Home Fitness: Cultivating Good Habits

As the saying goes, fat loss and shaping are a long-term battle. If you don’t practice for a day, all previous efforts are wasted. During the days when you have to stay at home, how can I burn my calories? Today, I will share with you how to cultivate and maintain good fitness habits at home.
Image//Principles and suggestions for fitness//Keywords: Safety & Effect


The benefits of fitness need not be elaborated. Exercise can not only improve cardiopulmonary, muscle and bone health, but also reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases and depression. In this regard, the World Health Organization makes the following suggestions for physical activities of healthy adults aged 18-64: Adults aged 18-64 should engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, or at least 75 minutes of high-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, or a combination of moderate and high-intensity activities of equivalent amounts.


Aerobic activities should last for at least 10 minutes each time. To obtain more health benefits, adults should increase aerobic physical activity to reach 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week or 150 minutes of high-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, or a combination of moderate and high-intensity activities of equivalent amounts. At least two days a week should be spent on strengthening muscle activities involving large muscle groups.



It is not difficult to accumulate and reach the goal of 150 minutes of physical activity per week, because physical activity not only includes independent exercise, but also leisure activities, transportation (such as walking or cycling), housework, playing and games in daily life. The concept of accumulation refers to adding up the durations of multiple short periods of physical activity (at least 10 minutes each time) carried out in a scattered manner within a week to reach the goal of 150 minutes of physical activity per week, such as 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity 5 times a week. And exercise must be carried out on the premise of ensuring that the body is not injured. Before starting exercise, be sure to pay attention to the following points:


Seriously assess whether your physical condition is suitable for the next exercise.


It is not advisable to eat 30 minutes before exercise.


Relax and soothe the whole body and stretch the muscles after exercise.


It is not advisable to drink a lot of water immediately before, during and after exercise.


//Formulate a fitness training plan//Keywords: Professional terms, training movements, home aerobics


1. Regarding fitness, professional terms you need to know


Fitness is a relatively professional sports activity. When you are about to start, understanding some professional terms can allow you to exercise more scientifically. You can use a mind map to list one by one the professional terms encountered in the materials, such as aerobic exercise, anaerobic exercise, HIIT, Tabata Training, maximum heart rate and target heart rate, etc.


To better apply theoretical knowledge to practice and enhance training efficiency, a flexible and diverse workout plan is essential. When you decide to start training, you can use mind maps to create your own personalized workout schedule, allowing you to target your fitness goals more effectively. Below is a sample weekly fitness training plan that can be customized based on individual circumstances.


Achieving gym-like results at home is possible, and we will detail how to effectively perform strength training at home. The core muscle group is of utmost importance because core strength emphasizes the coordination and functionality of the entire body. The primary role of the core muscles is to control the stability of the pelvic and torso areas, optimizing the generation, transmission, and control of strength. It also ensures that each training movement is performed more accurately and effectively targets the desired muscle groups.


Core Exercise: Abdominal Crunch and Leg Raise


Specific Steps: Lie flat on a yoga mat with knees bent and legs separated to shoulder width. Place hands flat on the mat and use abdominal strength to lift the legs and hips off the ground. Pause briefly at the highest point before slowly returning to the starting position.


Shoulder exercises include the anterior, middle, and posterior deltoids, and strengthening these areas can support a robust shoulder structure, enhancing one’s presence when wearing clothes.


Shoulder Exercise: Dumbbell Lateral Raise


Specific Steps: Stand naturally with feet together, chest out, and abdomen tucked. Hold dumbbells at your sides with palms facing inward. Slowly raise the dumbbells to shoulder height, pause briefly at the highest point, then slowly return to the starting position.


For a well-rounded fitness regimen, focusing solely on the upper body is insufficient. The goal of our exercises is to enhance overall body balance, making lower body training equally important. For office workers, balanced strength in the front and back of the legs can alleviate swelling and soreness after a day of sitting.


Leg Exercise: Dumbbell Lunges with Weight


Specific Steps: Stand with feet together, chest out, abdomen tucked, and back straight. Hold dumbbells at your sides with palms facing your body. Keep your upper body straight, step one leg back, and squat, maintaining your center of gravity between your legs without letting your knees touch the ground. When squatting, both front and back leg angles should form 90-degree angles. Pause briefly before slowly returning to the starting position, alternating legs.


The primary muscle group in the chest is the pectoralis major, a very strong muscle. Due to different connection points, it is often trained in various parts and focuses such as overall chest, upper chest, inner and outer chest, and lower chest (the more advanced the trainer, the more detailed the division).


