My Top 10 Favourite Home Exercises

Hello and welcome back again to the ThreeSpires Physiotherapy blog where we take a look at all things physiotherapy related. As a physiotherapist visiting patients at home I am always giving out exercises for people to do at home or at work that are easy and convenient to do but also effective in terms of helping get them stronger, fitter and have better balance. So, I thought that it might be a good idea in this physiotherapy blog to have a look at my top 10 exercises to do at home. If you haven’t done already I would highly recommend reading my previous 2 blogs about balance and core exercises that you can do at home as an introduction to some of the exercises that will be covered.

Why Exercise at Home?

Before we go into the actual exercises I think a reasonable topic to cover first is why you might want to exercise at home rather than go to the gym or take up a sport. Well there are a few reasons for this:

1. Convenience: lets face it, if it is not convenient and easy to do, most people will not bother doing exercises. Doing exercises at home is an easy way to make things convenient and accessible, you just need an area of your house and minimal equipment. Going to a gym or getting out to a yoga class somewhere can be great and often as a physio I am recommending these things to my patients but if you are very busy, finish late at work or just find getting out of the house hard then getting to these things can be difficult and it just isn’t likely to happen. Some of my patients work way from home regularly and are staying in different parts of the country in hotels and often don’t have access to a gym, for these people having an exercise programme that they can do in the hotel is hugely convenient. As I often say to my patients the best exercises are the ones you are actually going to do.

 

2. Time: sometimes, you just won’t have very much time in a particular day or week and taking the time out to get to the gym and back or travel to a pilates class just isn’t possible. Having a home exercise program that you can do in a short hit solves that problem. You don’t need to drive 20 minutes to a gym, you just go to the living room, put down a yoga mat and begin. This means that you then are less likely to lose the routine of doing exercise when you have a hard week of work or are just generally busy. As most people know, exercise feels easy and good when you are in a routine of doing it regularly but once you stop then it is very hard to get going again.

 

Okay, hopefully I have convinced you that having a home exercise programme can be helpful, now it is time to move on and take a look at my 10 favourite exercises that I get my physiotherapy patients to do.

My Top 10 Favourite Home Exercises:

Choosing only 10 exercises to do at home is a quite a difficult thing, as there are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of potential exercises and variations of these exercises that you could try at home. The ones I have chosen below are designed to be quick, easy to do, require minimal equipment and target each of the key areas of the body and balance systems, they are also very easily modified to match the fitness and strength of the person involved and can be done in most people’s homes.

1. Sit to Stand: I know this sounds simple and many people reading this will be thinking that it is too easy or pointless but just bear with me, as this is pretty much my favourite exercise to give patients to do at home as it is so easy to modify and make either easier or much more difficult. To do this exercise you need to pick a chair or object that is the right height for you. You must be able to stand up and sit down slowly and in control – this means that any point someone could ask you to stop. Now for some people this will mean that you will need to have quite a few cushions under your bum to make this possible. Once you can do 3 sets of 10 of these then you need to lower the height of the chair. To make this exercise harder you can try to do it on one leg. For many of my patients they are surprised at how hard this is to do in control without cheating by slumping down into the chair or using their hands.

 

2. Bridging: this is a great exercise for building up strength in the hamstrings and glutes and working on general pelvic and trunk stability. It can also be easily modified to make it more difficult or easier which for me as a physiotherapist is vital. To do this exercise you need to lie on your back with your legs bent (this can be on the floor or the bed), now with your hands resting on the floor, slowly lift your bum up off the floor as high as you can and hold this position for 1 second and then slowly lower back down. To progress this exercise and make it more difficult begin by crossing your arms across your chest and then eventually try and do it on just one leg at a time.

 

3. Plank: for many people reading this the thought of doing a plank will strike fear into their hearts and they will instinctively say that they just can not do one. Well, hold on and give me a chance as the plank can be modified in a number of ways to make it more achievable and also can be made more difficult. It is a great exercise for building up trunk stability and endurance and is extremely easy to do at home. The only issue you may find is that you can not get up and off the floor easily you may have to skip this one, as the bed really won’t be ideal.

1. Beginner Plank: on all fours on the floor, link your hands together and rest on your forearms. Now slowly edge your arms forward, keeping the weight on your knees and forearms. Go forward as far as you can without feeling that you can not get back to the starting position. Eventually you will get to a very stretched out position from which you should be able to move up into the actual plank.
2. Plank: the photo shows good form during the plank. Try to keep a nice straight back (either ask someone to watch you or have a mirror close by) and your weight evenly distributed along your body. Aim for a 30 second hold.
3. Plank Progressions: There are a multitude of possible ways to make the plank harder but my personal favourite is to just use one leg instead of two.

