How to do a full-body workout at home in just 15 minutes without expensive equipment

Especially in this health crisis, it's important to stay fit & healthy. Therefore it helps to eat clean, sleep well, take good breaks and to exercise regularly. The latter is challenging now the gyms are closed. Let me share the things I do to stay in shape, and especially my full-body Tabata workout which I do three to four times a week (scroll down for the exact sequence and the time-lapse video).

I quit the gym

One and a half years ago I quitted my gym subscription. I wanted to incorporate exercise in my daily routine and going to the gym every day would be too much of a hassle. I wanted to combine weight training, walking, stretching, cardio and yoga, and occasionally something purely fun, such as inline skating and football.

My daily routine

What I started doing every day is 10 minutes of stretching. For me essential after a lifetime of playing football and field hockey and a lot of lower back pain. Since the lock-down has minimized my regular walking & cycling, I now take a daily walk as well, short or long.

The weekly mix

I while ago I started doing a 15 min Tabata home workout every other day (3 or 4 times a week). On the days in between I do a short yoga session at home (loads of good 5-15 min yoga video's on Youtube) or once a week a good cardio workout – for instance running up and down the stairs for 2x10 minutes on of the many Dutch dikes. My rule of thumb is that something that I do daily (in this case exercise) should never last more than 15 minutes – apart from a long walk once/twice per week and stair-running. In this way, I can never use the excuse that I don't have time ;)

Cold showers

One of my other lifehacks is taking a cold 1-min shower. I do it almost daily. Twice a week I treat myself on a long shower. It's always tough when you step under the ice-cold stream – it never gets easy – but it saves so much time and water. My trick is to first make my arms, legs and head wet, then use soap, and then rinse everything off in 30 seconds or so. The other reason I do it is how I feel directly afterward: extremely alive and invincible!

My 15-minute Tabata full-body workout

I put on my favorite music or motivational YouTube video. Then I click on play in the free app "Tabata", which I have set on 17 sets of 42 seconds (exercise) with 8 seconds of rest in between the sets. In these 42 seconds, I try to do as many "clean" repetitions as possible. Throughout the workout, I try to keep breathing calmly through my nose.

The sequence

1. Elevated push-ups (feet on a chair/bed)

2. Squats (staying low)

3. Oyster (laying in "fetal position", raising my outside knee to the ceiling and back)

4. Oyster (on my other side)

5. Hip-bridge (with one straight leg)

6. Hip-bridge (with the other leg straight)

7. Pull-ups (off-screen so cut out on the time-lapse video – I use a "doorway pull-up bar")

8. Calf raises (on one leg, holding on to the wall with my hands)

9. Calf raises (on my other leg)

10. Elevated push-ups (2nd time)

11. Squats (2nd time)

12. Pull-ups (2nd time)

13. Lunges (right leg forward)

14. Lunges (left leg forward)

15. Triceps (I raise a dumbbell behind my head, holding it with both my hands)

16. Biceps (with two dumbbells)

17. Shoulders (with two dumbells that I push toward the ceiling, my elbows pointing in opposite directions)

Then I stretch and take a cold shower. In a total of 30 minutes, I'm dressed and more than ready for the day.

The Tabata is quite tough, but not so tough that I "dread it". Of course, I know it's important to bring variety in the exercises, but I noticed that this quick and fast workout keeps me in shape and always leaves me with more energy than before.

What are your (home) workout tips?

And I would love to receive feedback on how I can improve my workout routines!

Stay strong,

– Lennart