4 MUST-HAVE Items to Maximise Your Home Workout

Struggling to get the job done with your home workout ? Is there anything as demoralising as seeing that hard-earned arm girth slowly whittling away without your regular gym routine? All those post-leg-day DOMS and for what? So you could be back to walking on matchsticks after months of no heavy squats and deadlifts?

OK, so this might be a bit dramatic. By now you’ve probably worked out a home workout regime that is “good enough” to give you a bit of a pump and make you feel a little less skeletal. With that said, why not try and push the envelope a bit to get more out of your home setup. After all, who knows when gyms will open back up again (or lock back down again) depending on where you are.

Of course, we all know the main problem with our home gyms – we don’t have enough heavy stuff to lift. Mechanical tension is the key driver of muscle size, but you can still create a heap of tension if you’re savvy with the equipment you do have. Below is some basic gear that most people have and a few suggestions for how it can be used to maximize mechanical tension in your home workout:

Power Bands

loop ‘em, link ‘em, tie ‘em, double ‘em up. Do whatever you need to do so that you’re exerting yourself when you do band movements like rows, presses, pulldowns, squats, hinges, etc. Aim to make the movement difficult enough that doing fewer than 15 reps is still a solid 7/10 effort.

The challenge with bands is that when looped too much your range of motion can become short, as the tension gets too high too quickly. Use this to your advantage – for decades bodybuilders have built muscle with high tension partial reps. You can even get creative by super-setting two sets of different partial ranges in the same movement e.g. 10 banded rows (outer range) + 10 banded rows (inner range).

Dumbbells

Unlike bands, dumbbells are perfect for challenging ranges of motion. Again, work to this advantage. Sets of dumbbell bench presses or flys with a 10-15s pause at the fully stretched position of the pecs will leave you in no doubt that you’ve put your muscles through the wringer.

Side note, sometimes one dumbbell is better than two. Overhead presses and rows with one provide a substantial challenge to the core postural muscles usually without any diminution in the load imposed on the prime movers. This is a win-win.

Kettlebells

Kettlebells are generally very friendly on the shoulders, so these are a great way to load up on overhead movements. Thinking a bit more out-of-the-box, use the unique shape to hook your foot into for weighted pull-ups. This also works for modified leg extensions. Put a foam roller under the thigh and hang the kettlebell on your foot. A few slow reps of leg extensions will give you the quad burn you remember from your gym days.

Bonus tip, loop a towel through the kettlebell on your rows and deadlifts to light up your grip and build forearm size.

Weight vest

The Weight Vest is your best friend. Keep it on for as long as you can handle as it will augment the tension in any closed kinetic chain movements you do. Renowned physiologist Carmelo Bosco performed a lot of studies on “hypergravity” (his participants even wore the vests throughout the whole day) and found plenty of improvements in athletic performance measures. While I’m not suggesting you wear it all day, it should definitely be part of your home gym arsenal, if it isn’t already.

Sets x reps

If you can’t go super heavy on a movement, the next best thing for building size is to go to near-fatigue. Select a rep-range on each movement that will satisfy this and perform for 3-4 sets.

A few nice “hypertrophy protocols” you might also want to experiment with your home workout include:

(i) Timed sets – continuous reps for 45s-1min.

(ii) Mechanical drop sets – instead of dropping weight, alter the movement slightly to make it easier as you perform your set, e.g. bottoms-up kettlebell press, kettlebell press, kettlebell push-press.

(iii) Escalating density training – pick 2-3 movements (e.g. push ups, kettlebell rows, band pulldowns), set a timer for 5-10 mins, alternate sets of 5 of each exercise, get in as many sets of 5 as you can in the allotted time.

(iv) Countdown sets – 4-6 rep clusters with an isometric hold at the bottom of each rep cluster. E.g. a 5 rep countdown set of squats would go; 5 reps, 5s isometric hold at the bottom, 4 reps, 4s isometric hold, etc. This would result in a set of 15 reps with also a total of 15s held at the most challenging position – ouch!

Sample week

Monday – Lower body push

A1. Band resisted squats 4x10

B1. Band assisted sissy squats 4x12

C1. Weight vest + dumbbell step-through lunges 3x10 e/s

D1. Kettlebell leg extensions 3x8 e/s

D2. Standing kettlebell psoas lift 3x6 e/s

E1. Band assisted calf raises to big toe 4x45s timed sets

Tuesday – Upper body pull

A1. Weighted pull ups 4 x max reps

B1. Dumbbell pullover 3 x 5-rep countdown sets

C1. Towel kettlebell row 4x10

C2. Band face pulls 4x8

D1. Single arm band pulldowns 3x10 e/s

D2. Zottman curls 3x12

Thursday – Lower body pull

A1. Banded kettlebell deadlift 4x12

B1. Weight plate overhead good morning OR plate at chest good morning 4x(10+10)

C1. Weighted single leg hip thrusts 4x15 e/s

D1. Kneeling band hip extension holds 5x30s

E1. Band assisted Nordics 3x6

Friday – Upper body push

A1. Single arm dumbbell overhead press 4x12 e/s

B1. Dumbbell flys 3x10

C1. Band chest press partials 3x10

C2. Weight vest tricep dips 3x10

D1. 10 min escalating density training – push ups, dumbbell front raises, kettlebell French press

Saturday – Core

A1. Band resisted elbow-to-knee sit-ups 3x10 e/s

A2. Banded rotations 3x12 e/s

B1. Banded Pallof press 4x8 e/s

B2. Hollow rocks 4x15

B3. Plate sit-ups 4x10

C1. Kettlebell suitcase carry 3 x to fatigue e/s