Household Items that Can Double as Gym Equipment in Quarantine

If you find yourself looking to workout from the comfort of your home during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, there are many ways to stay in shape while social distancing. In fact, there are a wide range of items that you likely have in your house that can double as workout equipment. Don’t let the urge to sit on the couch keep you from staying fit during the quarantine.

1. Brooms

A broom is for more than cleaning up a mess or keeping your floor tidy. Use this common household item to do exercises like hip hinges or oblique twists. These exercises give your core, hips, and glutes a solid workout.

2. Backpacks

Fill up a backpack with things like books, magazines, or anything else that isn’t fragile and adds weight to it. Wear it on your back as you complete exercises like squats, lunges, or pushups to allow these moves to pack more of a punch.

3. Cooking Pots

Take a large pot and flip it upside down on a steady surface, such as a carpet. This can act as a step up platform to use in moves such as a lateral lunge with hops, step ups, or bodyweight split squats. For safety purposes, verify that the pot is steady before hopping up on it.

4. Vacuum Cleaners

Pile some weight onto your vacuum. A good way to do this is to use books or cans. Push it across your floor for some challenging at-home sled pushes.

5. Walls and Floors

Every home has walls, and these can be quite useful in helping you complete a home workout. Use walls to aid in stretching or perform wall sits, which work well in training your quads and glutes.

Plus, you'd be shocked at how much a series of sustained plank maneuvers can kick your butt. Try holding each one for a minute to start and see if you can do five different positions in a row without taking a break.

6. Towels

There are several uses for towels when it comes to working out at home. First, a towel - whether it’s a bath or beach towel - can be used in place of a yoga mat. Additionally, towels double as a makeshift resistance band. Smaller towels can be placed under each foot while you’re in a plank position as gliders. Paper plates can also be used as gliders beneath your feet. Towels are perhaps one of the most versatile household items to use as workout equipment - who knew!?

7. Laundry Baskets

Your dirty laundry is good for something. Take your filled laundry basket and use it for lifting. While standing, bend your knees and slowly send your hips back. Grab your filled basket, engage your hamstrings, press hips back, and start your deadlifts. This will give you quite a workout.

8. Toilets

Believe it or not, your toilet is a good workout tool. Stand in front of the toilet, facing away from it. Close the lid and start performing box squats, dipping down until you gently tap the toilet lid. Repeat until you feel the burn.

9. Pillows

Pillows can assist in performing v-ups. Put a pillow between your feet as you lay on the floor. Your lower back should remain on the ground through the entirety of the exercise. Extend your legs and arms while simultaneously bending your knees, pulling them towards your chest. Put the pillow in your hands, reaching your arms up so that the pillow touches the floor behind your head while you extend your legs. Keep moving the pillow back and forth to repeat the movement.

10. Laundry Detergent or Milk Jugs

These heavy, fluid filled bottles work well as makeshift kettlebells. A gallon of milk weighs a whopping eight and a half pounds, which is pretty heavy. Put a jug in each hand and do bicep curls or swing them around to work your arms.

11. Canned Goods

While not as heavy as milk or detergent bottles, canned goods are useful as small weights for arm workouts. Cans beneath your hands during a plank add an extra challenge to the move and help build stability.

Don’t let the fact that you can’t get to the gym discourage you from getting a good sweat session in! If you like how things are going, you might even say goodbye to the hassle and expense of a professional gym for good!