Oh no, you can’t access your gym anymore. The Restricted Movement Order set in place by the new Malaysian government because of the rapid spread of Covid-19 on the 18th of March 2020 doesn’t look to be abating. Stay safe! Stay at home! Be responsible! That’s true. But how do I work out if I can’t go to the gym? I don’t have workout equipment at home, what do I do? Well, what if we tell you that there are quick, easy and effective ways to do a sofa workouts that’s as good as any workout at the gym?
Don’t worry, if you’re trying to think of the best way to get your exercise in without leaving the house, if you’re too lazy to put yourself through some torturous HIIT by watching some fitness instructor shout at you from the TV, then read Fella Design‘s 5 sofa workouts you can do at home!
1. Sofa Crunches
Too lazy to get up off your sofa, lay down on the floor and get down and dirty with some basic crunches? Take Fella Design’s word for it, our sofa workouts will have you doing MORE exercise without having to drag yourself anywhere!
Here’s how to do some sofa crunches: first, get in position at the edge of your sofa. Bring yourself to the edge, raise your thighs and legs, sit upright and support yourself with your hands from behind.
Next, with your legs raised, take a breath, lean back and straighten your legs, strong and straight. After 2 seconds, retract your legs and rest a moment, letting out a breath. This is one rep!
Do 3 sets of 20 reps in each set, with a 1-minute water break between, and you’ll have rippling abdominal muscles in no time! All from the comfort of your own home and sofa!
2. Elevated Push Ups
Instead of pushing up against the floor, fighting your full body weight and the weight of gravity, you can choose instead to do elevated push ups against a sofa. An elevated push up doesn’t make it easier. It activates a slightly different set up muscles. In general, an incline push up, like the one against a sofa we’re suggesting, activates your lower chest and back more.
With everyone staying at home and self-isolating because of Covid-19, you’ll be sitting and lying down a lot, and this could be stressful on some people’s backs. Elevated push ups will strengthen your back and make lounging on sofas all day a little more forgiving.
An elevated push up is just like a regular push up, except that your palms are placed firmly on an elevated surface, like your Fella Design sofa! Do 3 reps of 15 sets each and you’ll have had a solid workout just off your couch!
3. Mountain Climbers
Next, for something a little more intense. In the elevated plank position, with your palms on the sofa, you can do Mountain Climbers, an intensive, cardio routine that activates all of the muscles in your body, increasing your heart rate and the rate of your breathing. You’ll be panting in no time!
Once in the elevated plank position, bring your knees up to your chest one after the other, starting with your left knee. When done properly, you’ll have one foot on the ground at any one time, and one knee withdrawn into your chest. Alternate these, and you could feel like you’re jogging, except you’re activating almost all the muscles in your body!
This should be the most intense part of your sofa workout sesh. 3 sets of Mountain Climbers, as fast as you can go, for 1 minute each, and you’re well on your way to a satisfying workout from the comfort of home!
4. Sit Ups
One of the best ways to activate your core and pummel those abdominal muscles is to do a sit up! Most of the time however, you either need a friend to hold down your feet so you can do a proper sit up, or you need to buy an expensive and complicated sit up bench to leave at home and never use again.
Here’s a suggestion! Sofa sit ups! With a sofa, you can do a perfect sit up on your own, in the comfort of your own home! Here’s what you can do: squeeze the tips of your feet under your living room sofa, and lay down flat on the ground. Cross your arms in front of your chest so they aren’t touching the ground.
Raise your body so that your chest and arms touch your thighs and knees, then lay back down flat again. That’s one sit up! Do 3 sets of 20 reps each and you’ll have a tight tummy in no time!
5. Split Squats
Finally, after working out your arms, shoulders, back, and core, some leg workouts are necessary to keep you active at home. We recommend split squats on your sofa for this sofa workout. Split squats will have your leg and calve muscles burning in no time!
Here’s how you do it: split squats are like regular squats, but it activates one leg muscle at a time. Stand in front of your sofa, facing away from it. Place your right leg first behind you, on the seat of the sofa, so that one leg is raised, and the other remains standing on the ground. Clasp your hands together in front of your chest.
Relax your raised leg, and bend your standing leg once. That is one split squat! After 10 reps, swap your raised leg to your left leg, and do 10 more reps! 3 sets of 20 reps each, alternating your raised leg every 10 reps. You’ll feel the burn, but it’ll be worth it once you have fantastic thighs, and you tell your friends that all you did was diligent sofa split squats!
We hope these sofa workout tips will help you get in shape even though you’re stuck at home during the Movement Control Order. As Covid-19 spread across the world, and we’re forced to stay at home more and more, we need to continue living our lives as much as possible, without waiting it to be over before we live our lives.
Stay healthy, exercise, stay sanitized, and make sure your home is comfortable as possible! Get updated from Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM) instead of unreputable news outlets!
