Free home gym or hotel room exercises for athletes.
Designed by Thomas Solomon PhD.
During COVID lockdown, gyms were shut, climbing walls were closed, running tracks were out-of-bounds, trails and streets were off-limits or under a curfew, and races were cancelled. Some folks were stuck at home; others were trapped in hotels. Although those restrictions are behind us, sometimes we still find ourselves "stuck" at home or even "trapped" in hotels when on holiday or travelling.
What do you do when you don't have access to your "normal" training environment?
What do you do when you can't train properly?
Panic? Of course not! Don't stress. Regroup. Reorganise your habits.
Here's my home gym... how does yours look?
Get your house in order with my help.
Be creative. Stay on track.
Use this free training resource to learn how to train smart within the confines of your environment while having some fun, staying healthy, and maintaining your fitness.
I made this resource specifically for athletes stuck at home or in hotels with minimal equipment. All of the suggested exercises were tried and tested by my wife and I during our total home-quarantine lock-down in Innsbruck when we were not allowed to leave the house for 4-weeks in April 2020. Yes, our peak aerobic fitness and maximal strength dropped, but the high level of fitness we had going into that home-quarantine was maintained, proof of which was found when our quarantine law relaxed and we were able to run in the mountains once again — anecdotal evidence to layer on top of the experimental evidence that will relieve any anxiety about your loss of fitness caused by a short-term training interruption.
Unlike my daily-updated exercise training plan for beginners, this is not a detailed training plan. As an experienced athlete, you can take care of your training. Instead, use this page as a guide for turning your home or hotel room into a world-class training facility for when you lack access to your "normal" training environment.
Choose what you want.
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IMPORTANT: By voluntarily opting to use the exercises suggested below, you do so at your own risk. Before increasing or changing your exercise habits, ensure that you are medically-cleared to participate in structured exercise. If there are any reasons that increasing your activity levels may impose a health risk (including existing injury, illness, or cardiovascular, metabolic, or renal disease), you should consult your GP before using these exercises. If you incur any illness or injury, you must stop exercising and consult your GP immediately.
Your loss of fitness will not be as dramatic as you think.
During my time working in Denmark, I helped implement several inactivity studies where healthy active people were forced to reduce their daily step-counts from ~10,000 to ~1500 steps per day for 2-weeks. The good news, in the context of cardiorespiratory fitness, was that following 2-weeks of daily step-reduction, VO2max only fell by ~2 mL/kgFFM/min. Although these studies were not conducted in athletes, fortunately other groups of scientists have addressed that topic. In well-trained cyclists, 21-days of reduced training volume (-50%), frequency (-20%), and intensity (-20% to -30%) had no effect on VO2max. While a further study in world-class kayakers found that, although total training cessation for 5-weeks reduced muscle strength by ~9%, maintenance of low-volume training led to losses of only ~3%. So, fear not. Your loss will be small if you maintain some activity.
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Think critically. Keep informed. Stay educated.
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Jump back up to the full list.
Continue down to the Running simulation, Strength, Resistance band, Plyometrics, Grip strength, Carry strength, or New-born exercises.Running simulation exercises for runners, obstacle course racers, and endurance athletes.
If you have access to stairs, use them to do full stair-climbing work-outs. If you ever met the ancient Greek philosopher, Pythagoras, he might have told you about his theorem; he's always banging on about it. In my house, the step height is 0.16 metres and the step depth is 0.28 metres. Using Pythagoras' theorem, I know that the hypotenuse as 0.32 metres. If you are a mountain athlete, this is very useful info. Why? The step height multiplied by the number of steps you took = the elevation gain in metres, while the hypotenuse multiplied by the number of steps = the distance travelled in metres. If you do not have access to stairs or a ramp, use your door step or anything stable that simulates a step-height of 15 to 20 cm. With steps/stairs you can do prolonged Easy-intensity work-outs or intermittent Hard/Easy-intensity work-outs - mix it up - vary the step-rate, alternate the lead leg, use 1-step at a time or 2-steps at a time, change the direction you are facing (face-up, face-down, lateral movements, go up, go down) - keep it varied. If you have access to an underground car-park ramp, use it to do hill sprints or bounds. Also, yell really loud down there and it will make you sound like a beast!
Check out the videos below.
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And, don't be fooled by the simplicity of a step-workout—even Eliud Kipchoge loves a good stair-stepping work-out and uses them as part of his strength-building base phase, including when en route to his "1:59".
