The gyms are closed and you are scrambling around, unable to meet your fitness goals as your workout routine has been turned onto its head. You aren’t alone. The coronavirus pandemic has led to many non-essential services and companies closing their doors and the gyms are included. The bad news is that you will have to get creative, but the good news is that we have a couple of ideas for you to get working out in your home, with what you already probably have! Let’s get cracking!

Duffle Bag

Your duffle bag won’t be in business for some time since you can’t go traveling anywhere, but that shouldn’t mean it can’t be repurposed! You guessed it – we have an idea to use your duffle bag for a gym workout! Simply pack up the bag with enough items to get it as heavy as you like, then use it for a variety of exercises. You could perform bicep curls, squats, shoulder presses, plank pull-throughs and reverse lunges using your loaded duffle bag!

Milk Jugs

Your empty gallon milk jug could be the answer to doing bent-over rows, squats, shoulder presses, and bicep curls, plus many more exercises. All you need to do is give them a rinse and fill them with water! If you can save two empty gallon containers, you can do even more with it. Don’t forget about the massive laundry detergent bottles that can be used in much the same way. If they are too heavy when filled, just fill them less until they are a comfortable weight for you to exercise with.

A Chair

You may have always looked at your chair as a piece of furniture for resting on, but it can make you break out into quite a sweat if you know how to use it creatively! Use a dining room chair or any old chair as a prop for performing inclined push-ups, declined push-ups, sit-to-stand squats, tricep dips, and step-ups, to name a few. Your arms will be burning from this workout – you may just keep it going even after the gyms open up again!

A Wall

If you have a home, you have a wall. And one wall is all you need to perform a range of muscle-building workouts. Think of wall squats, wall handstands, wall sits and wall push-ups. To stretch out your tired legs, have them flush against the wall to pull your hamstrings out and get them loosened up after your workout!

Paper Plates

If you’re looking for something more challenging from your bodyweight exercises, look no further for assistance than from the humble paper plate! Most of us have a handy stock of paper plates lying in our store cupboards and you can grab two of them to help make you push-ups and planks more challenging. Placing paper plates beneath either your hands or your feet make them act as sliders on your floor, increasing the core workout during your regular push up or plank. Maintaining your balance while performing a bodyweight exercise really makes your core solid! These will change how you look at paper plates, for sure!

Rolling Pin

In fact, even a baseball bat will do. This simple household item can come in handy if you can’t get your hands on foam rollers. We fitness fanatics sure do know all about the benefits of foam rolling and how you can enjoy improved range of motion and more flexibility! Well, you can ease your muscle aches and prevent injuries right in the comfort of your home if you have a rolling pin, baseball bat or even a PVC pipe or something similar. Roll out your calves and use it any way you would use a handheld stick roller.

Nobody would have thought four months ago that we would be resorting to household items and a wild imagination to maintain our fitness routine! However, desperate times call for desperate measures. You might want to have your curtains closed when you perform these exercises as we imagine your neighbors would find your workout rather funny! Jokes aside, you may enjoy using your household items to break a sweat – don’t be surprised if you continue some of these exercises even after the lockdowns are lifted!