My "Home Gym"

Today, I wanted to give you a little play by play of what one of my strength training workouts is like when I am doing it at home. This workout is from last week when I lifted back.

Welcome to my "Home Gym"! 

AKA... the sun room!

My favorite space to workout at home.

My piano bench serves as my weight lifting bench.

Here are some of the tools I use when I lift back.

Stability ball. Bought at Marshall's for less than ten bucks.

8, 10, and 15 pound dumbbells.

The big weird thing on the left is a power block weight set at 25 pounds.

Your standard foam roller and the Supernova ball from Rogue Fitness.

Water, my phone for timing my planks and stretches, and of course, the workout I plan to do.

Every lifting workout I do starts with a thorough warm up. I like to warm up my rotator cuff, do some shoulder rolls and arm circles, stretch, and then do some lifts for whatever my target body part is for the day. For instance, today I did some dumbbell rows at a lower weight and some assisted pull ups with a lot of assistance- just to get my muscles activated and ready to go!

This is what my rotator cuff warm up looks like. I do anywhere from 8-10lbs.

After a thorough warm up, it's time for the workout! I like to write it out beforehand to make sure I don't skip anything and arrange my circuits in a way that works for me.

Circuit 1: Assisted pull ups and bird dogs. I can't pair pull ups with much because to me, they are a full body workout! Bird dogs are just "chill" enough that I can do them in between sets.

Chairs are great for assistance!

This is overhand grip.

Bird dogs are not as easy as they look! 

I have to concentrate and really engage my whole body or I lose my balance.

Circuit 2: Dumbbell rows (25lbs) and bicycle crunches. 

Yeah, I am eyeing up the camera. 

I am not a great photographer and didn't know if the picture had been taken!

I do my bicycle crunches with slow and controlled movements.

My neck starts to hurt if I go too fast, which is another way to do them.

Circuit 3: Unassisted pull ups with neutral grip and stretching.

Why am I wearing flip flops when I workout? I really don't know.

I looooove pigeon pose for my ITB and hips!

I can do more pull ups when I'm angry.

While I worked out, I watched The View. Candace Cameron Bure was on... hence I was able to do several anger filled pull ups! Oh my gosh I dislike her.

Circuit 4: Bicep curls (15lbs) and stability ball pass. I don't know where my bicep curl picture went, but you know what they look like.

Circuit 5: Plank w/ rows (10 lbs) and stretching. 

Where did the dumbbell go!? I swear, my right hand is gripping a 10 lb dumbbell!

Also check out the veins popping in my neck, haha! Plank with a row is no joke!

Figure 4 stretch is great for my hips and IT band!

Circuit 6: Forearm planks and rolling. 

I never plank without entertainment. 

Luckily I had more than one episode of The View on my DVR.

The Supernova's teeth can really dig into my glutes and get those kinks out!

So that's my "Home Gym" and that's what one of my workouts is like!

Do you workout at home?
Have any fun workout tools?