This is a free training tool. If it provides you with value, please help keep it alive by buying me a beer:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Jump back up to the full list. Continue down to the Strength, Resistance band, Plyometrics, Grip strength, Carry strength, or New-born exercises.Bodyweight strength exercises for runners, obstacle course racers, and endurance athletes.
Body weight exercises are awesome. Word. You can do them anywhere and anytime to maintain or build muscular strength and endurance. Use the full range-of-motion that you are able to move through given your anatomical nuances or physical limitations. Use proper form throughout all reps of all sets. Aim for a number of reps per set that takes you to around 2-3 reps-in-reserve (i.e. 2 or 3 reps away from failure; RPE 7-8/10).
Check out the videos below.
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This is a free training tool. If it provides you with value, please help keep it alive by buying me a beer:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Jump back up to the full list. Continue down to the Resistance band, Plyometrics, Grip strength, Carry strength, or New-born exercises.Resistance band strength exercises for runners, obstacle course racers, and endurance athletes.
Resistance bands are phenomenal for simulating your gym lifts and for increasing the load above that which your own body weight can induce. If you do not own any bands, I thoroughly recommend purchasing a set - they are cheap and can be used anywhere, anytime. Use the full range-of-motion that you are able to move through given your anatomical nuances or physical limitations. If the resistance band is limiting your full range-of-motion, use a lighter band. Since you will not be able to match the load that you are likely lifting in the gym, use a number of reps per set that takes you to around 2-3 reps-in-reserve (i.e. 2 or 3 reps away from failure; RPE 7-8/10).
Check out the videos below.
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This is a free training tool. If it provides you with value, please help keep it alive by buying me a beer:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Jump back up to the full list. Continue down to the Plyometrics, Grip strength, Carry strength, or New-born exercises.Plyometric exercises (jumping, bounding, and skipping for power) for runners, obstacle course racers, and endurance athletes.
If you have access to a room with enough space to swing a cat in, you can do these exercises. With some of these exercises, you can easily keep the intensity under control (RPE 6-8/10) and turn them into an aerobic work-out. If you want to build explosive power, use maximal effort and explosive movements (unleashing your maximal power output). But, in this case, use very few reps and take lots of rest between sets. But be careful, they are intense. If you are not accustomed to them, take it easy - start low with the volume and go slow with the progression. Always use controlled movements so that you do not lose your balance or land awkwardly. Also, ensure there are no bits of Lego on the floor—it brings epic amounts of French bread when you inadvertently land on a Danish brick of joy during a plyo workout. That said, the upside is that you perfect your race-time "war face" when it happens.
Check out the videos below.
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This is a free training tool. If it provides you with value, please help keep it alive by buying me a beer:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Jump back up to the full list. Continue down to the Grip strength, Carry strength, or New-born exercises.Grip strength exercises (rigs, bouldering, climbing, OCR, Spartan race) for obstacle course racers and climbers.
If you have access to a pull-up bar, use it! If you do not have a pull-up, find a safe ledge, post, wall, or anything that you can hang from and not die if you fall. Use a variety of hang variations with and without lock-offs or "frenchies" — be creative. Using a "hulk hand" is useful for ultimate power, but not essential. Add some variety and "low-rig" practice by mixing static-holds (knees to chest or L-sit) into your hangs.
Check out the videos below.
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This is a free training tool. If it provides you with value, please help keep it alive by buying me a beer:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Carry strength exercises (bucket carry, OCR, Spartan race) for obstacle course racers and hyrox athletes.
If you have access to a person (or a dog), use them! Carry them, lift them, and then high-five them and feed them. If you do not have an acceptable animate object, find a suitable inanimate alternative. For example, a backpack, an arm-chair, a washing basket full of goodies. Use a variety of carries on flat ground, around the garden, or up and down stairs - be creative but be careful - no one wants to throw their wife down the stairs; sometimes it just happens.
Check out the video below.
This is a free training tool. If it provides you with value, please help keep it alive by buying me a beer:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Exercises for parents with new-born babies.
Are you trying to exercise at home with a young baby? Don't allow them to prevent you from being physically active.
Check out the videos below.
IMPORTANT: No babies were harmed in the making of these videos.
IMPORTANT: No babies were harmed in the making of these videos.
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This is a free training tool. If it provides you with value, please help keep it alive by buying me a beer:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
Buy me a beer.
Or invest in your fitness today:
