Turn your chair into a gym: get in shape without leaving home

With autumn now in full swing, we can no longer make excuses. We have to get back to our routines and that includes following some kind of fitness regime.

If you are one of those people who don’t have time to go to a gym, but would like to do some sport at home and don’t know where to start, a simple chair can become your best ally to move and strengthen your body.

Of course, at least to start with, it is advisable to obtain professional advice to guide us to learn how to do the exercises properly and avoid injury.

“Training at home with a chair and our own body weight can be a good start to getting into sport,” says Asier Izurieta, a graduate in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences and instructor at the Okitonic fitness centres in Castro-Urdiales.

This four-legged wonder serves as a support for multiple exercises, providing a complete routine with which to exercise the whole body.

“You can do pull-ups to work the triceps. You can do incline push-ups leaning on the chair to reduce the demand on the triceps. Or go harder with decline push-ups with your feet on the seat to increase the demand for oxygen and work both the pectoral muscle and the deltoid and triceps,” says Izurieta.

As for the muscles in the lower half of the body, this fitness trainer suggests using the chair as a balance aid during a squat routine.

One option for working the legs is the Bulgarian squat, a movement similar to the lunge but where the leg that stays behind remains resting on a raised surface while the front leg rests on the floor.

The chair also allows us to work on the conventional squat, using the seat as a guide, and even a support, as we lower.

“These exercises aimed at gaining muscle mass can be combined with other routines more focused on improving cardiovascular work,” says Izurieta. For cardio he suggests the explosive squat and the Bulgarian squat “with jumping and minimum contact time with the surface.”

The chair can also be an alternative for older people to do some exercise. It is very effective and they lose their balance less.

“You can work on movements that this group of people do every day, such as sitting down and getting up or bending down to pick up an object and lifting it”, explains Izurieta.

For this sector of the population, he suggests working on sitting down and getting up from the chair, with the help of another person if necessary and without the need to do a squat.

They can also lift up the chair gently in front of them as though placing an object on a shelf.

In short, a simple chair can be a great ally in adopting a healthy and active lifestyle. “However, the combination of strength training in the gym and cardiovascular training is a much more effective mechanism for improving people’s health and ensuring a long-lasting quality of life,” says Izurieta in a bid to be clear.

So, the chair can be a good aid for exercising at home, but ideally you should find time to go to the gym.