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While hibernation season for most mammals is winter, for us Las Vegans, it’s summer. We stock up on supplies, post up in our air-conditioned environments and wait it out until it’s safe to go back outside.
Summer can be a long period of inactivity for our bodies. But it doesn’t have to be. According to Forget the Gym founder and personal trainer Dave Vaughan, there are a lot of easy workouts you can do indoors with little to no equipment.
Here are his recommendations for low, medium and high-intensity workouts.
LOW INTENSITY
For those who may be nursing an injury or just looking to take it easy, Vaughan recommends bodyweight exercises.
“I [would] have them do bodyweight squats. And I don’t necessarily mean going down to 90 degrees or sitting in a chair. People who are inflexible can start with quarter squats or half squats and gauge where they are.”
Other mild bodyweight exercises include wall and counter pushups. And don’t forget to exercise your balance.
“Something that people need to work on, especially when they’re older, is balance. Stand on one foot. Try to stand for 30 seconds on one side, 30 on the other,” he says.
And don’t forget your core workout. Plank pose is perfect.
“Core strength is important—it’s not just abs, it’s actually lower back muscles and obliques,” Vaughan says.
MEDIUM INTENSITY
To up activity while indoors, Vaughan recommends exploring free boxing apps or yoga apps like Yogafit, Simply Yoga and Yoga-Go. You can also make it a game with Wii, active virtual reality games or Dance Dance
Revolution.
Circuit training is another great way to get your heart rate up. Vaughan says “tri sets”—three exercises with little to no rest in between—are a good place to start.
“It’s easy to check off. A good visual. And you can feel accomplished,” Vaughan says.
Vaughan’s ideal beginner tri set (“for somebody in their 40s or 50s who sits in a chair a lot”), is to start with 10 to 15 chair squats, followed by holding a plank pose for at least 30 seconds, followed by eight to 12 burpees.
“You can do a version of the burpee minus the pushup and jumping. So you squat down on the floor, walk yourself out to a pushup position, walk back and stand up,” he says.
HIGH INTENSITY
For those looking to do cardio and strength training from the comfort of their home, Vaughan recommends building on the aforementioned tri set. Maybe do the full burpee, and repeat the set one to two more times. Or you can do a set of three new activities following the first set.
“It’s just moving from one thing to the next and it’s more about having a structure. Cardio comes from rhythmic exercises,” he says. “You’re just trying to get that heart rate up and keep it at a certain point.”
Stairs, pushups, crunches, balance exercises and even some yoga moves can be incorporated into tri sets. These kinds of exercises have benefits that you don’t always find using machines at the gym.
“Training with your body weight makes you a little bit more athletic. As we get older or as we sit, we start to lose balance and flexibility. By the time we’re 45, it gets challenging. So it’s more preventive ... and is good for functionality in day-to-day life,” Vaughan says.
Other indoor workout ideas
Several public indoor pools throughout the Valley charge less than $5 per day to swim laps and offer monthly passes and memberships. These include Aquatic Springs, Desert Breeze Aquatic Center, Henderson Multigenerational Pool, Heritage Park Aquatic Center, Hollywood Aquatic Center, Pavilion Center and Whitney Ranch.
For a one-time investment in a yoga mat (we found one for $17 on Amazon), you can become a yogi with free apps and Youtube classes. We recommend Yoga with Adriene and YogaEasy.
There’s always the traditional gym membership, and there’s no shortage of options. The most cost-effective might be EOS’ $10 monthly rate. The most luxurious would have to be Life Time, which has a monthly membership rate of $329.
Walking pads can help you get your steps in during summer, and good ones like Sperax’s go for about $150. You just have to take into consideration whether the dimensions will fit in your home and the pad’s weight capacity to determine if it’s right for you.
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