We often hear from our ViPR PTs that they want to be able to share ideas with their clients – especially for those times clients are tight on time or even tight on space (think hotel rooms or when working from home). So we asked Stephen Tongue to come up with tight-on-space ViPR exercises for you to share. He took the brief and supercharged it, delivering these moves that can be done in just one metre square.

Movement and exercise are a passion for so many and an aspiration for even more. If you do want to get moving, one luxury you are certainly going to need is space. Not everybody has a gym membership or a home gym they can jump around in. If you have a suitable garden or a picturesque public park to use, then you’re at somewhat of an advantage. Not everybody has a beautiful, safe, green space to train outdoors and not everybody is happy about training in all weathers.

Since the pandemic, we have seen an increase in the amount of people who exercise at home and many have invested in equipment, apps and subscriptions to help keep them healthy. Many of these digital workouts look great but require you to leap about, roll around and swing the cat above your head. For a demographic such as students and city dwellers, for example, space in a small flat can be very restricted and they could be performing their hamstring stretches with one foot on the bed’s headboard and one hand on the kitchen sink! Maybe you have limited space yourself or have members/clients who need to train in small flats or even hotel rooms on the go. For a tool like ViPR, which is long and mobile, the chandelier could be in the fireplace before you have time to say ‘thread the needle’.

So, if you have a ViPR that has been collecting dust or held off getting a ViPR through lack of space, now is the time to get your hands on one. This article is going to help you consider how to train at home safely and offer you a ViPR workout that won’t bring the house down.

Home workout considerations

The first rule for exercising at home is minimising distractions. I can’t be the only one who gets on the living room floor to do my warm-up stretches and immediately thinks “what’s that under the sofa?” The reality is that in the home there is so much that demands our attention and it all wants to drag you away from your workout. Put your devices on ‘do not disturb’, move your work and chores out of sight, pull the blinds and make a promise to yourself that you will focus for 30 minutes. Personally, I find ear buds and a great workout playlist can drown out a lot of those domestic distractions.

You will already know which room you’re likely to train in, but briefly consider surface. Are you on a carpet or a hard floor? Do you need to roll up the rug or buy an exercise mat (or use a folded towel)? Should you be barefoot or in training shoes? It’s not nice when you’re on your second round of sit-ups and you realise your coccyx is starting to burn on the wooden floor or chafe on the shag pile. I’ve tried training in the living room, kitchen and garden. The garden wins, although depending upon the weather, it’s not always full of appeal.

If you’re cosy and comfortable before you start working out, I guarantee that 10mins into your sesh you will feel like you’re in a sauna breathing through a straw. You’ll be throwing off layers, gasping and guzzling water, and nobody wants to train naked – it’s just not practical. You do need to plan ahead for this one but 10-15mins before you train, be sure to check the heating is off and throw some windows open to lower the temperature, ventilate the space and have water to hand. If you feel a little chilly in your gym kit before you start, you have hit it just right and it will motivate you to crack on with the warm-up.

What are the obvious hazards? Be sure to tidy your space so that you're not going to step on a plug or a piece of Lego, but also look for obvious things you might hit such as light fittings, mantlepiece pictures or overhanging plants. Cleaning spillages mid workout is a real endorphin suppressor. Beware of people and pets. If you share your space with others, do inform them of the forthcoming danger. Throwing your arms and legs around and bouncing up and down on the floorboards can catch people off guard and curiosity can draw them into the wrong end of a ViPR uppercut. Secure your pets – nobody wants to see Felix trap his tail or Fido flipped over the sofa.

Plan for the worst-case scenario. I don’t like to be downbeat and I love to be optimistic but, sometimes, you do have to be practical. Do you have a first aid kit? If your grapevine went around the twist and into the fireplace, do you have the necessaries to deal with that? If the workout did literally kill you, who would know? Just saying.

Finally, do a practical check before you begin. When teaching live online, I always ask participants to stretch up above their head and around their bodies, just to get some spatial awareness without kicking the coffee table over.

