Any activity that gets your heart rate to about 50 to 75 percent of your maximum heart rate can be classified as a cardio exercise. So pick any exercise you love and get that heart racing. 

There are days when, due to one reason or another, we have to skip gym. We just aren’t able to fit it into our schedule, no matter how much we try. There are plenty of home exercises that you can do when you find yourself with a tiny slot of spare time. This way you don’t have to feel guilty about missing gym and you’re still burning those calories. Here are a few great home exercises you can do to keep yourself in good shape.

Sachin Pradhan is a gym instructor at Platinum fitness center and has been a fitness instructor for 11 years. He advises to always stretch and warm up before starting your exercises. If you are a beginner, start easy with eight to 10 reps of each exercise in two to five sets. As you progress, you can increase the reps and sets.

Leg/calf

When doing leg and calf exercises, be careful and try to have a professional teach you how to do these exercises correctly or else you could end up having knee and back problems. 

Squats

Squats help to build your leg muscles including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves, but they also promote body-wide muscle building. When done correctly, squats can help build both upper and lower body strength. 

Stand with your feet slightly wider than your hips. Your toes should be pointed slightly outward. Look straight ahead and pick a spot on the wall in front of you. You’ll want to look at this spot the entire time you squat, not looking down at the floor or up at the ceiling. Put your arms straight out in front of you, parallel to the ground. Keep your spine in a neutral position. Make sure the weight of your body is on the heels and the balls of your feet and keep your body tight the entire time.  

Push your hips backwards as you begin to bend your knees. It’s important that you start with your hips back, and not by bending your knees. Keep your back straight, your spine neutral, your chest and shoulders up, and keep looking straight ahead at that spot on the wall. Squat down until your hip joint is lower than your knees into a parallel squat. Come up slowly and repeat.

Lunges

Lunges are an easy and efficient exercise to help build strength in your quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves, and core. The proper way to do this effective exercise is to keep your upper body straight, with your shoulders back and relaxed and your chin up. It always helps to pick a point to stare at in front of you so you don’t keep looking down and don’t forget to keep your core engaged the entire time.

Step forward with one leg, lowering your hips until both knees are bent at about a 90-degree angle. Make sure your front knee is directly above your ankle, not pushed out too far, and make sure your other knee doesn’t touch the floor. Keep the weight on your heels as you push back up to the starting position and repeat. Try doing backward lunges if you can as they are more challenging. 

Core workout

You need to do exercises that target your core, upper and lower abs, your sides and your lower back. Sit ups are a great core workout. Lying flat on your back and raising both your feet together and making a 90 degree angle with your core and legs target your lower abs and is a great way to reduce the belly fat. Having strong core muscles will help you out in many tasks that you regularly perform.

Cardio

What people refer to when saying they “do cardio” are endurance exercises that strengthen the circulatory system which is made up of the heart and the blood vessels in your body. Exercises that are done for a long stretch of time make the heart beat faster and pump more blood through your system which in turn carries nutrients and oxygen to every cell in your body. Any activity that gets your heart rate to about 50 to 75 percent of your maximum heart rate can be classified as a cardio exercise. So pick any exercise you love, aerobics or zumba and get that heart racing. Put on some workout videos at home and dance away. Alternatively, you can also try brisk walking. 

Push ups

A push-up is a total-body functional movement that is great for increasing strength and has the added benefit of engaging the core and lower body.

Start by getting into the high plank position, place your hands firmly on the ground, directly under your shoulders. Ground your toes into the floor to stabilize your lower half. Tighten your core, engage your glutes and hamstrings, and flatten your back so your entire body is neutral and straight. Begin to lower your body, keeping your back flat and eyes focused about three feet in front of you to keep a neutral neck, until your chest grazes the floor. Don’t let your butt dip or stick out at any point during the move; your body should remain in a straight line from head to toe. Draw shoulder blades back and down, keeping elbows tucked close to your body. Keeping your core engaged, exhale as you push back to the starting position and repeat. 

 
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