During this time where gyms have been forced to close, so many people have been working out from home and getting creative in the process. As a result, I’ve had so many questions about whether or not you really can get results from home – and the answer is a big Y-E-S.

Here are some of my favourite hacks to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to your home workouts.

1. Make sure you include some form of resistance training

A common misconception is that resistance training and weight training are the same thing. Resistance training involves any movement where you are working against a resistance – be it gravity and body weight, resistance bands, items you find around the house and then of course, dumbbells, weight plates or any home gym equipment that you might have.

2. Follow a program

Don’t just get up each day and do the same five movements over and over again and expect continual transformation or continual change.

Follow a program that includes variety and progression. Are you mixing it up? And as you get fitter and stronger, are you continually progressing?

3. Get comfortable being uncomfortable

When you’re doing a home workout and there’s no one else around, it’s very easy to convince yourself that you’re working harder than you are. Unlike a group training or PT scenario where someone is pushing you out of your comfort zone, training solo requires you to have the self-awareness and the discipline to push yourself enough in order to get those results. I’m not saying every workout needs to be maximum effort, but at least two of your weekly workouts should have you pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

4. Move in the morning

Whether you train in the gym or at home, the reason I love to train in the morning is because you’re far more likely to get it done. Even during isolation, life happens and despite the best of intentions, our workout is the thing that gets bumped. Get it done in the morning so you are energised, your mood is boosted and you set yourself up to have a productive day.

5. Don’t think the only way to increase the intensity is with more weights

This one relates to point 1. You do not need to have an entire rack of dumbbells or every bit of gym equipment under the sun to increase the intensity of your workouts. Here are three things you might not be doing that will give you an equally, if not superior, resistance workout. Do this right and you’ll be sore tomorrow:

Go slow

Slow, controlled resistance where you are keeping your muscles under constant tension do not require much resistance at all to be incredibly effective.

For example: perform a push-up where it takes you 10 seconds to go all the way down and 10 seconds to go all the way up and see how many reps you can do.

Increase your reps and/or reduce recovery

One thing we tend to do at the gym is talk a lot. Fluffing around on our phones and chatting to mates between sets are examples of this. For a great burn during a home workout, put as many different exercises together as you can, one after the other with high reps and minimal to zero reps between sets.

Drop sets and supersets are a winner

Here’s three that I want you to try:

Set 1

• Jump squats (20 reps) into
• Deep squats (20 reps) into
• Wall Squat (until you can’t go any longer)

Set 2

• Push-ups (20 reps) into
• Tricep dips (20 reps) into
• Plank Up-Downs (as fast as you can until you can’t do any more)

Set 3

• Leg lowers (20 reps)
• Bicycle crunches (20 reps)
• Full Sit-ups (20 reps)
• Kayaks (20 reps)
• Plank (until you can’t hold it anymore)

Sam Wood is a fitness expert and founder of 28 by Sam Wood. Follow him on Instagram @samjameswood.