Overview

Every one of us certainly dreams to have a well-shaped muscular body with the lowest possible fat percentage, especially when it comes to shaping our belly. One way is to hit the gym and perform enormous anaerobic and core exercises under the guidance of your fitness coach. The second way is to put on your shoes and start running/jogging for a significant amount of time on a daily basis. And if you don't have enough time for that, the final option which is possible at your home comfort without much professional guidance is to get involved in the Ab-roller workout program. Let's see how. 

Introduction to the  Ab-roller Wheel

The Ab-roller is simple and lightweight rolling-pair equipment that is inexpensive, portable, and allows you to get more out of your regular ab workouts like crunches and others. It provides you an ability to train your entire core (abs, obliques, glutes, lower back muscles, and shoulders ) using your body weight and can be done at home comfort or anywhere. 

Image: Source

It encourages the sliding movement of the upper body while the knees or toes are kept stationary with the rolling wheel at the center of it.  The diameter is 37 cm with double wheel adjustment which provides enough balance while practicing the to and fro motion. 

While working out to torch core fats it is equally important to precisely monitor our everyday diet with more calorie burning and lesser consumption. This is the only way to burn the stored fat in the waist effectively faster.  

Ab-roller is one of the best exercises for developing core strength with anti-extension & anti-rotation moves that strengthen the lower spine, a necessary component of core strength and stability. A good ab-roller workout also eliminates back pains and gradually improve flexibility with better body balance and much more.

Get your First Ab-roller 

How to Perform the Ab-roller

Step 2: Roll forward and contract the core.

Start rolling slowly your hands, arms, and torso forward with knees stationary until your face is about to touch the ground. Do not exhale now as this is the power rep that will bring your core to high tension. 

Do not bend your elbows as your arms must be straight during the entire exercise. Hold your form tight and keep your head down, facing forward.

Step 3: Return to the Rest position.

After holding for a few seconds, roll the ab roller back toward your knees to lift up the core and exhale. Make sure that you are using your abs and not your legs to pull yourself back. 

Now, this is necessary to understand that when you return to the rest position during performing the reps, you do not completely come back but you stop at a point where the hips and thighs don't exceed an imaginary perpendicular line drawn by the knees. Look at the image provided for a better idea.   

Considerations

1. Do not push with your arms instead of using your abs during reps, or if you use body momentum to rock forward, you will decrease the effectiveness of the exercise.

2. While returning to the original position, do not let your hips cross the imaginary perpendicular line with respect to the floor drawn by the knees.  

3. Do not eat or drink anything for at least 2 hours prior to the workout except pre-workout diet (1 hour before the exercise). 

4. Beginners can start with 10 reps in a single set for the first week. Experts have mentioned that even a short 10-minute workout performed at moderate to high intensity can make a huge difference in the health and fitness level of beginners as well as professional athletes.

Start your Push-up and save other workouts for later. 

What is HIIT?

HIIT vs Cardio

The Afterburn Effect (EPOC)

How to Switch to HIIT

Plan your own HIIT 

1. Choose your exercises and Pick your total timing. 

3. Session time will decide the activity time.

 4. Long Intervals to recover.

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When it comes to Cardiovascular (or Aerobic) Exercises, the job is to involve more in an activity with a high rate of repetitions which will increase our heartbeat which helps in faster blood circulation providing more oxygen to the body.

The higher rate of oxygen promotes good cellular respiration and increases your metabolic rate which apart from keeping the heart and lungs healthy, will also help your skin glow and but unwanted fat more effectively. 

Research says that Cardiovascular exercises help older adults to keep a good memory of things comparing to those individuals who do not exercise regularly.

There are a number of cardio activities, majorly running, jogging, swimming, cycling, etc. to do, however, the ongoing pandemic outside is a major reason for me to cover this article with the exercises that are effective and restricted to our home comfort.

Also if you are a beginner, looking for losing some weight, or a pro athlete who is missing his outdoor activities right now, it times to lace up your shoes and get into action.

