One of the most common reasons given as to why people don’t exercise is that they can’t afford to go to the gym, or that they don’t have the time to go to the gym. The reality is that they do have the time, they’re just choosing not to use it to exercise, and you don’t have to go to a gym in order to exercise.
By far the most simple way for people to exercise without going to a gym, or using expensive equipment, is to either run or walk outside. There’s no excuse as to why anyone shouldn’t be able to do this. If you choose to run you really only need to run about 20-30 minutes (5K) to get the health benefits associated with running.
If you need to walk because you can’t run or jog yet, try walking for 30 minutes to an hour throughout the day. The best part is that you only have to run or walk 3 times a week to see dramatic health improvements.
If you’re going to use the weather as an excuse to keep you indoors, running or walking up the stairs in your house or apartment building works as well.
There are also simple ways to work out at home without any equipment. These exercises can be incorporated throughout your day at work or at home to keep you in shape.
Exercises You Can Do Anywhere
Yoga
If you’ve never taken a yoga class before, take one. Once you learn how to do yoga you can do it anywhere. Yoga is great for home exercise that improves your posture, flexibility, as well as strengthens and tones your body. Even if you’re just doing a sun-salutation for 20 minutes, you’re working out your all the muscles in your body.
Wall Sits
Wall sits are easy at home exercise you can do to strengthen your legs and help perk up your behind. To do a wall sit correctly you simply pretend that you’re sitting in a chair against the wall. Try and keep your knees at a 90-degree angle if you can, and keep your arms against the wall as well to prevent any cheating.
Abductors/Adductors
These muscles include your inner and outer thighs and are responsible for moving your legs away and into your body. A simple abductor/adductor exercise that you can do at home is to lift your leg out to the side as high as you can, and then bring it back down.
When doing this exercise try to bring your leg back up to the side just before it touches the ground. If you need help balancing try holding a wall or a doorway. Try not to rely on the wall or door frame too much because balancing engages your abdominal muscles and gives you an added benefit from the exercise.
Tiptoes/calf raises
This is easy at home exercise you can do when you’re just walking around the house. Simply start walking on the tops of your toes, or rising continuously on your tiptoes. This exercise will help tone your calves, giving you nice shapely legs.
Airplane/Windmill
This will tone up your arms if you take the time to do it long enough. The airplane is when you simply extend your arms out on either side and keep them there.
You can also add the windmill motion which is when you add a circular motion (big and small) to your extended arms. When you’re doing the airplane/windmill, be conscious not to lock your elbow joint, or over rotate your arms during larger windmill circulations.
Push-ups
One of the best ways to work out your chest, arms and back all at once is by doing push-ups. So drop down and give yourself twenty push-ups periodically throughout the day.
Crunches
You don’t have to go to a gym to do crunches, you can do them on the edge of a bed, or on a carpet. It’s completely up to you. All this involves doing is laying on the ground with both feet squarely on the ground as well and then raising your head up while trying to touch your knees.
Many people choose to exercise at home because it is cheaper and less time consuming than going to the gym. They know regular exercise is important for staying healthy, losing weight and getting fit but not everyone gets the results they want.
Here are the 5 most common mistakes that almost everyone makes when they start to exercise at home.
Don’t Make These Common Home Exercising Mistakes
Buying Expensive Equipment.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money on equipment if you want to exercise at home. There are workouts where you use nothing but your body. Press-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, squats and leg lunges are classic examples.
Also, something like a jump rope doesn’t cost much and provides a great workout for your legs as well as toning your upper body. You can also normally pick up a bench and a set of weights pretty cheap if you keep an eye out for some of your local classified ads or charity shops.
Not Doing A Warm Up Or Cool Down.
Always stretch your muscles first before starting to exercise at home. You will increase your risk of a sprain or strain if your muscles are not warmed up properly. An injury could prevent you from exercising for several days and you’ll end up needing to start back at square one. It’s
also important to do some cool down stretching exercises once you have finished your workout.
Not Sticking To A Schedule.
The key to any exercise routine is to have a schedule that fits in with your lifestyle. The best way to exercise at home on a regular basis is to mark down your workouts somewhere that you look at frequently like a calendar. Treat them the same as you would if you had an important meeting to attend or if you had a friend coming around to see you.
Thinking That You Have To Stay Indoors.
Just because you exercise at home does not mean you have to actually exercise inside your house. If it’s a nice day, go for a walk or a jog. If you own a bike then it’s pretty easy to keep fit and shed some unwanted weight when you go for a ride.
Becoming Bored.
Remember that when you exercise at home you need to be able to enjoy what you’re doing. If you don’t, your workout will become boring and you’ll soon give it up. Add a little variety to your routine and try different exercises, both indoors and outside.
Doing exercises at home also means that during your workout you can listen to your favorite music or catch up on some TV programs that you may have missed.
About The Author:
My name is John Welborn and I’m a personal fitness coach and fat loss specialist in the Portland/Fairview Oregon area. I specify in helping overweight and obese individuals transform their bodies, lives, reclaim their freedom and confidence, and reach the best shape of their lives. You can get in touch with me by checking out my fitness website.
