Bringing Fitness to your Home
No doubt, it can be tough during a workweek to hit the gym especially when you don’t have enough time. And most importantly, you like being on the couch when the new seasons of Big Bang Theory or The Flash is premiering along with a bottle of wine and snacks.
Do you want to work out at home? Is it possible? Now most of us live in small spaces (or maybe on a tight budget) and having a home gym would be a thing in the distance dream. However, it isn’t anymore. You need to realize that huge machines aren’t the only choice for you to be in shape especially when you have home workouts. Hence, you can break the sweat without breaking your bank balance.
Five Elements in Fitness
As per experts, effective fitness programs consist of five major components that can be done at home. They are –
- Cardiovascular (Aerobic) Workout
- Warmup
- Flexibility Moves
- Resistance (which is nothing but strength-building) exercises
- Lastly, Cool down
Now sometimes a walk up can be like a walk on a treadmill or an easy walk outside. It can sometimes be a movement of slow on a stationary bike. If you want to do a cardiovascular exercise, then you need to pedal or walk faster, jump a rope or try doing step aerobics with a video. It means doing whatever you want and enjoy doing it so that you can get your heart rate up.
With regards to the resistance exercise, it can be simple as doing push-ups, squats, and even abdominal crunches. You can work out using a weight bar, small dumbbell, tubing or bands. Keep in mind that you are exercising just to be fit. You can even increase your flexibility by doing yoga poses and floor stretches. Most health experts also recommend that your cool down can be same as the warmup. Your cardiovascular workout must be at low level so that you can bring your heart rate to the resting state. In addition, you can do strength work with the same workout just like the aerobic workout. You even have the option to split both. Most importantly, you must make sure to cool down and warm up each time when you are exercising.
Some days you might be short on time. It could be a day or two. Whatever the days are, it is necessary that you increase the intensity of the exercise you are doing. Most health experts and physicians state that one mustn’t avoid or skip exercising unless they are suffering from any kind of serious ailment. If any day you can’t work out, then you can try to exercise for 40-50 minutes on the stationary bike. Sometimes you can go for a harder program which involves for 20 or 25 minutes to really push yourself. In some cases, it is beneficial if you go for a walk at a hilly area in your neighbourhood or go for a jog rather than walking.
You even have the option to increase the strength workout session by doing compound exercises. These exercises can help you to work out big muscles. Like you can do squats (which is with or without weights) and this will help in working on the quadriceps, gluteus, calves and hamstrings. The push-ups you do works the deltoids, pectorals, triceps, biceps, etc. This also applies to exercise for abdominals and upper back.
Sometimes if you aren’t the creator of your-own workout, i.e. following workouts of your choice which you have made, then don’t worry. There are various online fitness videos which offers various exercising regimes. Right from belly dancing to kickboxing to Pilates, you can try them. Some other references of exercises are in books available at discount stores or local bookstores. You might even come across various websites and articles about similar exercises. You simply need to select the ones which is appropriate for your fitness level.
Starting to Exercise
You might be a beginner, it still doesn’t mean that you can’t exercise. Most importantly, it is necessary that you aim for at least 30 to 35 minutes of cardiovascular exercises. This needs to be done at least three times a week. You need to make sure that the strength workout must cover all the major muscle groups present in your lower body, upper body and even the abdominals. It is necessary that you shoot for at least three set of 15-20 repetitions related to each of the strength exercises.
Irrespective of what kind of exercise you are doing, you must ensure that you do it slowly and then gradually increase your workout time along with the intensity. It is important that while doing exercise you must listen to your body. The important aspect of exercising is that you must focus on the muscles which you are working on. Try to make sure that you feel it there. So, if you are working on the abs and you feel it on the neck, then it is not right. Just close your eyes and begin to tune your body.
While exercising you must tune into what is motivating you. If you are working out at home, there is a huge amount of benefit. However, you might have to work through various distractions. Some of them would be the distraction of the phone, the dog, the kids, refrigerator, and the Internet. At home, you are bound to get distracted with something or the other. Motivation can be achieved if you overcome distractions. If you are doing exercise in the morning, then you are more probably going to stick with that time. Hence, it is better if you start working out first thing in the morning.
