Customized Fitness in Your Living Room

If you have a little floor space and a few equipment items, you've still got a scalable, challenging, full-bodyGymFitworkout.

Check this out:

We'll use the core first to demonstrate how space isn't an issue. If you work your core GymFit style, you also work everything attached to it. This powerhouse lends strength and control to the entire body, so we start small and make sure you can do the basicswith the proper form. Then add difficulty by including more of the body and more challenging angles.

You can do much of our core work with your body alone in a space the size of... yourself, isolating muscle groups like the transverse abs or the obliques. Demonstrated here are two of the most basic core movements, but we have many in our repertoire that will help you strengthen your abs, obliques, and back from every angle.

As you advance to harder exercises, your core is only one part of the equation—as in the L-sit which strongly taxes your transverse abs in conjunction with your upper body. Yes, it's core work, but it's also lat and shoulder work. You'll realize quickly that it's harder to hold your core in place while engaging other muscle groups.

That's right—more intensity as you advance. No extra space needed.

Eventually you will need to get a few things, like a door frame pull-up bar, hand weights, a few bands. Some equipment can be improvised upon with furniture or other items. Rather than boxes, you might have a sturdy chest.

Still, we find that most of what we use to get into shape can fit in your workout space, be it a living room or a garage or even that bit of empty space in the hallway.

Ok, so now we know core work can be confined to a small space, what about upper body strength building? Can you really do strength training when you don't have a gym or a weight rack? Yes, you can.

Again, this is scalable. You want to customize your needs to what you actually have to work with. With Bench Dips, you can use any surface to adjust your pushing work. Likewise, Box Headstand Push-Ups will help you on your way to handstand push-ups—a full-body version of bench pressing your body weight but with a lot more skill.

You can also be coached toward your handstands beginning with angles that build your core stability and overhead press. Once you have the courage to go upside-down, handstand drills isolate muscles and movements so athletes learn what a good handstand feels like. Handstand Scap Shrugs, for example, build the pressing strength required to hold your handstand steady and keep you from falling into your shoulder joint (which might cause impingement).

Once you have a pull-up bar, consider also investing in rings to hang from your bar so you can work on your shoulder strength from various, challenging angles.

For beginners who aren't able to do pull-ups, rings lend an opportunity to adjust your angle, thereby decreasing the load, as in the Incline Row. As you get stronger the angle can be made more challenging by raising feet horizontally until the athlete has the pulling strength for their full body weight. Once you've obliterated your pull-ups, you can pull elbows out to further challenge the shoulder girdle with Bulgarian Pull-Ups. Add the "L" shape to tax the pull further.

The point is, there are versatile steps in building a strong, mobile body in any space. You've got this!