Are you feeling the pull to stay home during this winter season? The days are shorter and colder, making it difficult to want to get out and get active.
But what if we told you could stay fit and strong without ever needing to leave the house?
In this article, we discuss our at-home bodyweight workout for winter. We cover exercises, sets, repetitions, and more to help you maintain a summer body through this winter season.
Winter Bodyweight Workout At Home
This at-home bodyweight workout for winter will help you build muscle and maintain a healthy weight in 2024:
- Day 1: Lower Body And Glutes.
- Day 2: Upper Body And Core.
- Day 3: Full Body And Cardio.
- Day 4: Rest.
- Day 5: Lower Body And Glutes.
- Day 6: Upper Body And Core.
- Day 7: Full Body And Cardio.
This is a three-day workout split to be completed twice per week, with a rest day in between. On your rest day, perform a light stretching routine or walk. This will give your body adequate time to recover, improving muscle growth.
At-Home Bodyweight Workout For Winter
The workout below combines various bodyweight exercises to improve strength, muscle mass, endurance, and mobility.
This is a three-day workout split to be performed twice per week, with a rest in between. Your rest day should be a day of active recovery, containing light stretching or walking. This will help relax your muscles and joints, improving recovery and freshening you up for your next three-day block.
Each workout day contains a warm-up, workout, and cool-down to ensure you build muscle while reducing the risk of injury.
Day 1: Lower Body And Glutes
This lower body and glutes day is designed to increase strength and muscle mass while improving mobility. Targeting the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, it contains a series of compound exercises that can improve daily function.
Exercises such as squats and lunges mimic daily movements such as sitting down, walking, and going upstairs. These exercises can strengthen these movement patterns.
Furthermore, it contains the wall sit, an exercise that uses an isometric contraction. This is when the muscle contracts without changing length. This exercise is great for promoting muscle growth while improving tendon health.
If you are curious about trying these exercises, check out these wall sits benefits and glute bridge benefits.
Exercise | Sets x Duration | Rest (between sets) |
|---|---|---|
| High Knees | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 30–45 secs |
| Bodyweight Squats | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 30–45 secs |
| Leg Swings | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 30–45 secs |
Exercise | Sets x Reps | Sets x Duration | Rest (between sets) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squats | 3–4 x 8–12 | 30–45 secs | |
| Reverse Lunges | 3–4 x 8–12 | 30–45 secs | |
| Glute Bridges | 3–4 x 8–12 | 30–45 secs | |
| Bulgarian Split Squats | 3–4 x 8–12 | 30–45 secs | |
| Wall Sit | 3–4 x 20–30 secs | 30–45 secs |
Exercise | Sets x Duration | Rest (between sets) |
|---|---|---|
| Quad Stretch | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 20–30 secs |
| Hamstring Stretch | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 20–30 secs |
| Figure-Four Glute Stretch | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 20–30 secs |
Day 2: Upper Body And Core
This upper body and core workout aims to increase muscle mass and improve function. This routine targets the chest, shoulders, triceps, and core. It begins with a warm-up to prepare the muscle tissue and the nervous system for the upcoming workout.
The workout consists of two major compound exercises: push-ups and chair tricep dips. These exercises are demanding on our chest, shoulders, and triceps, making them great for increasing muscle mass and strength. The workout is rounded out by abdominal exercises, which, performed with correct breathing, can improve abdominal fitness.
Exercise | Sets x Duration | Rest (between sets) |
|---|---|---|
| Arm Circles | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 10–20 secs |
| Shoulder Rolls | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 10–20 secs |
| High Knees | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 10–20 secs |
Exercise | Sets x Reps | Rest (between sets) |
|---|---|---|
| Push-Ups | 3–4 x 8–12 | 30–45 secs |
| Chair Tricep Dips | 3–4 x 8–12 | 30–45 secs |
| Bicycle Crunches | 3–4 x 15–20 | 30–45 secs |
| Russian Twists | 3–4 x 15–20 | 30–45 secs |
| Pike Push-Ups | 3–4 x 8–12 | 30–45 secs |
Exercise | Sets x Duration | Rest (between sets) |
|---|---|---|
| Child’s Pose | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 20–30 secs |
| Cat-Cow Stretch | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 20–30 secs |
| Shoulder Stretch | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 20–30 secs |
Day 3: Full Body And Cardio
This full-body and cardio routine is designed to elevate the heart rate and build lean muscle. It begins with jumping jacks, bodyweight squats, and the plank. These exercises increase the heart rate and engage the legs, glutes, and core, which are essential for the upcoming workout.
Consisting of dynamic full-body exercises, this workout is great for beginners and advanced lifters. For the less experienced, consider performing the exercise at a lower intensity with a focus on technique.
Meanwhile, advanced lifters can perform each movement at a high intensity with limited rest to get the heart pumping and your muscles burning. This form of high-intensity, whole-body circuit can burn body fat and increase lean muscle mass.
If you are undecided about getting your heart rate up this winter, check out these benefits of cardio.
