Moving well (regularly, intentionally and mindfully) is a key factor in living a healthy, happy life that doesn’t require high-tech equipment and gym memberships to carry out. You can give your body the physical activity it needs (and deserves) from the comfort of your own home, with equipment you have lying around the house or using your bodyweight.
This blog covers 10 ways you can move well at home, with little or no equipment.
- Skipping
Equipment required: skipping rope
Skipping is a vertical jumping movement that develops coordination and timing, and introduces you to hopping, low-level jumping and landing.
There are many ways you can skip—forward and backwards over a set distance, for height (moving as far as you can vertically on each skip), and for length (moving as far as you can horizontally on each skip).
For a successful skipping experience, make sure you do the following:
- Perform with rhythm
- Maintain a neutral spine
- Have short ground contact time with loose ankles
- Swing opposite arms and legs together
- Lunging
Equipment required: none
Lunging is simply having one leg positioned forward with its knee bent and foot flat on the ground, while the other leg is positioned behind. All you need for this movement is some open space and pre-stretched legs.
Lunging helps you develop your ability to move your centre of gravity with control, as well as correcting muscle recruitment for more dynamic movement such as running and sprinting.
Here are three types of lunges we use in our program:
- Walking lunge. Over a set distance, take large controlled steps and bend both knees, ensuring the back knee is almost touching the ground.
- Lunge ‘n’ scoop. As above but, with each step, make large scooping motions with both arms. Coordinate the arms passing near the ground with the time that the back knee is at its lowest point. Use the arms to create lift out of the lunge.
- Lunge and rotate. As for the walking lunge, but with each step rotate the torso towards the front leg. Rotate as far as possible and hold.
To ensure you reap the most benefits from your lunging, move slowly and with control, maintain a neutral spine, direct your hips to the front, keep your head as still as possible, and have your front knee centred over your foot.
- Running
Equipment required: Cones (optional)
Running helps develop the fundamental locomotor skill (moving from one place to another) and is the precursor to sprinting. It also has many health benefits such as building strong bones, strengthening muscles and improving cardiovascular fitness.
The following activities develop and coordinate specific components of the running and sprinting action:
- Jogging forward and backward over a set distance.
- Jogging forward, backward and lateral. Mark out 2 lines of 10 m to make a large letter “L” and follow accordingly.
- Bow-tie agility drill. Use 4 cones to make a 3-metre square then run diagonally forward, laterally across, diagonally backwards and laterally across.
When running, make sure to perform smoothly with rhythm, maintain a neutral spine and fast feet, and keep your head as still as possible.
- Jumping
Equipment required: none
Jumping helps develop your ability to move through the air and land on your feet efficiently and safely. When done regularly, it has many benefits, including: improving strength, muscle tone and bone density in your legs, bettering your posture, balance and coordination, improving your cardiovascular fitness, and clearing your mind.
The key to jumping is to look where you want to jump and imagine the legs are powerful springs, maintain a neutral spine when preparing to jump, and drive your arms in the direction of the jump.
Here are some jumping exercises for you to try:
- Jump up and down with small continuous movements, keeping your weight on the balls of your feet.
- Jump up with a quick spring, raising the knees as high as possible (conduct in sets of 10 repetitions).
- Stand with your feet together and jump laterally, forwards or backwards over a line. Keep weight on the balls of feet.
- Begin in a squat position. Drive out of the squat, rotate 180° or 360° in the air and land into a squat. Rotate in both directions.
- Tree Pose
Equipment Required: None
For something more meditative, give the Tree Pose a go. This pose has a multitude of benefits, such as improving stability in the legs and pelvis, strengthening the bones of the hips and legs, building self confidence and self esteem, and, on a metaphysical level, helping to achieve balance in other aspects of life.
Here’s a step by step guide to doing the pose:
- Stand in a Mountain Pose (feet together and arms by your side, spine long and shoulders relaxed).
- Slowly raise and bend your left leg, taking the heel towards the right groin. The goal is to have the heel as high as possible with toes pointing down the leg. Hold the left ankle with your hand until you are balanced. Push with your foot into the thigh and with your thigh into your foot. Aim to take the left knee out towards the side while keeping the hips facing forward.
- Once established, take the hands to prayer position in front and then to overhead, before separating hands with palms facing forward.
- Strive to make the distance between your hands and the standing foot as long as possible. Come out of the pose slowly and in control.
- Repeat on the other side.
- Gladiators
Equipment required: hula hoop or ball
Grab a partner for this one and get ready to improve your balance, agility, awareness, persistence and resilience.
Instructions:
- Place a hula hoop or ball on the ground and face your partner with the item between you.
- Hold onto each other’s forearms and bend your legs for good balance.
- Push and pull against each other to try and get the other person’s foot inside the hoop or to touch the ball. A player gets a point each time they do this.
Click here to watch a video tutorial.
- Everybody’s It
Equipment Required: none
This is a tag game for a group of people, which you can play in the backyard, at the park or even at the beach. Whichever location you choose, the two main goals of this game are to tag as many people as you can and free people to keep them in the game.
Here’s how the game works: Everyone is a tagger. If you get touched, you must squat down. If you touch somebody else, they must squat down. If you touch each other at the same time, you must shake hands before you continue playing. Those who are squatting down can be brought back into the game by having someone leapfrog over them. People shaking hands cannot be tagged.
Everybody’s It has a wide range of benefits, including:
- Honesty and acceptance (Did I get tagged?)
- Patience (How long did I wait to get freed?)
- Compassion (Am I going to free my peers?)
- Control (How am I tagging others?)
- Co-operation (We tagged at the same time, do we shake hands?)
- Resilience (Can I keep running?)
- Blanket Volleyball
Equipment required: two blankets or sheets
This is a simple, fun activity where two teams volley a ball back and forth on blankets.
This activity challenges people to work together and create strategies to get the ball moving (timing is everything). It works on communication skills, gross motor skills, risk taking, spacial awareness, self-regulation and active listening.
- Indoor Rock Climbing
Equipment Required: a handful of socks
This is rock climbing with a twist, where the ground is used instead of the wall.
Scatter socks (or whatever soft items you can find) along the floor to mimic rocks. The aim is to use your feet and hands to climb ‘up’ the wall, while keeping your body nice and low to the ground. This activity strengthens your core, balance and coordination.
Watch this video tutorial for extra guidance on the activity.
- Catching
Equipment required: Tennis ball
Want to improve your hand-eye coordination? Grab a tennis ball and give these activities a go.
- Throw the ball from one hand to the other, creating a rainbow shape, keeping the shape as consistent as you can.
- Drop the ball from one hand and catch with the other. Challenge yourself by catching the ball as close to the ground as you can, without touching the ground. Swap hands and work your non-dominant side.
- Bounce the wall on a hard surface in multiple directions, as per this video.
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to move well at home that are easy, fun, and require minimal setup.
Why not try these activities today and feel the power of movement. Your body (and mind) will thank you for it.