Tips to Be Followed by Home Exercisers
There are certain tips that home exercisers must follow. Some of them are –
Try to Challenge Yourself
This is the best thing to do and something that can avoid boredom. Right at home, you might not have various equipment that you might find in the gym. Just surf the internet and go through the various fitness magazines to get the best and latest workouts. And most importantly make sure that you are exercising in the rightful correct manner.
Get An Exercising Partner
The chances of getting or finding less excuses is better if you have a partner or friend to do exercise with.
Make Sure to Schedule Workouts
It is important to have a plan. And that plan must be viewed, and you need to write the exercising appointments on them at least once every month in advance. Most times certain things might come up which involves changing it and even rescheduling it as soon as possible.
Keep Track with A Journal
Having a journal to keep track of the progress might sound be a good idea, especially when you start jolting down the breakthroughs you have. The same can be said about the bad days, if you are having one, then write it down too. This will help you to know the pattern and then break it down. For example, you might feel that a white omelette will help you to get through the morning workout rather than a bagel.
Have A Goal
Just keep in mind that you need to set a goal and it could be like training for a race or losing 30 pounds. You must keep in mind that the goal should be related to something that you might not be possible to do now, however, it will be within your reach. Health and exercising experts feel that you need to provide or encourage yourself with some small rewards as you progress, like a new fitness magazine, a pair of sneakers, or the workout tights you always wanted to have.
Making Exercise Integral
It might not sound to be an important thing, but it is indeed. You really need to make exercising an integral part of your life, just like eating and sleeping. It must be thought of like a lifestyle change. Most importantly, it mustn’t end there. You should really need to get it out of your mind frame that exercising is something which you would be doing for certain period.
Basic Exercises You Can Do at Home
Strength & Cardio Circuit
Doing cardio and strength circuit training before breakfast, before starting the day will be a great thing. You can do the short exercise for one minute which is nothing but push-ups. And this can be done on a plank hold which is for one minute and continue it with one minute of squats, thereby repeating the procedure three times. You even have the choice to substitute with your favourite exercise, where the choices are endless.
Begin With 10 Minute Ab Exercises
Sometimes you want to provide your abs with a challenge the first thing in the morning. Here you really must think about focusing on the workout where you must do each five exercises for 30-40 seconds, and then you need to repeat the circuit about four times and continue it for 10-minute routine.
Five Basic Exercises
Always take few minutes for perfecting the five basic exercises, which are important. You need to take some time to ensure that you master the high plank, the push up, the bodyweight squat, the burpee, or the reverse lunge. All these so called five moves will really make a huge difference when you are doing workouts in the future.
Try to Take A Rope and Perform Seven Minute Cardio Exercises
Go back to the days of the recess, when you could do various rope exercise. The same can be done especially when you have seven minutes to spare. For this seven-minute workout, all you need is a jump rope.
Go for Workout Apps
Nowadays, it is easy to get various workout apps which are used or promoted by celebrities. Like you can try the Serena Williams Training Workout. Of course, a simple Google Play check will display the various workout apps. You can select from them and start working out.
Try Some Amazing Core Exercises
Don’t go for the ones that are crunches but try to create some of your own mini ab exercises. These exercises which develop your abs can be very much relaxing and you can even pick a few and make them into quickies.
Try Butt Lifting Workout
Some people have found the skater hops and goblet squats to be effective. They provide your booty the required burn and that too within two minutes.
Sweat with Tabata Workout
Not many people know that the fast Tabata workout can easily burn the required fats in short period of time. Here the workout is nothing but 25 seconds of ball-to-the wall effort which is followed by a 5-10 seconds of rest. You need to repeat these eight times in the designated four-minute workout.
Try Tabata Workout for Your Burpee Game
Now you can master the burpee, thereby enabling you to crush it while you are during the next boot camp or the plyometric workout. Frankly, this workout takes less than five minutes, and you can easily do some eight rounds which will easily make you sweaty.
Taking Pool
Some people have a pool. And if you are having one, then it will be great to do this water-exercise. When you are doing this exercise, you are resisting against the water. This means you can add some good amount of strength. If you don’t have any pool around, then you need to have one and don’t worry, the benefits are great.
Why You Really Want to Get in Shape
There are many reasons why you really want to get in shape. It might be to impress a cute co-worker, maybe win a weight loss competition, or might be you want to play with your new born son or daughter. Whatever the reason is, it is really a good thing and should be something you need to follow.
