6 At-Home Exercises That Sculpt Your Body Fast

Working out at home is seriously underrated but incredibly effective. Getting into the zone in your own personal space often means fewer distractions than a packed gym. Plus, the flexibility and convenience of home workouts can’t be beat. That’s why we spoke with a fitness expert who shares six at-home exercises that can sculpt your body even faster than gym machines.

Building muscle and burning fat means practicing progressive overload and being consistent with your efforts.

“This can be done through many methods of training, including ones that require little to no equipment,” says Rachel Pieroni, NASM CNC, CPT, with Pure Barre. “At home, there can be a heightened sense of confidence in your own space with no one around vs. being at a gym, where there may be periods of distraction through socializing or nervousness when it comes to navigating the equipment and machines.”

Are at-home workouts more effective than training at a gym? Rachel says they absolutely can be—especially when performing bodyweight exercises and resistance training with bands, dumbbells, and modified versions of staple “gym exercises.”

Below, Rachel outlines six at-home exercises that sculpt your body quicker than gym machines.

Deadlifts

“Deadlifts are a compound movement and highly effective in increasing functional strength,” Rachel explains.

There are different variations of the exercise, including conventional and sumo deadlifts. Rachel focuses on the Romanian deadlift, which is quite similar to conventional, but the movement begins at the top rather than picking the weight(s) up from the ground.

Stand tall, feet hip-width apart, with a dumbbell in each hand.
Bend your knees slightly and hold the weights in front of your thighs.
Press your hips back as you lower the dumbbells down your leg. Maintain a straight back as you do so.
Squeeze your glutes to stand up tall.

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Squats

“A Squat is another compound movement and strength exercise. Your positioning and stance can also vary in a squat, as well as, depth and range of motion. The goal is to lower your hips down toward knee level (or lower in some cases), as you create a hinge at the hips, knees, and ankles,” Rachel explains.

Stand tall with your feet just outside hip-width, toes pointed forward.
Hold an optional dumbbell in each hand, arms at your sides.
Hinge at the hips and lower into a squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Keep your chest lifted.
Drive through your heels to rise back up.

Planks

“[Planks are a] serious full-body isometric exercise,” says Rachel. “Planks have been proven to strengthen your core, shoulders, upper back, and lower body.”

Bring your forearms to the ground, parallel to each other.
Extend your legs back so your body forms a straight line.
Activate your abs as you hold the forearm plank.

Glute Bridges

woman performing banded glute bridge exercise as part of upper leg workout in bright room — Shutterstock

“[The glute bridge is a bodyweight exercise, which can also be performed weighted [and] targets the glutes and core,” Rachel explains.

Begin lying flat on your back with bent knees and feet flat on the ground.
Engage your core, tuck your hips, and squeeze your buttocks to lift your hips toward the sky.
Aim to form a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
Once you reach the top of the bridge, use control to lower your hips.

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Lunges

“Lunges can be performed in many different ways, including static or dynamic, and weighted or bodyweight,” says Rachel.

Begin standing tall with your feet hip-distance apart and parallel to each other.
Step forward with one foot, keeping the other foot back and coming onto the ball of that foot.
Place your hands on your hips.
Activate your core, bend both knees, and lower into a lunge until your knees reach a 90-degree angle bend.
Push through your front heel and the ball of your back foot to return to standing.

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Supermans

“Supermans strengthen your back, core and the entire posterior chain. More specifically, they target the erector spinae muscles, glutes, hamstrings and multifidus (deep back muscles),” Rachel notes.