Important Tips for Cardio Workout

• Fresh Oxygen is the primary fuel to our body's each and every part for better performance. So it is important to pick up a place which is open to the outdoor surroundings. For example your backyard, balcony, terrace, etc. 
• Prefer wearing light weight sport shoes which give you a good balance.
• Keep breathing from your nose during the exercise, keeping your mouth closed for as long as you are good to go. 
• Avoid tracking your cardio exercises with a clock and manage to sync it with some energetic songs, 2 to 4 minutes of duration for each set. Good music is a key component for cardio exercises to keep the enthusiasm high. 
• Keep a bottle full of water next to you to keep hydrated every 5 minutes for high-intensity exercises and 10 minutes for medium intensity exercises.

Hereby listed 7 indoor exercises that you can easily do at your home without too much of movements involved.

Note: This site does not own any of the attached videos and they do belong to their owners on youtube.

1. Jumping Jacks (side-straddle hop)

It is one of the most common aerobic exercises which is also a good warm-up for your body, therefore a good choice to start with, and is a total body workout including legs, belly, shoulder, etc. That's why it is also a good resistance exercise where your muscles are also getting worked out. 

It helps in reducing belly fat fast with the rate of burning 20 calories for 100 repetitions which will take around 2 minutes. For beginners, doing it in 3 sets of 100 reps each will burn a total of 60 calories. 

2. Staircase Running 

It is one of the major intense cardio workouts which work your leg muscles and joints. It burns many more calories than running in a sane time period because our body works against gravity, more like climbing a hill. It burns the overall fat of your body at a very high rate depending on your running speed. 

It can also be practiced with a 1-feet high box-like structure(which can bear your weight) by quick up and down an alternate motion by both your legs. 

For Beginners, 2 sets with each of 2 minutes non-stop running with a 1-minute break in between.

3. Running in Place

4. Burpees

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1. BICYCLE ABDOMINAL CRUNCHES: 

3. PLANK :

4.  नौकासन (NAUKASANA) / BOAT POSE : 

• Improve the function of digestion.
• Also, maintain the blood sugar level.

5. FOOT SWITCHING MOUNTAIN CLIMBING : 

6. RUSSIAN TWIST : 

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The 'new age' Great Depression?

Today in 2020 the covid-19 pandemic has unleashed an economic tornado which has now paralyzed the global economy to an extent that comparisons have been drawn with the 1930's Great Depression and also the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. In India, the recession has boosted the unemployment rate by up to 23.5 percent in May 2020 (source) due to a nationwide lockdown causing millions to struggle for basic needs. People with jobs are practicing remote mediums of work whereas others hitting the Internet to cope up with their social lives and financial needs. The higher unemployment rate causing the effects of depression among the youth as well as millions of needy people. Over 300 cases of suicide have been reported in India till May 2020 due to distress triggered by the nationwide lockdown where the majority of the people were those who had lost their jobs during the pandemic.

Everyday life with Agoraphobia?

In a time of crisis, people need hope and strength to keep moving with the situation. It is equally important to pay attention to our health when all fitness institutions and gyms are down. They aren't any longer a part of our routine including all other outdoor sports which are now banned, hence the world is practicing social distancing. The lockdown hence, imposing a significant challenge for all of us to remain physically as well as mentally active while practicing isolation. Taking out time for a fitness job is never easy, but home training could definitely provide the answer.

Stationary behavior and low levels of physical activity can lead to an unfit body and also have an alarming amount of negative effects on our mental health which may result to depression and tons of anxiety. When things aren't going as we expected them to be because of this pandemic, it is high time we must take care of our mental health to fight this situation together. All the Physique/Gym lovers who are now restricted to their homes, must not give up on their goals now. 

Why 'Home training' during Isolation?

• Improves immunity ( Build a better yourself to fight with the deadly new virus)
• Improve self-esteem, Metabolism
• Ward off anxiety and feelings of depression. Emotional Wellbeing.
• When we exercise, our body releases chemicals called endorphin and dopamine, which triggers positive thoughts
• Improves diet, focus, and sleep
• Home Convenience and Inexpensive

If training at home, can we get the same level of quality in terms of output and benefits as we get from a gym?

