The answer: a jump rope."
In that same article, WebMD noted that you'd have to run an eight-minute mile to work off more calories running than you would jumping rope.
Try It Free: 10-Minute Jump Rope Workout
Dancing
A TIME article actually argued that "dancing is the best thing you can do for your body."
The author of this article, Markham Heid, wrote that according to research done at the University of Brighton in the UK, you can expect burn more than 300 calories every half hour when dancing energetically! Although Heid did add in that article, "Even relatively tame forms of dance burn about the same number of calories as cycling."
Try It Free: 30-Minute All-Levels Cardio Dance Workout
Kickboxing
Honestly, does anything sound more enticing than taking out your 2020 frustrations by kicking the crap out of a bag right now?
Women's Health reported that "kickboxing improved upper-body and aerobic power, anaerobic fitness, flexibility, speed, and agility. In other words, you hit every aspect of physical training."
The same article goes on to cite that kickboxing offers a full-body burn, in addition to being a major stress-reliever.
Try It Free: 30-Minute No-Equipment Cardio Kickboxing Workout
Resistance Band Training
Green explained that resistance bands can be particularly great for upper and lower body strengthening.
A 2020 post from SELF also noted that "you can pretty much work every muscle group with resistance bands" and that "resistance bands challenge your muscles differently than free weights," citing that they make the end of a fitness move feel a lot harder than free weights do.
Try It Free: 30-Minute Full-Body Resistance Band Workout
Slider Training
According to Green, using exercise sliders during your training routine can be great for your core and balance as a low-impact workout.
Once again, SELF backed up Green's claim, writing, "Sliders will drastically increase your balance and core strength over time if used correctly. They add an element of instability that requires your core to work harder to keep you balanced so you can perform the exercises properly (without uncontrollably sliding all over the place)."
Try It Free: 13-Minute Full-Body Workout Using Exercise Sliders
Tabata
Then you've got Tabata workouts — which are different from general HIIT workouts.
"A short and sweet interval is known as a Tabata Interval," Green explained. "The Tabata Interval is 4 minutes total time, with 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. Every 4 minutes is considered 1 Tabata."
Green recommended choosing 3-4 different exercises to work through, then completing 1 Tabata round of each exercise.
"This is a great way to get a 15-20 minute exercise session that is very efficient and effective," he added.
Try It Free: 12-Minute Full-Body Tabata Workout
Moral of the story: You don't need to hit the gym or head to a brewery fitness class to get a good workout in!
"During the last six months many people have been thrown off of their exercise routine due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. While gyms are definitely great places to frequent to get our exercise, they are not the only choice," Green said. "There are many fun activities at home to create effective workouts. Workouts can include bodyweight movements as well as utilizing different pieces of equipment to keep things fun with some variety."
Learn more about making healthy choices from the experts at OrthoCarolina
Whether you've recently experienced an injury, need help with recovery after tough workouts, or are simply experiencing chronic pain and need help managing it, OrthoCarolina can help. Make an appointment at a location near you to start getting the treatment you need.
Image Credit: Wanderlust