Exercise | Sets x Durayion | Rest (between sets) |
|---|---|---|
| Jumping Jacks | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 30–45 secs |
| Bodyweight Squats | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 30–45 secs |
| Planks | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 30–45 secs |
Exercise | Sets x Reps | Rest (between sets) |
|---|---|---|
| Burpees | 3–4 x 8–12 | 30–45 secs |
| Mountain Climbers | 3–4 x 16–20 | 30–45 secs |
| Lunge Jumps | 3–4 x 16–20 | 30–45 secs |
| Plank Shoulder Taps | 3–4 x 16–20 | 30–45 secs |
| High Knees | 3–4 x 16–12 | 30–45 secs |
Exercise | Sets x Reps | Rest (between sets) |
|---|---|---|
| Standing Forward Fold | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 20–30 secs |
| Downward Dog Stretch | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 20–30 secs |
| Figure-Four Glute Stretch | 2–3 x 30–45 secs | 20–30 secs |
Benefits Of Bodyweight Exercises For The Winter Slump
Performing an at-home bodyweight workout is great for increasing muscle mass and strength. Below, we highlight three main benefits and reasons why they are perfect for avoiding a winter slump.
Maintain Healthy Weight
Maintaining a healthy weight requires us to balance our calorie intake with our daily calorie expenditure. This can be achieved by eating a nutrient-dense diet and an exercise routine which help to balance our calorie intake.
At-home bodyweight workouts can help burn additional energy, leading to weight maintenance. Resistance training has been shown to increase energy expenditure for hours following a workout. This, combined with maintenance calories, can help maintain weight during the winter period.
Increases Muscle Mass
Bodyweight exercises are excellent for building and maintaining lean muscle. Building lean muscle requires progressive overload, which involves increasing sets, repetitions, and resistance at a moderate to high intensity.
This can be achieved by performing multi-joint and single-joint exercises. Mulit-joint exercises use more muscle groups, allowing us to increase the load to promote muscle growth. Single-joint exercises allow us to increase the training volume of specific muscles.
The bodyweight exercises above are perfect examples of multi-joint movements. The squats, lunges, and push-ups all use multiple joints, enabling us to increase the load to stimulate growth.
Furthermore, combining these exercises into a program increases training volume for each muscle. This leads to greater muscle growth.
Improve Daily Function
At-home bodyweight exercises are incredible for improving function with daily tasks. This involves training with multi-joint movements that mimic daily activities including standing, sitting, walking, and maintaining posture.
The bodyweight exercise above mimics many of our daily movements. For example, squats mimic standing up and sitting down, increasing lower body strength. Reverse lunges replicate walking and using the stairs, improving single-leg strength and balance.
By performing these movements and progressively overloading them by increasing sets, repetitions, and intensity, we can increase strength, balance, and function.
Other Ways To Stay Active During Winter
Resistance and bodyweight training is a great way to stay active, maintain weight, and preserve muscle mass during winter. However, these are not the only ways to maintain our health during the winter slump.
- Group Classes — Group classes are great for keeping active and motivated during the winter season. Classes including spin cycling, yoga, Pilates, and boxing are all great ways to increase muscle mass, flexibility, and energy expenditure. Furthermore, group classes add a social aspect to training which can increase enjoyment and engagement, improving adherence to our workout routine.
- Online Classes — Online workouts provide us with qualified trainers, enabling us to engage with a community and perform a great workout anywhere. These may be online personal training sessions, group classes, or boot camps, helping us build muscle and maintain function.
- Recreation Activities — Recreational exercise is a fun and interesting way to maintain our health. Activities such as team sports, walking, skiing, ice skating, or martial arts are all great ways to stay fit. This is helpful for individuals who prefer exercise in the form of sports rather than just moving weights and running.
- Fitness Challenges — Fitness challenges are excellent for increasing motivation. These often follow six-, eight-, or 12-week formats and focus on losing weight or gaining muscle. Focusing on short time frames with a prize at the end can increase motivation and improve adherence.
Conclusion
Winter is undoubtedly one of the toughest times to stick to our workout routine. Between the cold weather and short days, many of us struggle to find consistency with our training.
At-home bodyweight workouts can help us lock in a quality workout anywhere. This enables us to maintain muscle mass and function while maintaining a healthy weight.
If you are considering trying our at-home bodyweight workout for winter, ensure you follow our programming recommendation for incredible results.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you don’t have time for a full workout, consider performing a shorter version with a focus on compound exercises. Compound exercises target more muscle groups and are great for increasing strength and muscle mass.
Yes, you should warm up and cool down every time. Warm-ups help prepare our muscles, joints, and nervous system, improving performance, while cool-downs can help us improve flexibility.
Yes, you can incorporate other exercises into this workout split. At-home bodyweight training is great for increasing muscle mass and strength. Aerobic exercise such as running and cycling can improve cardiovascular health and endurance, developing better overall fitness.
If you have joint pain or injury, you should avoid this program until you consult a physical therapist. They can recommend rehabilitation exercises and modify your routine for a safe and effective recovery.
Resources
Endomondo.com refrains from utilizing tertiary references. We uphold stringent sourcing criteria and depend on peer-reviewed studies and academic research conducted by medical associations and institutions. For more detailed insights, you can explore further by reading our editorial process.
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About the Author
Ben Dillon, BHSc, PT Musculoskeletal Therapist & Personal Trainer
