Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 181: 10 Tips for GREAT Home Workouts (Gym Too)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everybody, welcome in to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Matranga. And in today's episode, this is episode 181, I'm going to go over 10 tips for training very efficiently from home. So these are the 10 best home workout tips I've come up with, in large part, thanks to the pandemic. The pandemic really made me, my coaches, and my business have to pivot to a place where we could provide high-quality, effective home workouts for our clients all over the world, regardless of whatever equipment that they had. Helping clients train from home has been a fixture of core coaching methods, online coaching services, since the pandemic, even before,

Starting point is 00:00:45 but it's a big part now, even after we kind of phase out of what feels like the end of it, because for a lot of people, training from home just makes sense. It's efficient. They have equipment there now, or they like body weight training, or they just find that they're more in their rhythm and more in their routine when they can stay and train in the comfort of their very own home. And look, I get it. I have a home gym. I understand that's very different from most people's home setup, but the convenience and ability to train from home is undeniable. So I want to share with you guys 10 tips for really effective, really fun home workouts, whether you train from home all the time or you train from home whenever you just absolutely have to. I think these 10 things will help you take your training to the next level.

Starting point is 00:01:24 Before we dive into it though, if you're listening to this now, it is Monday and my app-based training series is live. I partnered with Train Heroic to bring you guys two amazing training communities, Elite Physique, where you can train at the gym, or Home Heroes, where you can train from home with nothing more than bands and dumbbells. And I think that's a pretty fitting community to join if you're listening to this episode today, looking to get the most out of your home workouts, you'll get a little bit out of what we talk about today. You'll hear quite a bit about what makes Home Hero so special because everything I share with you today is kind of baked into that program. But Train Heroic is a phenomenal, easy to use app that's

Starting point is 00:02:02 got phenomenal, cool, fun UI that allows you to track your weights, track your progress, compare your results to where you were last week, as well as how the other people on your team are progressing. You can interact directly with me, my coaches, and your teammates inside with fun messages, form reviews, sharing your progress. It's an amazing community. It's not just a training app. And I can't wait to see you on the inside.

Starting point is 00:02:23 Like really, I can't. All of you guys who listen to this podcast are an amazing community. And the app is a wonderful place for us to interface. If you want a little more hands-on, if you want the nutrition component, if you want a program that is built specifically for you, then online coaching is still an awesome option. But for those of you who are training from home or training at the gym and want to show up, have something to do, not have to think about it, just show up, push yourself, make progress, then the Core Coaching Collective app partnered with Train Heroic is definitely the place to start. So let's dive into these 10 tips

Starting point is 00:02:53 for great, really efficient home workouts. And number one and two and three are kind of a little bit of the setting the stage. Three or four through 10 are a little bit more mechanistic. So number one is carve out space in your home if you can specifically for your workout. Meaning if you have a room where you can do this, if you have a corner of a room where you can do this, carve out a specific space where you can compartmentalize your training. This space is for training. When I walk in here, I'm training. When I come to this part of the room, I am training. It can be really challenging. Like, let's say you have a home office like I do to say, I'm going to use my home office to train because when you walk into your home office,

Starting point is 00:03:34 a lot of times that space is for work. So, you know, subconsciously when you walk in there, your body goes into work mode. Your bedroom, for example, usually for sleep and other extracurricular activities might not be the best place to train. If you have the ability and you have the privilege to be able to compartmentalize a small area of a room or an entire room for your workouts, start by doing that. That is such a difference maker. Early on in the pandemic, I think in large part due to stress, anxiety, and uncertainty, many of our clients were unmotivated for or to do home workouts. Because again, it's just such a deviation from training at the gym. But one thing we found that was extremely effective was communicating to our clients to define a workout space in advance. So start with that. That works very well. Number two, try to keep your routine. If you're

Starting point is 00:04:19 transitioning to home workouts from the gym or you're starting a home workout routine, try to keep or build a routine. So create a pre-workout ritual, whether that be with music, whether that be with a pre-workout supplement, whether that be with a coffee, whether that be with a motivational video, whether that be changing into a pair of workout leggings that you really enjoy, an outfit, set a ritual, keep a routine so that when it's time to work out, you can kind of get mentally where you need to be before you even touch the weights. So many people have a gym routine where it's like, hey, I throw all my gym clothes, I mix my pre-workout, I get in the car, I listen to gym tunes, I head over there

