It’s a new day, the sun in shining, the coffee is strong and motivation is high.
You check the workout of the day and can’t wait to get to the gym after work for your “best hour of the day.” You’re already craving those post-workout endorphins!
But at some point during the day:
- Work piled up and you have to work later than expected
- The school calls and you have to go pick up your sick child
- You realize you don’t have anything set out to cook for dinner
- You forgot your gym bag at home
Now you won’t be able to make it in for your workout. Your “me” time is ruined.
But wait, maybe it isn’t!
We’ve all been in a situation where we have the best of intentions to make it to the gym and something comes up that keeps us from getting there.
Sure, it’s crummy and nothing beats being at your happy place.
But, we want to empower you to be able to turn an unfortunate situation back around. Because life is bound to happen, and when it does, we want you to be prepared.
Sometimes one missed workout turns into three, into weeks, into months and then quitting all together. Don’t let one missed day, or week, spiral downward!
Let’s see how you might be able to still do the day’s workout, but at-home rather than the gym so you can still get your “me” time.
We’re going to pick two different workouts that have been programmed for group CrossFit here at Helix. We’ll go through two at-home options for each workout:
Option 1: you have no equipment at home. It’s just you and your body.
Option 2: you have, at minimum, a pair of dumbbells at home. (You can grab yourself a pair of dumbbells for home if you find yourself needing them enough. These are the cheapest on the internet right now, and they’re great quality.)
Okay, so in the famous words of all the kid YouTuber’s my children watch, let’s get started!
Looking at last week’s workouts at the gym, we’re going to modify Monday, Feb. 17th’s workout to do at-home.
Here’s the workout as listed:
For Time:
400m Run
50 Box Jumps
40 Double Kettlebell Front Rack Lunges (35#/25#)
30 Hand Release Push-ups
50 Up-Downs
30 Hand Release Push-ups
40 Double Kettlebell Front Rack Lunges
50 Box Jumps
400m Run
To modify this at-home, we first need to figure out if there’s any equipment we don’t have. For this workout, we need a pair of Kettlebells, but Dumbbells are a great alternative, so that’s not an issue. If you don’t have Dumbbells, no biggie. This will still be a great workout.
We also need a box to jump on. Stairs work great for this. Or maybe you have a bench somewhere in the house or the garage. Grab that! It might be lower than the box you’d jump to at the gym, but don’t lose sight of the goal here, we’re just trying to get our sweat on and get those endorphins our bodies and brains are craving.
Option 1 (no equipment):
Run an out-and-back in your neighborhood that takes about 2-3 minutes. (This will end up being approximately 400 meters)
50 Stair Jumps
40 Lunges
30 Hand Release Push-ups
50 Up-Downs
30 Hand Release Push-ups
40 Lunges
50 Stair Jumps
Run an out-and-back in your neighborhood that takes about 2-3 minutes.
Option 2:
Run an out-and-back in your neighborhood that takes about 2-3 minutes. (This will end up being approximately 400 meters)
50 Stair Jumps
40 Dumbbell Front Rack Lunges (use whatever dumbbells you have, moderate weight)
30 Hand Release Push-ups
50 Up-Downs
30 Hand Release Push-ups
40 Dumbbell Front Rack Lunges (use whatever dumbbells you have, moderate weight)
50 Stair Jumps
Run an out-and-back in your neighborhood that takes about 2-3 minutes.
Since you’re already looking in the Wodify app at the workout, scroll above the workout and check out the days warm-up. You can take the same approach as we did with the workout and just modify the warm-up to make it work for you.
Let’s take a look at one more workout. This one is a little trickier, but we can still make it work with a little creativity.
The workout for Tuesday, Feb. 18th has a 3 rep max Deadlift as a strength session, followed by the workout, which is:
30-20-10
Deadlifts (245/165# RX+, 165/110# Rx, 110/75# Masters)
Toes-to-Bar
*50 Double Unders after each full set
If you don’t have a barbell at home, you aren’t going to be able to replicate a 3 rep max Deadlift. But that’s okay and don’t let this be a deal breaker! You can either do this on your own next time you do make it in to the gym, or just wait until the next time we test this. Since our programming is planned for the entire year, we know for sure you’ll get two more opportunities to test this in class this year.
So let’s see how we can modify the workout.
Option 1 (no equipment):
30-20-10
Bodyweight Deadlift Jumps
V-Ups
*100 Jumping Jacks
Option 2:
30-20-10
Dumbbell Deadlifts
V-Ups
*100 Jumping Jacks, or 50 Double Unders/75 Single Unders if you have a jump rope.
Same thing here for the warm-up. Look at what the warm-up is for the same day you’re looking at the workout, and modify it to fit you, your space and what equipment you may or may not have.
I’m Not a Coach! How Do I Do This On My Own?
We took two workout scenarios for you and modified them to be suitable at-home, whether you have no equipment or simply just a pair of dumbbells.
Now it’s easy for us to do this because we’ve in the fitness space for over 8 years.
For you to do this yourself, the best ways to take any workout and modify it to do at-home is think about the ways in which you could replicate the movement or the ways we modify the movements during class. Many of those modifications might be a viable option to do at-home, even if they might seem “easy,” you’ll still get a workout in!
Clearly the above two workouts didn’t cover every movement we do at Helix, so here’s a short list of other movement modifications you can refer back to for reference:
- Bike: Run, Swim
- Box Jumps: Stair Jumps
- Clean: Dumbbell Clean, Dumbbell Hang Clean
- Deadlift: Dumbbell Deadlifts, Bodyweight Deadlift Jumps
- Front/Back/Overhead Squats: Dumbbell Front Squat, Dumbbell Overhead Squat
- Handstand Push-ups: Wall Walks
- Pull-up: Dumbbell Bent Over Row
- Rowing: Run, Sumo Deadlift High Pull (w/ Dumbbells)
- Snatch: Dumbbell Snatch, Dumbbell Power Snatch
- Strict Press/Push/Jerk: Dumbbell Press
- Thruster: Dumbbell Thruster
- Toes-to-Bar: V-Ups
- Wall Ball shots: Dumbbell Thruster
Next time you can’t make it to your CrossFit class or your personal training session, try using the resources and strategies above to modify the workout so you can do it at home! Or even if you’re out of town and have access to a hotel gym, you can still modify the day’s workout and return to Helix without FOMO. 🙂
Remember, the only bad workout is the one you didn’t do!
