5 Easy Exercises to do in your Living Room

If you’re studying at university, it’s easy to forget that keeping fit is really important, especially when it comes to enduring the stresses of university life, such as assignments, lectures and what you’re going to wear to the next themed karaoke night at your student bar! Keeping fit is proven to be beneficial for the mind, body and soul so you might decide that you’re going to visit your local gym. That’s great! It’s often said that you either love the gym or you hate it and even if you do love it, sometimes it can just be another chore on your endless list of things to do. Here are a few exercises you can do at home if you don’t like the gym and want to save yourself some time and money.

By Lauren Haslett – Media Studies at University of Portsmouth

Sit ups

Impact on the body: Core/ abs

Position yourself on the floor lying on your back, it may help if you put a mat underneath you as to protect your spine. Bring your feet about a hands length away from your bottom. Then place your hands next to your head. Bring your entire torso up, really focusing on the movement from your core and not your shoulders. For those with a stronger core, try and do 20, for those who are new to sit-ups try to do a set of 10. Remember not to go too fast, the slower the movement is, the harder it should be. Have a rest of about 30 seconds then start with your sit ups again. Do this 3-4 times for maximum effect.

Burpees

Impact on the body: Full body – arms, chest, quads, glutes, hamstrings, abs and cardiovascular.

Get onto your hands and feet as if you are about to do a push up. Jump both of your feet inward until your knees touch your chest. From there you want to jump upwards (you want your feet to come off the floor). Then go back down into that press up position and repeat about 15 times depending on your confidence and ability. Start off with completing 3 sets of 10 burpees and increase this as your fitness improves.

Star Jumps

Impact on body: Cardiovascular/ improving heart and lung endurance

Don’t forget about this age old easy exercise that’s been imprinted our memory since primary school! Try to do 5 sets of 20 star jumps to really get your heart pumping!

Tuck Jumps

Impact on the body: Abs, quads, gluten, cardio

Position yourself standing with your hands at your sides. Bend your legs slightly and then jump upwards, swinging your arms and tucking you knees towards your chest. Make sure you land with bent legs! These are hard so start with 3 sets of 10 tuck jumps.

High Knees

Impact on the body: Glutes, thighs, arms, cardio

Imagine you are running on the spot but make sure your knees are as high as you can get them. Sometimes it helps to have you hands as a target at ribs height and make sure your knees are hitting them. Set a timer and do these for 40 seconds then have a 20 second rest and repeat 4-5 times.