Starting point is 00:04:58 while I sit my pre-workout and I really get in the zone. And a lot of times for people training from home, it's, well, I rolled out of a zoom. I'm fucking super busy. Kids are running around screaming, got chicken nuggets in the air fryer, and I'm going to try to work out. If you can create a little pre-workout routine that takes five to 10 minutes as you head towards your fine compartmentalized gym space, that will work wonders as it pertains to your ability to get in the zone and have an effective training session. So number three, and this is so, so often missed in home training. And that's why in every single session in our Home Heroes program, there is some type of warmup, whether it be core stability work, metabolic challenging work, mobility specific work, there's always a warmup routine,

Starting point is 00:05:50 a dynamic session specific warmup that's simple, can be one, two, three exercises, is important to do even when you're training from home. So many folks when they're training from home think, well, it's just body weight or I don't have that heavy a dumbbell, so I don't need a warmup. No, no, no, no, no. Do your warmup, but include and layer what I like to call the broccoli into your warmup. I got this from coach Eugene Tio. He has a day in his split where he does what he calls broccoli, where he takes all of the exercises and movements he knows he needs to do and does them all on one day. But they're usually the things he doesn't like a lot like broccoli. And so I say, do a broccoli warmup that takes two to five minutes where you get the work done that you need to do, whether it's core

Starting point is 00:06:23 stability, hip mobility, aerobic work, but do a warmup, even when you're training from home, even when you're not using a lot of weight, just remember to warm up. Okay. So moving into kind of more of the mechanistic, actual structural pieces of what these workouts should look like when you're training from home. Number four, I think this is so important. Keep in mind that workouts don't need to be really long to be effective. So a short workout that is progressive where you train through a full range of motion or you train with heavier weights or you add a few more reps is effective. It's stimulative. You don't need a workout to be long for a workout to be effective. So for many people who are training from home, long home workouts are probably not their jam. A lot of the reason why people choose to train from home

Starting point is 00:07:09 is for the convenience and versatility it allows across the rest of their day. So my challenge to you is to try to reframe how long these workouts need to be. We built our Home Heroes workouts to take anywhere between 35 and 40 minutes. For some people who like to take longer rest periods, it could take up to 50, but these are pretty short, effective workouts. And what I have found is work of higher quality tends to be better than just monotonous kind of going through the motions work for higher durations. So when training from home, you might feel like because that work is maybe not as heavy or because that work is maybe not as spread across all these fancy-pantsy machines that you need to

Starting point is 00:07:44 just do a million bodyweight reps. That's not necessarily the case. Short, concise, effective workouts can still be your bread and butter, especially if it helps you stick to your routine. Number five comes to actual equipment acquisition. And this is so valuable. I wrote an article on my website very early on in the pandemic specific to what equipment you should procure for a home gym. And I think that there's a few things that you should start with. Number one is a set of bands. Bands are very versatile. Number two is a light set of dumbbells. And number three is a heavy

Starting point is 00:08:14 set of dumbbells. Home Heroes, our home program, uses just those things. Light dumbbells, heavy dumbbells, bands. That's all you need. But you can add on as you go, right? But start with the basics. That's all you need, but you can add on as you go, right? But start with the basics. Uh, number six is actually add on as you go. So the clients that we worked with that had the most success when training from home throughout the pandemic were clients who started with basic equipment and then layered it in and added more in as they went. So things that can be really valuable to add in can be suspension trainers like a TRX, for example. They make a phenomenal product. More bands that you can add to the mix, kettlebells that you can add to the mix, a yoga ball, which can be used as a bench. You can even hip thrust on it. Glute loops or glute

Starting point is 00:08:55 bands, adjustable dumbbells, even barbells and plates. You can add these things in as you go to eventually build out a full equipped home gym. If you have made up your mind that you are of the school of thought that you're not going to go to the gym, that you're going to do your workouts from home, I implore you to consider slowly building a home gym that you can be proud of, that fits within your budget. You don't need a bunch of shit. Take it from me. I spent about 40 grand on my home gym and a lot of the stuff I don't use. But you can build an incredible home gym, in my opinion, for under $10,000. And if you don't have a ton of money stuff I don't use. But you can build an incredible home gym, in my opinion, for under $10,000. And if you don't have a ton of money to spend, you can do it in increments.