 Definitely 'yes'. Unlike a competitive exam where you may fail in-spite of working tremendously for months, here every bit of effort counts and will NOT go in vain if are well determined. Of course, there isn't going to be a greater range of equipment to use while working out at home, however, there are pro levels of exercises using your body-weight alone, which when done with proper determination, will ask you to put your precious time and effort from the comfort of your home, can surely be much effective like a gym workout.

Our body’s upper, lower, and core areas : 

Upper Body:

Push-ups :

For Beginners : 3 sets. (15 to 30 reps.) // Break time: 1-2 minutes in between. Best for developing chest muscles.

Step 1 –Hold your body-weight on your arms, palms slightly wide than shoulder-width along with straight body posture

Step 2 –Slowly bend the elbow. Go down until your chest is about to touch the ground. Avoid bending the body by the hips. Thighs and Knees will also go down.

Step 3 – Brace the core and push your chest up from the floor with your arms strength. Do not push yourself up to straight elbows and try resting on the arms as it may put pressure in the elbow joints.

Body-weight triceps bench dips :  

For Beginners : 3 sets. (10 to 30 reps.) // Break time: 1-2 minutes in between. Best for developing triceps muscles.

Step 1: Sit on the edge of a bench or your bed and take a fine grip the edge next to your hips. Look ahead, bend your legs and brace your arms to lift your hips. The body weight will now rely on your arms applying tension to tricep muscles.

Step 2: Apply body-weight onto your palms while going down and lifting back up and avoid letting your hips touch the bench or the ground.

Step 3: Bend your elbows not more than 90 degrees and slowly push yourself back up to the start position and repeat.

 

Superman: 

For Beginners : 3 sets. (5 to 10 reps) // Break time: 30 seconds in between. Best for developing core muscles. (abdominal)

 
Step 1: Lie down on a yoga mattress or something similar, facing down with your arms stretched above your head (like Superman). This is the Relax Position.
Step 2: Raise both the arms and legs about 7 to 8 inches above the ground and hold the position for a few seconds and relax.

Pike Push Up: 

Step 1: Hold the ground taking a fine grip from your palms and toes in a pushup from where the body will bend by the hips. 

Step 2: Now keep your arms and legs straight in an upside-down V position and slowly bend your elbows until your face is about to touch the ground. Take a quick pause and then slowly push yourself back up until your arms are straight. Repeat with Step 1. 

Core: 

Plank: 

For Beginners : 3 sets. (10 to 20 seconds "Hold position") // Break time: 30 seconds in between. Best for developing core muscles. (abdominal)

Step 1: Position your elbows straight beneath the shoulders keeping a 90-degree angle with the forearms as shown in the picture.

Step 2: Take a deep breath and hold it. Hold the position keeping the body straight body line from head to toe, for at least 30 seconds, and then relax. Repeat after 30 seconds break.

Crunches: 

For Beginners : 3 sets. (15 to 25 reps ) // Break time: 30 seconds to 1 minute in between. Best for developing '6 packs' core muscles. (abdominal)

Step 1: Lie down on your back and fix your feet tight on the ground bending your knees up to 45 degrees.

Step 2: Place your arms across your head but don't touch your body with hands; avoiding additional support. Inhale and hold. Then, contract to your abs "trying to touch your navel by your nose."

Step 3: Exhale after getting back to the initial(rest) position and repeat the process.

Lower Body :

Bodyweight Sumo Squats: 

For Beginners : 3 sets. (15 to 30 reps ) // Break time: 30 seconds in between. Best for developing thigh muscles. (Legs)

Step 1: Stand tight on your feet wider than hip-width apart with a 45 degree of relative angle and slowly bend the knees up to 90 degrees pretending like sitting on your chair, take a pause.

Step 2: Avoid falling behind by adjusting your hands, balance your upper body on your hips by keeping the back straight, and bracing your thigh muscles.

The Walking Lunge: 

For Beginners : 3 sets. (12 to 16 reps ) // Break time: Not more than 30 seconds. Best for developing thigh muscles. (Legs)

Step 1: Find a long clear walking space. Stand tall on your feet which has to be hip-width apart, Keep your backbone straight and relaxed when your core and glutes are to engage.