Basic Yoga At Home

The big advantage of yoga is that it requires almost no equipment. Its main component is you. It's also possible to learn some basic yoga from Youtube or even written sources. That's no substitute for a properly qualified teacher but it does give you something you can do at home on nights when you can't get to the gym, or even days when you feel particularly stiff.

 

Most people who are just beginning yoga are advised to start with sun salutations. This is a simplified version.

Start out on your hands and knees, with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Rock back until your butt is on your feet and your arms are straight out overhead, and hold that position for a count of three deep, slow breaths. That's "Child Pose." Then rock forward and let your hips come down to the floor. Extend your neck and upper back and look up toward the ceiling. Keep your arms straight. Hold for three breaths. That's "Scorpion Pose." 

 

Rock back to all fours and step your left foot forward until it's outside your left hand. Pick your right knee up off the floor and extend your right leg. Stand up from the waist until your torso is erect. Tense your glutes and  lightly tense your abdominal muscles to make sure your back leg bends at the hip, not the waist. Hold for three breaths: this is "Lunge," for obvious reasons. Put the back knee back down, return to all fours and repeat on the other side. Return to "Child," then all fours, and finish. 

For about £30 to £40 you can buy a resistance band that offers something like half bodyweight resistance. That's enough resistance to add a strength component to the majority of your training, and you're getting it from a tool you can keep in your sock drawer or carry around literally in your pocket. If you work a job where you're "on call" you can train in 5-minute blocks when you get the time. 

 

If you travel for work you can take your band with you to the hotel room. 

I'd keep it simple to start. Buy a "closed" band that forms a loop. Start out with just alternating pushups and squats. You can stand on the ends of the band for squats and run the band over your shoulders for a loading pattern like a back squat or over your hands in a rack position for a loading pattern like a front squat. The advantage with bands is that they get more "resist-y" the longer you stretch them, so just as your squat is getting easier because you're out of the hole, your band is getting tougher to compensate! For pushups, run the band over your back level with your shoulders and put your hands on the ends. Pushups are a preferable exercise to bench presses anyway for most people and banded pushups will give you a serious workout cheaply and in little time, without waking up the neighbors or requiring a gigantic, room-filing (and bank-account-emptying) home gym.

Pullup bars are the most under-appreciated piece of training equipment out there. They're versatile and simple. You can use them for everything from scary strength exercises that put the vast majority of barbell-lifting bros to shame (front lever pullups, anyone?) to spine-relaxing rehab exercises and gentle mobility drills. 

 

The only thing they won't do much for is your glutes and hamstrings.

Start with a basic hang. Hang form your pullup bar with your arms straight and relax your spine. Begin to move your shoulderblades up and down your back, and practice "scorpions" by arching your upper back until your sternum faces the bar while you're hanging. Then add hollows: curl slightly until your body forms a banana-like shape. Alternate hollows and arches, where you flex in the opposite direction. Yes, it's basic, but try it. You'll be surprised how effective it is in building core and grip strength and helping your spine to relax at the same time. Later you can move on to hanging Ls, Skin the Cats and pullups.

 

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