Home workouts are one of those fads that pop-up from time to time. “The 100 Squat Challenge,” “The 100 Push-Up Test,” and so forth.

These usually revolve around a very simple exercise done over and over again, which is fine. However, today’s article examines some better alternatives. These are activities worth adding to your existing fitness routine, challenging you both mentally and physically.

Barring one exercise, these are all easily doable no matter where you live, and they require minimal equipment.

As such, they’re ideal for anyone looking to spice up their routine.

1. Get A Massive Tire And Flip It Back And Forth

Tire flipping is like doing a bunch of deadlifts back-to-back. It’s actually one of the toughest home workouts I’ve ever done, mixing cardio with strength training.

Look around for a large industrial tire (like the ones you find on tractors or earth movers).

You’ll often find bisected ones (they’re cut in half vertically) very cheap (or sometimes free). Start with one of these, because it’s lighter and easier to flip than a full tire.

Aim for a distance of 10 – 20 yards when you start doing this exercise. Keep increasing the distance as you get more and more accustom to it.

The only downside with this home workout is the fact that it’s virtually impossible to do if you live in a city or apartment building.

If you live in the suburbs or countryside, however, definitely give this a shot.

2. Learn To Duck And Weave

Here’s a great exercise anyone can do at home.

Find an area without much furniture in it and hang a string from one end to the other. Then practice ducking and weaving across the room.

Throw in a little shadow boxing and you’re getting terrific cardio.

3. Tie A Tennis Ball To A String And Get Good At Hitting It

Every fat guy on the Internet envisions himself as a kung-fu master. In reality, throwing punches is hard work. The average man will easily wear himself out within three minutes.

One of the best home workouts for fighting (aside from hitting the heavy bag) involves a tennis ball and piece of string.

Tie, or tape, the ball to a string and then hang it up somewhere. Practice consistently hitting it for several minutes. Additionally, you can try dodging the ball as it swings around for a more full-body workout.

This is both a simple way to improve your hand-eye coordination, and it’s a fun little time-killer. You can record your “high score” for consecutive hits landed, then try breaking it whenever you have free-time.

4. Fill A Backpack With Weights And Go Hiking

(This Is Especially Fun During Cold Weather Months)

You can technically do this exercise with a weighted vest, but I’m always self-conscious about wearing one of these around a park or nature preserve.

Instead, get a sturdy backpack and fill it up with bottled water, hardcover books, or something else heavy.

Then go hiking for several miles.

One nice thing about this exercise is the fact that you can do it virtually anyway. I’ve done weighted hikes across the sweltering skywalks of downtown Bangkok, the frozen woods of South Korea, and the sunny state parks of Iowa.

In terms of good, simple exercise this activity is hard to beat.

5. Jump Rope For 15 Minutes Straight

Jumping rope is a mental exercise. You have to focus, otherwise you will fail. Get distracted and you’re sure to tangle yourself up in the rope.

A classic case of “thinking when you should have been paying attention.”

In addition to the mental component, jumping rope takes a lot of timing and hand-eye coordination. It took me days to consistently make it past the one minute benchmark, and even longer to reach the five or ten minute milestones.

Get a jump rope if you want an exercise which tests your mental endurance and your body.

Closing Thoughts On The Best Home workouts

Doing 100 push-ups or sit-ups is nice, but these activities aren’t as effective as a more full-body workout.

If you ever played high school sports, think back to the types of exercises you did.

Footwork drills, sprints, pushing a weighted tackle dummy. It’s highly unlikely that you spent a whole hour doing push-ups.

Try incorporating more cardio and coordination activities into your workout plan. It’ll improve your physical endurance and your reflexes.