Starting point is 00:09:29 But if you want to train from home because it's convenient for you, I would slowly recommend adding in more equipment. Even if it's just heavier dumbbells, slowly adding to your arsenal or adding more arrows to your quiver is going to make a really, really big difference. Hey, guys, just wanted to take a quick second to say thanks so much for listening to the podcast. And if you're finding value, it would mean the world to me if you would share it on your social media. Simply screenshot whatever platform you're listening to and share the episode to your Instagram story or share it to Facebook. But be sure to tag me so I can say thanks and we can chat it up about what you liked and how I can continue to improve. Thanks so much for supporting the podcast and enjoy the rest of the episode. Number seven is leverage good body weight movements, right?

Starting point is 00:10:21 Core training, relative strength goals, things like that that can be done with body weight are so, so effective. So I'll give you some examples. Walking lunges for distance, incredibly effective body weight training protocol, max reps, pushups, max reps, pull-ups, max duration, ISO hold hip thrust, max duration, uh, max duration, side plank, hip adduction, max duration, RKC plank. These are effective body weight movements that you can progress with no weight whatsoever. Not the goofy jumping around half-assed, half-baked plyo shit. There are a number of highly effective body weight only movements that you can progress. We feature these a little bit in Home Heroes, whether it's body

Starting point is 00:11:03 weight lunges for distance, whether it's stir the pots for time, whether it's RKC planks for time. There's a lot of ways you can challenge the body with effective body weight training. So that is your kind of starter piece of equipment is the weight of your own body. You add to that bands and dumbbells. And then as you get into your rhythm and into your routine, you can layer in more equipment. I think if I had to go in order, I would say, of course, we're starting with the base of effective bodyweight training, adding in bands, light dumbbells, and heavy dumbbells, things like bands so we can really be versatile, things like light dumbbells to train the arms and shoulders and scale some of the lower body movements, things like heavy dumbbells to do things like split squats, lunges, goblet squats,

Starting point is 00:11:40 rows. And then you might jump to a yoga ball and a TRX or a suspension trainer. Those add a ton of depth and dimension to how you train. You can then add something like heavier dumbbells, adjustable dumbbells, more bands, eventually getting all the way up to a barbell or a rack, depending on your space and situation. But the truth of the matter is, start with good body weight, mechanically sound movements. You can really get quite a bit out of those, especially if you layer in additional things like pauses or partials or isometrics. There's a lot that you can do. Number eight is to leverage the power of high rep metabolite training. I just recently heard Dr. Andy Galpin of Cal State Fullerton fame, one of the best

Starting point is 00:12:23 strength and conditioning coaches on the planet on the Andrew Huberman podcast. He did a three hour episode where they talked about the basics of muscle growth, muscle training, strength training, all of it. And one of the things that he said that I thought was really, really well spoken, and I think it's really important to understand is that we're not entirely sure about the exact mechanisms that drive muscle hypertrophy. But what we do know is that metabolites or metabolic byproducts produced from high volume challenging exercises that create a pump or a burn are a piece of the puzzle. And you can do high rep fatigue specific metabolite specific training at home without much equipment that can help you build muscle. I'm not saying that you need to do a million reps, but if you do body weight Bulgarian split squats with a good tempo for a set of 15, where you're controlling the eccentric and the concentric, that's going to

Starting point is 00:13:13 build up things like calcium, lactate, hydrogen, and creatine in the muscle. It's going to cause a burn. It's going to cause a pump. And those can help with muscular development or muscle preservation when training from home. You don't need to do everything super duper heavy. And when you don't have a lot of equipment and you don't have a lot of weight to work with, the power of high rep metabolic, why can I not say that today? Metabolic or metabolite specific training can be really powerful. As can things like isometrics. So for example, things like wall sits, that's a commonly thought about isometric or planks. That's a commonly thought about isometric. Those can be really, really powerful. And so you can even do like an isometric bicep curl where you just hold in the mid range and you hold for 30 seconds and then you do 10 reps or isometric chest press where you hold at

Starting point is 00:14:00 the mid range and then you do a full set. There's so many ways you can make training challenging by leveraging higher volume metabolite specific training or isometrics, even when you have limited equipment. Tip number nine is to supplement with zone two cardio specifically after the fact. So a 15 to 20 minute run, jog, hike, or a brisk walk after a 40 to 50 minute home workout will basically cover all of your bases. For home heroes, like one of the recommendations we're going to have for the people in that team is to do about 30 minutes of zone two cardio after each session. That'll get you to around 120 minutes a week. So you can do a 15 minute pre-workout walk, a 30 minute post-workout walk,

