One of the most common things I hear from moms and busy women is “How do I workout at home?” Between busy schedules and tight budgets this is a very important thing to know how to do. I go to the gym most days that I workout. However, if I have a sick child or something comes up to where I can’t make it to the gym, I simply break out my dumbbells and wing it from my living room!
I would like to
preface this blog by noting the fact that I am, for the most part, self taught
when it comes to weight lifting. As I mentioned in a previous blog I did not play
sports or do anything athletic growing up. I never even entered a weight room
until I was an adult. And even then, I still didn’t really know what to do in
there. Which brings me to my first tip on how to effectively have home workouts:
1.) Utilize your resources!
I started learning about exercise and strength
training from studying my ass off about it! Anything and everything a person wants
to know these days is on the internet, and given my history of nerd-dom growing
up, I actually enjoy doing research (kind of embarrassing to admit, I know).
Between web sites like BodyBuilding.Com and helpful videos from trainers like
Cathe Freidrich I learned enough to be able to work out the basic muscle
groups. There are also several magazines like Muscle and Fitness Hers, Oxygen
and Fitness RX that have TONS of healthy recipes and great work outs from the
pros. I think that often times women are scared off by the titles using “Muscle”
or “Body Building.” Or they think that if they do the workouts in the magazines
that they will look like the super shredded chicks on the cover! The fact is,
these women look like this for a living! It’s their whole world. You can still
do the exercises in these magazines and on these web sites and you will simply
tone and sculpt your body. You will learn what muscle groups are, you will learn
how to control your body better, you can learn how to create the body you want!
Hell, you can even read men’s magazines! They have the same muscles we do. Most
exercises I do, a man would also do, only a man would use more weight…. Well sometimes
J
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| This is an excerpt from Bodybuilding.com. This web site has EVERYTHING you will ever want to know!!! |
2.) Use what you have around the house!
This includes your own body weight!!!! Some of
the best exercises use no weight at all, except your own body. Ummm… hello push
ups and pull ups! Those are two of the best back and chest moves of all time.
Push ups can even be altered to hit triceps, back or shoulders. Instead of a weight bench, use a chair or a
fireplace. For pull ups, use a swing set. For weights use water gallons or even
your kids! Lots of exercises can be modified to use a baby or small child as
resistance. Have you ever held a fat baby and walked lunges across your house?
It’s gonna burn! And it’s no different than what you can do in a gym. Wall sits
require nothing but a wall…something most homes have these days! Use stairs to
run up and down for cardio; or for more a muscle building move, step only on
every other step, walk slowly, and squeeze your buns to build your glutes! Movements like burpees, mountain climbers and
speed skaters are great to get your heart rate up and require no equipment.
Same goes for tricep dips, squats, lunges, the list goes on and on! For me, I prefer
to use the gym because there are more options and variety. You can also have
much more resistance and added weight at the gym. One of my favorite leg moves
is a leg press, and it would be very difficult to try to mimic an 800lb leg
press in my living room! If I ever do home workouts I usually to shoulders, abs,
biceps or triceps and I make sure and save stronger muscle groups like back and
legs for the heavier equipment.
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| This is just an example of how to use things around the house to do exercise movements on. |
3.) OR stock up on equipment!
A simple home gym can be built very easily
and cheaply. For example, at my house I have a yoga mat with a large exercise
ball and a small weighted medicine ball. These can all be used for abs and
stability. I have dumbbells going up to 25 lbs and resistance bands. I also have
a jump rope, which is one of THE BEST forms of cardio EVER! All of these items
can found at Academy or Walmart for less than $20 each. Some extra things I would
like to buy are a BOSU ball, a pull up bar and I would love to have a tire in
my backyard! Tractor tires can be found at junk yards or cars salvages and are
often free. They generally weight over 100 lbs, up to 800 lbs. Tire flips are
awesome! They work your arms, legs, back, abs and get your heart rate way up.
They can also be used for box jumps and tricep dips. Sand bags are another good
weighted, cheap piece of equipment. And if you buy light weight dumbbells and you
find that you outgrow them and need heavier weight, simply add resistance bands
to the weight. This increases the resistance, making the weight feel heavier,
and is much cheaper than buying heavier dumbbells! Videos are another good piece of "equipment." P90X and Insanity workout videos are intense and good for building cardiovascular endurance, stability and strength! These can be pricey though, so a good place to look is Craigslist. (Really this is a good place to look for ANY workout gear!)
4.) Take it outdoors!
The possibilities outdoors are endless! You
can run sprints in your backyard. You can do high knees on a curb or bench. You
can do box jumps or step ups on an elevated porch. You can do tricep dips or
push ups on an outdoor bench. You can find a stadium and run bleachers. You can
take the kids to the park with you and exercise outside while they play. (They
can even help you count your reps! This is good for small kids who are learning
to count. They will think it’s fun!) Have
you ever tried to cross the monkey bars as an adult…? It’s not easy! You can do
pull ups on the monkey bars also. You can take them to the zoo and simply walk
around with them. Have you ever pushed a 40 lb. toddler up hills at the zoo in
a stroller? You’ll break a sweat, I promise! On a recent trip to the zoo with
my kids, I wore my heart rate monitor, just for fun, and burned over 800
calories!
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| My husband and my daughter goofing around at the park last week. He was just being silly, but in reality, you COULD do this as a workout! |
5.) Extras!
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When on vacation, most hotels will have a gym.
If not, find a sandy beach nearby and run on the sand. That is one of the BEST
ways to do cardio. The sand creates a lot of resistance and will KILL your
legs! Or find a trail or park and do any of the outdoor activities I listed
above.
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Most of your calories burned in a day are burned
outside of a gym or workout routine anyway, so take advantage of all the hours in the
day! Do things like park far away from entrances, take stairs instead of
elevators or escalators, and if you do take stairs skip steps like I mentioned
above. These extra movements can burn HUNDREDS of extra calories in a day!
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Do something while you watch T.V. ANYTHING! Jumping jacks, crunches,
planks, seated bicep curls, a stationary bike, ANYTHING! Just don’t sit around,
stay moving somehow and keep that heart rate up.
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Set aside
time in your day for exercise!!! This is by far the most important tip for
working out at home! It’s so easy to get stuck in your daily grind and it’s
so hard to be motivated when your couch is RIGHT THERE staring at you! Schedule
it in your day, just like you schedule an appointment… because it’s an
appointment with yourself! So make it, and keep it!
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