Stay Home. Get Strong. Part 2

This article has demos and explanations of all the exercises mentioned in Part 1.

Push

Pushup (Hands Elevated)

Keep your elbows fairly close to your sides. Quads tight, glutes tight, core braced for a punch. Experiment with different heights to find the right difficulty—kitchen counter, dining room table, a chair, etc. All of your reps should look at least as good as mine.

Pushup

Same cues as Pushup (Hands Elevated). Don’t lose tension in your core—listen to how I’m breathing. That’s how you should breath, too.

Pushup (Feet Elevated)

If regular pushups are too easy, elevate your feet to make it harder. Be creative—a bench, a stack of books, an ottoman.

One-Arm Pushup

Use the same principles from Pushup (Hands Elevated) to adjust the difficulty of the One-Arm Pushup. This is such an underrated exercise. I’ve got some work to do here as well!

Squat

Bodyweight Squat

Pretty straightforward. Put your feet about underneath your shoulders, turn your toes out a tad, squat down as deep as is comfortable.

Split Squat

The split squat will put more of the work on one leg at a time (the front leg). Make sure you step far enough forward so that you’re not all crunched up at the bottom. Also, your knee needs to touch the ground silently.

Bulgarian Split Squat

Elevate your rear foot on your couch or something equivalent. Don’t bounce out of the bottom! Also, don’t feel like your bent knee necessarily needs to touch the ground.

Pistol Squat

If you can’t do a full Pistol Squat, but Bulgarian Split Squat is a little too easy, do the Pistol Squat down to an elevation that you can handle. A chair or stool should work fine.

Pull

Horizontal Row

This exercise has a couple of options. If you have a pullup bar, it would be best to hang some straps (or a couple of belts from the closet) from the bar to do the row. If all you have is a table, you can use that, too.

Negative Chinup

Chinup

A chinup is a pullup done with your palms facing toward you. For most people this will be slightly easier than the pullup (palms facing away).

Pullup

You can always make pullups harder if necessary by adding some weight in a backpack!

Core Isometric

Plank

The focus here is on tension! Quads tight. Glutes tight. Core braced for a punch. If your lower back starts to sag, you’re missing the target and the set is over.

Hollow Rock

Keep your low back pressed into the ground. Keep your shoulder blades up!

Climber Plank

Same position as hardstyle plank, but reach up with each limb in turn. Try to keep your body from rotating when you reach.

One-Arm One-Leg Plank

Get in a straight-arm plank position, then lift up your opposite hand and foot. Don’t let your body rotate! Again, focus on tension—quads, glutes, core. And grip the ground hard with your hand!

Core Flexion

Hollow Hang

The key with this is to “close the space between your hips and your ribs.” Maximally contract your core to maintain the hollow position. Keep your shoulders down and back the whole time you’re hanging from the bar—it will be good for your rotator cuff, too!

Hanging Knee Raise

Same setup as Hollow Hang, but pull your knees up as high as you can for reps. No swinging! That would not work your core, it would just be. . . swinging.

Hanging Leg Raise

So this video is actually “Toes to Bar.” But the Hanging Leg Raise is the same idea, you just don’t have to bring your legs up as high. As long as your can bring them to at least 90 degrees, you’re good to go.

Toes To Bar

Same video as Hanging Leg Raise, but this time bring your toes all the way to the bar!

Sprint

You don’t really need a video for sprinting. Just run fast! Stay up on the balls of your feet—don’t “flop” your feet on the ground. Also, ramp up the speed slowly and decrease the speed slowly when you’re done with the sprint.

Cardio

Walk

Just walk around! Be mindful of your gait pattern—don’t flop your feet, don’t slouch.

Walk / Run

Walk, then run. When you get tired from running, start walking again. Don’t worry about the ratio, just try to run a little bit more next time.

Run / Walk

Run. If you lose your breath, walk. When you catch your breath, run again.

Run

Stay “light” on your feet. Don’t strike the ground with your heels—land on your midfoot instead. Keep the pace “easy.” It’s not a race, unless it’s a race.

Conclusion

That’s it for Part 2. Revisit Part 1 if you need to review the program again. Please let me know in the comments if any of these explanations are unclear!

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