Starting point is 00:14:41 a 30 minute separate session walk. But the goal is to get between 120 to 150 minutes of zone two cardio a week. If you pair that with full range of motion, fundamentally sound resistance training, even from home with minimal weight, if it's intelligently designed, you can really cover all of your fitness bases. Think about it like this. You'll cover the resistance portion with smart body weight band and dumbbell training, training through full range of motion, challenging muscles, maintaining mobility and building strength. And that really covers your metabolic health in the longterm. That really covers your bone health, your skeletal health in terms of soft tissues and muscle tissue. But what about your aerobic system? Well, high rep training can definitely challenge your aerobic system, but a light walk or a brisk jog,

Starting point is 00:15:23 or just getting out and getting into that zone two cardio space can take care of the cardio respiratory elements of your fitness. So your heart health, the health of your lungs, the health of your vessels. It's even good for your mental health and peace of mind to just get outside and get moving. And number 10 is just because you're training from home, don't forget to try to do as many compounds as possible. So just a quick primer on what those compound movements are. They tend to be vertical pushes like shoulder presses, horizontal presses like bench presses, vertical pulls like pull-ups, horizontal pulls like rows, hinges like Romanian deadlifts, squats like goblet squats, lunges like split squats or reverse lunges. Those are those compound movements. Those are the categories

Starting point is 00:16:05 they usually neatly fit into. What they are not is squat to press, lunge to curl, side lunge to overhead press. Those are combination movements. You will not see many of these featured in this program. I find combination movements are usually a great way to get the least return on both of the exercises you're combining. And instead, what you want to do is focus on compounds. So guys, just to reiterate, 10 tenants, 10 tenants for effective home training are one, compartmentalize your space. Make sure that you define that that is clearly for home training. It doesn't have to be an entire room. It can be a corner of a room, a section of a room. Just make sure that that space is reserved for that. Number two, keep your routine

Starting point is 00:16:49 if you're transitioning to home training or develop a routine or ritual prior to training. So if you're a pre-workout drinker, get your pre-workout on. If you like the same playlist, bump that playlist. Create a ritual. Number three, always warm up properly even when training from home.

Starting point is 00:17:04 A dynamic session-specific warmup will be included for you in our Home Heroes program, so you won't have to think about it, but if you're not gonna join us inside there, be sure you warm up nevertheless. Number four, stop forcing the issue to make workouts extremely long. Instead, focus on making them very effective.

Starting point is 00:17:19 Number five, start with the basics, the simplest, most highly leverageable, versatile equipment, body weight, bands, light dumbbells, heavy dumbbells. Number six, add on as you go. Specifically, if you want this to be a long-term thing, add in things like suspension trainers, yoga balls, adjustable dumbbells, kettlebells, benches, bands, and even things like barbells. If you have the space for it, it can get expensive. But if you set a little bit of money aside over time, you can build a pretty awesome home gym and you'll save on a gym membership. There's plenty of reasons to consider moving, uh,

Starting point is 00:17:53 to a home gym setup, depending on your finances, how far you are from the gym, your time, et cetera. Number seven, never neglect body weight training, specifically the highly effective body weight movements that allow you to incorporate things like time-based sets that allow you to train to failure or allow you to use isometrics. Number eight, high rep metabolite work is your friend. Number nine, add in zone two cardio to supplement your overall aerobic fitness while training from home. Just because you're doing high rep work doesn't necessarily mean you're always going to be training your aerobic fitness to be full, robust, and well developed. And then number 10, do compound movements, not combination movements. I want

Starting point is 00:18:34 to thank you guys all so much for tuning in. As you're hearing this, our app-based programming launches today. The programs start today. It's not too late to join. I launch these podcasts around five in the morning. You might not even have gone to the gym yet. So if you want to take your training to the next level, if you're training from home or you're training at the gym, join our training communities through the Train Heroic app, whether it's Elite Physique done at the gym or Home Heroes done from home, we've got your back. Come engage with me. Ask me questions. Show your form. There's plenty of trainers and coaches in there. Not just my trainers and coaches, but trainers and coaches who trust me and my team to provide really well-designed, sound, fun programming that's progressive. Can't wait to

Starting point is 00:19:13 see you on the inside. Catch you on the next one.

Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 181: 10 Tips for GREAT Home Workouts (Gym Too)

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