Working from home sounds as easy as pie – you’re in a comfortable environment able to work in your pajamas, finally free of traffic jams, inconvenience of foul smells, and deflating commutes. But those advantages alone aren’t enough to keep working remotely productive. While there might be some side effects on your physical health, it’s important to stay active and healthy.

The best part about home workout routines is that they allow us to stay on board with our fitness program on those days when we just don’t feel like leaving the house. Whether you’re getting in a quick workout before putting together a project or presentation or looking to do substantial workout sessions, exercising at home can often be seen as a feasible solution to avoiding gym memberships and commutes.

However, effectively performing your routine at home can be challenging, because you can often lose that drive to work out by sticking to only in-house training. It doesn’t need to be that way, though, and I’ve come up with five ways to help you start working out at home and perform your exercise routines more smoothly. Let’s get to it!

This post has been contributed by Ivan Tannenberg from MindTheTravel. He is a travel blogger and a veteran remote worker who has a bunch of tips and tricks for increasing productivity at work.

5 working out from home tips for remote workers

Establish Workout Routine

The entire concept of working remotely based on the premise that you don’t have to commit to the dull 9-to-5 office routine. However, you will need a strategy to keep yourself organized and separate your work from other areas of your life.

When it comes to designing your fitness program, make sure it’s one you genuinely enjoy. Or at least one you’re confident with. Pick the workout routine that fits your lifestyle, abilities, and taste, and the one you’re going to stick with. Since making exercise a habit takes more time and effort, start with working out two to three days a week, and increase your frequency once you get used to it.

A consistent, well thought out, long term program can go a long way, so it’s better to start with a small commitment to something you can do anywhere. Build this small commitment into your morning and evening routines, right before breakfast, or washing your face. For example, if you can set aside 20 or 30 minutes, you can run up and down staircases, perform jumping jacks, use a jumping rope, or step up and down from a box.

You should also try to combine muscle groups in your training because the variety will help exercise different muscles and keep the workout fresh. Eventually, your muscles and body will get used to an exercise routine and it will be hard to start and end your day without it.

Make sure to start every workout with active movements that warm and flex the muscles. In a similar way, you should cool down after your workout to prevent soreness and injuries.

Remove Distractions

The biggest obstacle to a successful workout out at home are all the distractions that can potentially ruin your entire workout. Whether it’s kids or other family members, emails, or noisy environment there are more things at home to throw you off your game than anywhere else. To get the most from home workouts, you need to eliminate distractions and stay focused. That could mean putting your phone in “Do Not Disturb” mode, telling family members to leave you in peace or turning off your computer.

Dedicate a Space

When you consider differences between working out at home vs gym, it’s important to remember that home gyms are often more convenient than gym memberships because they let you fit workouts into your day. However, it could be a bit of a challenge allocating part of a room as your fitness space.

To deal with this problem you need to scope out the best spot in your home for a workout. It could be a living room, the garage, the basement. In other words, a place that will become synonymous with working out and where you’ll have everything you need in one spot.

If you’re looking at cardio and strength exercises, you may only need enough space to lay down an exercise mat. Even cardio-based bodyweight exercises like butt-kicker, reverse lunge, or forearm plank hold can be performed on a mat in a relatively limited amount of space. Although, be careful if you’ve got low ceilings. You may need a spacious room and firm, slip-free flooring if your workouts require more room for larger movements, like broad jumps.

Before even thinking about working out at home, choose a space that gets plenty of light and circulation. You want to get exposure to natural light as much as you can since it contains all these different frequencies that will energize you. At the same time, it’s important to choose a place where you’ll be close to free-flowing air and out of the way. This will allow you to avoid noise complaints from your friends and relatives. And, more importantly, they won’t interrupt you when you’re working out.

You likely don’t need that much equipment

While there are plenty of great body-weight exercises that actually don’t require any additional equipment, with basic equipment such as hand weights and a mat, your options become endless.

Things like jump ropes pull up bars that attach to door frames, suspension trainers, and resistance bands are inexpensive items that won’t break the bank. Consider adding extra resistance like soup cans or water bottles. Alternatively, you can tie the suspension trainer to a tree when training outdoors. You could also search the closet for dumbbells or barbells if you previously purchased them.

Set Up Realistic Goals

Start at a pace you are most comfortable with. You don’t have to speed things up by setting boundaries for your well-being and health. Instead, commit to what makes sense and schedule what you can manage each day. Begin with three days a week and gradually increase the amount of time you spend working out each week.