How to Increase the Intensity of Exercise at Home
Lots of people choose to exercise at home because it’s easier to accommodate their habits and lifestyle. However, doing exercise at home can sometimes mean that people make mistakes with regard to the intensity or how much they do.
Exercising isn’t just about performing lots of sets and reps. It requires knowledge, motivation, discipline, and effort.
By knowledge, we’re not just talking about the way the human body works. It’s also a good idea to fully understand the exercises that you choose to do and why.
So, with all this in mind, today, we’ll look at the intensity of your home routine and how you can increase it safely and appropriately.
What do we mean by the intensity of exercise at home?
The intensity of any exercise, whether at home or elsewhere, is a key factor when it comes to the results you want to achieve, and it’s made up of various different aspects such as load, time, and the amount of energy you expend.
“The intensity of training is a measurement of the work performed or produced in a certain period of time.”
– Bompa (1983) and García Manso (1999) –
The above quote is a good, general description of what intensity is. Basically, if you do more work in the same period of time, or do the same amount of work but faster, then intensity has increased.
However, it’s also based on other fundamental factors that are important to bear in mind: duration and frequency. And then last of all, it’s important that your intensity is appropriate for your individual capabilities. If you try to do more than you’re safely able to, you could do yourself a serious injury!
Recommendations to increase the intensity of exercise at home
The problem with exercising at home is that most people don’t have specialist equipment in their houses. This can sometimes make it a little different to accurately assess how much work you’re actually doing.
But this is no excuse for not trying to increase the intensity of your home workout. Below, we’ve listed some ideas that you might want to try to gradually increase the intensity and thereby achieve better results!
Increase the load
Obviously, the more load you have to lift or work with, the greater the intensity of your exercise.
There are several useful objects around the house that you could use to work specific muscle groups. For example, plastic bottles full of sand make excellent weights. And if you want to increase the intensity, simply use bigger ones.
This is just one example, but simple changes like this can mean that you have to work harder and test your limits that little bit more.
Vary the speed
Strength exercises are different from cardiovascular exercises when it comes to intensity. When working anaerobically, it’s best to slow down so that the effort becomes more evident.
Performing approximately three or four repetitions slowly increases the tension in the muscle, and this is obviously an increase in intensity.
To increase the intensity of aerobic exercise, on the other hand, you need to speed up. For example, when doing star jumps, you might try to do more than the previous attempt but in the same period of time.
Shorter rest periods: the intensity of exercise at home
Rest is a really important part of any exercise routine. But if you want to increase the intensity, then you can try resting for shorter periods of time. By having less time to recover between a series of repetitions, you’ll need to exert more effort to complete the same routine. As a result, you’ll notice increased intensity both at a physical and physiological level, leading to greater fatigue.
Intensity is important if you want results
When designing and carrying out an exercise routine at home, people often think about how much exercise to do but sometimes forget about the intensity. But it’s a really important factor to consider if you want to achieve proper results!
However, if you have any doubts at all, then don’t be afraid to ask a professional. In fact, it’s probably best that you do, since they’ll be able to devise a routine that suited to your abilities and any health issues you may have. That way, you’ll be able to exercise safely at home and fit your exercise routine around your lifestyle!
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- OMS. (2017). ¿Qué se entiende por actividad moderada y actividad vigorosa? Organización Mundial de La Salud.
- Kremer, M. M., Reichert, F. F., & Hallal, P. C. (2012). Intensidade e duração dos esforços físicos em aulas de Educação Física. Revista de Saúde Pública. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0034-89102012005000014