Workout

After some sensible considerations, you’ve prepped your space and you’re good to go. What are the best compact moves you can do with ViPR for a full-body workout? I’ve got you covered with the list and videos below. I’m going to assume you can adopt a press-up position, so strictly speaking I suppose it’s not a metre squared; however, often – and certainly in a hotel room – a small rectangular floor space is all you’re going to get but it does usually mean space to lie on the floor is available if needed. In my video, you’ll note I’ve cleared furniture to make space and even mapped out my 1m square to demonstrate how compact this functional ViPR workout is. Complete this workout with a light to medium weight ViPR.

Warm-up

Starting with some simple tilting movements to stretch you out and some light lifting and twisting drills to warm your spine and hips. Work each drill for approximately 30secs and move on. Perform the main workout as a circuit, spending 1min on each exercise. Repeat two or three circuits, taking 1-2mins recovery between each complete circuit.

ViPR bent over row

Great for your upper back. Keep a flat, long spine and drive the elbow high.

ViPR split squat overhead press

Combining shoulders and thigh work, this raises the temperature quickly. Drop until both knees are 90 degrees and simultaneously press ViPR overhead. No matter how tall you are, you won’t hit the ceiling with this one.

ViPR steering wheel turns

This loads the lateral hips and core. Grip the ends of the tube, take an extra wide stance. Keeping the hips low, shift your pelvis and ViPR over alternate feet.

ViPR half kneeling woodchops

This core-focused drill also creates great rotation in the thoracic spine. Starting on one knee, take a wide grip on ViPR. Throw ViPR back over the shoulder with pace and return it slowly to the opposite hip.

ViPR front squat rotate

Work fast and strengthen the legs. Rest ViPR on the upper chest and secure it with fingers in the reverse grip and elbows wide to support the weight. Squat first and rotate at the top of the movement while keeping eyes front.

ViPR reverse lunge uppercut

Load the legs and the core with this drill. Take an offset grip, lunge back with the left leg and uppercut with the left hand at the same time.

ViPR twist march

This is a great functional core exercise focused on stability. Adopt the same grip used in the front squat. Rotate right and lift the right knee as high as possible. Repeat on the other side. Keep ViPR in close.

ViPR static box drill

This is great for getting the heart rate up and promoting frontal plane hip motion. Squat and reach ViPR straight out, squat again and press high; push ViPR left and vertical, at the same time pressing the hips away in the opposite direction. Repeat on the other side before starting the sequence over.

ViPR prone step over

This will help to load your abs and quads, making good use of a small space. Here ViPR is used as an obstacle to step over. Drive your pelvis to your heels, pop forwards and step over ViPR and return.

ViPR v sits

A twist on the classic using ViPR to load your abs and obliques. Seated with your feet on the ground, lean back as far as you can without losing control and shift ViPR to alternate sides. After completing the circuit, be sure to cool down with some ground-based stretches on your tightest muscle groups.

Summary

If either you or anyone you know wants to get into ViPR training but aren’t sure you have the space, now you know one square metre is all you need to make it work. It’s also good to know that if you have ViPR tools in the corner of a busy gym, you only need a small floor space to get busy. If you’re considering buying a ViPR, it’s worth knowing that ViPRs increase in size as they increase in weight. The smaller ViPRs are up to 10kg and then there’s a marked difference in size from 12kg and upwards. That said, they have a very small footprint and so are relatively easy to store at home. So, get lifting, tilting and shifting your ViPR without breaking, spilling or smashing your home sweet home.

Stephen Tongue is Head of Education for ViPR. His passion for movement training led to him joining the ViPR Master Trainer Team at FitPro back in 2013. Stephen has remained a part of the team until this day as well as picking up Master trainer positions with other big fitness brands such as TRX and PowerPlate. A successful fitness coach, Stephen has regularly created content throughout his career for national and industry magazines, news bulletins, blogs and social media. Stephen has been motivating people for over 15 years and finds changing the lives of everyday people brings him the most satisfaction.