As I’ve written previously, I dislike gyms with a vengeance. Even before the pandemic hit India in March and gyms, along with everything else, grind to a halt, I worked out at home. I have two pairs of weights at home, one heavy and one light. Plus a couple of resistance bands as well: one light and one medium. Now, it’s amazing how much you can do with just that basic set-up (and a yoga mat, of course)! Add a couple of days of walks or runs, then, frankly, gyms aren’t necessary.
Apart from the designated legs days or arm or chest days, the ones I really enjoy are the full-body HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts. No other forms of workout leave me feeling as energized and happy as these. And they’re perfect for anyone really. The main reason is that you don’t need any weights to do them, since they’re entirely based on using your bodyweight and prioritise mobility.
Over the years, after many rounds of trial and error, I’ve developed a week-long training plan: five days of intense workout, one day of light workout/stretches and one rest day. I keep adding variations to the individual workouts, dipping into YouTube workouts like a magpie. But the overall weekly cycle remains the same. Now, I must stress that for most people, it’s ideal to have a tailor-made training plan from an experienced trainer. However, the following two workouts, each from a master trainer, can be a part of your training regimen as well. Ensure you’re not doing these workouts on an empty stomach and that you have a bottle of water with you to remain hydrated through the workouts. Without further ado, here they are.
20-minute HIIT from The Body Coach
Joe Wicks aka The Body Coach is the UK’s top trending YouTuber of 2020. And no wonder, given how insanely popular his training videos are. Wicks, who became even more popular this year with his daily PE lessons during lockdown, also raised £580,000 for the UK National Health Service (NHS). Now, to the workout. In this 20-minute session, you basically do four combination exercises five times each for 30 seconds each. The exercises themselves are classics like push-ups and mountain climbers. The fun lies in the way that Wicks combines them.
15-minute Full Body workout from Athlean-X
It would be fair to call Athlean-X founder Jeff Cavaliere a fitness mogul. The former physical therapist and assistant strength coach to the US baseball team New York Mets, has a whopping 10 million plus subscribers on YouTube, while his Athlean-X brand has one of the most popular personal training programmes. An almost hilariously earnest man, Cavaliere will draw muscle groups on his body with sketch pens and fiddle around with fake skeletons to show you how to get the most from your workouts. This one is an intense full-body workout that Cavaliere breaks up into three segments: upper body, lower body and core. Depending on your fitness level, you are to do each of these exercises from between 15-25 seconds each. Rest for 30 seconds between each section. Have fun!