 

4. Press Ups: this is a great exercise for building up upper body strength at home and one that can be varied to match your current strength levels. Most people will have experience of at some period in their life trying to do a press up, so they generally don’t need much explanation, however the reason I recommend them is because the intensity and difficulty can be varied very easily and they can be easily done in most homes.

1. Beginner Press Up: Try doing a press up from either the kitchen surface or the wall. The further you have your feet back and away from the surface the harder they are. You need to keep your body nice and straight whilst doing them.
2. Intermediate Press Up: Try doing a press up on the steps of the stairs with your feet on the floor at the bottom. The lower the step you use the harder they will be.
3. Full Press Up: Eventually you should get strong enough to attempt to do the full press up from the floor.

 

5. Heel Raises: your calf and general foot strength is a key component of your ability to walk well and your balance. Heel raises done well are a great way to work on your calf strength and your foot control. As with all of the other exercises in this list they can also be easily altered to make them harder or easier and don’t require any equipment, so they can be done easily at home.

1. Two Leg Heel Raises: As it says try to raise yourself up on your toes, do this slowly, taking about a second to get to the top and a second to the bottom. If this feels too hard, use support from an object such as the kitchen surface to reduce the weight you are lifting.
2. Single Leg Heel Raises: only try doing these when you can do 3 sets of 10 double leg heel raises. These are a great way of targeting your individual foot. To do a single heel raise find something to hold onto (this is not a test of your balance) and slowly raise yourself on your one foot as high as you can.

 

6. Lunges: these can really help with working on your hip and pelvic stability whilst also working on your general leg strength. To do a lunge take a big step forward with one leg and put your body in between your two legs. Keep nice and upright and then slowly lower yourself down towards the floor whilst bending your back knee and leg. Only go as far as you can without pain and also you can have some objects such as chairs either side of you to hold onto if needed. Again I really like these because most homes have enough space to do the exercise and you need minimal equipment.

 

7. Single Leg Stand: this is a fantastic exercise for working on your balance whilst at home. Even if you can currently stand on one leg, you will be able to learn a lot by feeling how hard you are finding it and which areas are working very hard. Also you may well have a difference in balance between legs and it will be worth timing your attempts. Generally I would recommend having three attempts on each leg and taking the best result for each leg. If you find this too hard then you can use some support from the kitchen surface and try to reduce the help needed over time. If you find it too easy either try closing your eyes or purchasing a wobble cushion.

 

8. Straight Leg Raise: this a really good home exercise to target your hip muscles and it also works your back muscles and pelvis as well. Simply lie on your back (the bed or the floor will be fine) and whilst keeping your knee straight slowly lift your leg up (to about 45 degrees is enough) and then back down. You may want to keep the opposite leg bent whilst doing this to make it more comfortable for your back. If this is too hard, try keeping your knee bent a little bit and this should make it easier.

 

9. Step up and Down: this home exercise is very simple and can be done most places that have a set of stairs or even a single step. Simply step up and down slowly on the bottom step. This is not a test of your balance and you can hold onto something for support if needed. Try to do it slowly and at a speed that you could stop at any point. You can make it easier by either using more support from your hands or by picking a smaller step.

 

10. Superman: this is a good home core strengthening exercise that actually works most of the body and does not need any equipment. The only difficulty with this one is that it needs to be done on the floor, the bed really won’t be okay. So, if you can’t get up and down from the floor I would skip this one. To do this exercise, get onto the floor on all fours and slowly extend and stretch out your opposite hand and leg until you look something like superman!! Now for some people this will be too challenging in which case start with just doing one arm at a time. When you feel comfortable with stretching out an arm, try doing one leg at a time whilst keeping your hands on the floor. After a while you should be able to build up the confidence to stretch out your opposite foot and arm.

 

Okay, I hope that you have found this blog about my 10 best home exercises useful and that it has given you some ideas about how you can manage a home exercise programme at home with minimal equipment. The entire routine should take no more than 5 – 10 mins maximum and can be done pretty much anywhere.  Please be careful when doing the exercises and consider starting with the easiest versions first, so as to give your body time to adapt. Also, if you are worried about any aspects of this routine or would like to develop a more comprehensive home exercise programme then please consider getting in touch. We are a home visit physiotherapy service based in Lichfield and serving areas such as Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth, Cannock, Walsall, Rugeley and Burton and we can be easily contacted via: enquiries@threespiresphysiotherapy.co.uk and 0788 428 1623