Chest shaping is relatively more technical compared to other body parts and requires a certain basic strength as a prerequisite. Weak and tight chest muscles are important causes of rounded shoulders and hunchback. Triceps refer to the muscles on the back side of the upper arm. Weak and loose triceps are prone to accumulate fat, resulting in the so-called ‘bye-bye meat’. Chest and triceps exercise: push-ups.


Specific steps: lie prone, with arms straight and supporting on the mat, legs extended straight backward, body tightened into a straight line. Hands are on both sides of the chest, with a spacing slightly wider than the shoulders. Bend the arms and lower the body until the elbow joints are slightly higher than the body. Pause briefly and then slowly return to the starting position. If unable to complete the movement, you can also choose to stand and lean against the wall or lie prone on your knees.



Biceps refer to the muscles on the inner side of the upper arm. They are fusiform in shape and play a role in flexing the shoulder, flexing the elbow, and rotating the forearm backward. If you want to have firm arm lines, you cannot ignore the exercise of biceps.


The chest muscles and back muscles are located on the front and back sides of the body respectively. Only exercising the chest muscles while ignoring the back muscles can easily lead to hunchback. Conversely, it is also not conducive to the balance of daily exertion. Firm and powerful back muscles are also an important prerequisite for a strong aura. Biceps and back exercise: bent-over double-arm dumbbell row.


Specific steps: stand with feet shoulder-width apart, bend over slightly less than 90 degrees, hold chest up and abdomen in, keep back straight, sink shoulders and spread them backward. Hold dumbbells on both sides of the body, palms facing each other, and arms perpendicular to the ground. Clamp arms to the body and pull dumbbells up to both sides of the abdomen. Pause briefly and then slowly return to the starting position.


Feel the main force exerted by the back to pull the dumbbells.



When performing each movement, the basic requirements are: tighten the abdomen, tense the buttocks, lower the shoulders, and focus on the target muscle group to feel its exertion. At the same time, we must pay attention to the stretching session after training. This will alleviate muscle soreness the next day to a certain extent and is also more conducive to the recovery and growth of muscle fibers.


Aerobic exercise: In addition to the tabata and HIIT training methods mentioned above, you can also try various home aerobics. Open the video at any time and place and you can exercise with fitness experts without having to organize training movements by yourself. It is convenient and fast. Aerobics generally include both full-body aerobic exercise and some local anaerobic exercises with small equipment or no equipment. They are usually comprehensive and efficient and can be selected according to your own needs.


//Diet tips//Keywords: balanced, high-quality, avoid dieting and picky eating. 1. Refuse dieting and picky eating. Major social platforms are filled with unreliable weight loss methods. The most easily spread ones are various dieting recipes.
When the word ‘weight loss’ is mentioned, the first reaction for most people is to either stop eating or follow an unscientific diet. However, this not only reduces the efficiency of fat reduction but also leads to malnutrition.


Choosing a healthy diet is essential for maintaining a good figure and a healthy body. Nutritionists recommend consuming more than 12 different types of food per day and over 25 different types of food per week (including main meals and snacks) to ensure a diverse intake of nutrients.


Focusing solely on chicken breast and broccoli for weight loss, as some people do, is also unhealthy for the average person.


When selecting food, try to choose high-quality sources of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. People aiming to lose weight should not view carbohydrates and fats as enemies; these are the main sources of energy during exercise, and insufficient intake can affect both weight loss efficiency and health. However, when choosing, we can prioritize sources that are rich in nutrients and have a slower impact on blood sugar levels.


Just like with exercise, the key to a healthy diet is ‘balance’ and ‘moderation.’ The proportion of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in daily dietary calories should be controlled at ratios such as 4:2:4, 5:2:3, or 4:3:3 to facilitate healthy weight loss and body shaping.


In conclusion, body weight, physique, and physical fitness are reflections of lifestyle habits. Reducing fat and shaping the body is essentially the process of abandoning bad habits and cultivating good ones. The formation of any habit is not something that can be achieved overnight; it requires long-term systematic training and maintenance. However, if we do not aspire to become bodybuilders or professional athletes, we do not need to demand high-intensity workouts and diet control down to every calorie, especially avoiding the ‘All or Nothing’ mentality that seeks quick results.


Wishing everyone a vibrant mental state at all times, allowing oneself to face daily work, study, and life happily and effortlessly.


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