Workout at Home – 5 ideas
Going to the gym isn’t always practical. Maybe you find it too difficult to get there, or you can’t get time in your busy schedule to make the trek or maybe it’s as simple as the fact that you don’t like the environment. It might not be for you. Luckily, you can still live a fit and active lifestyle and workout at home.
And I’m not just talking about running and cycling, you can ditch the gym equipment for using your own body weight as resistance.
The only thing you need to make it happen is yourself, some motivation, a gym matt and routine and you can be on track to losing just as much weight as you would if you were hitting the gym three times a week.
Here’s a few exercises you can do from the comfort of your own home to work your muscles and get toned up. If you prefer a music based workout then check out our video Kelta Fit
Work out at home – Yoga
Yoga is an all-round workout that helps you become more toned and more flexible. It’s a nice and comfortable way to get into a health and fitness regime and for those who are more practiced, it is a great way to start or end a workout.
You can go for a lighter and slower yoga or something a little faster like Ashtanga yoga. Your heart beats a little faster and you get some added cardio from it.
If you can dedicate just a minimum of 10-20 minutes a day to Yoga, you will notice your body become stronger and your core strengthen. You can find lots of yoga workouts on YouTube and other video sharing websites.
Workout at home – Crunches
This is a great core workout. The focus is on building your ab strength and getting rid of that belly fat. It’s a relatively simple exercise to do at home and you can even spice it up with a few variations.
Start by lying on your back with your knees at a 90-degree angle in the air. Lift the shoulders and crunch up, inhale and hold for 3-5 seconds then, extend your legs until your knees are no longer bent and your legs are still in the air, exhale and hold for 3-5 seconds, while squeezing your lower belly. Do this in sets of 10-15 reps.
You can use an exercise ball to hold your legs up in the air to make this move easier or if you want to make things harder you can hold some weight (books or an exercise plate) on your lower abdomen and when you extend your legs, grab the weights and extend your arms over your head at the same time.
Workout at home – Side Lifts
A side lift works on the muscles that cover the side of your body or your waist. A woman can attribute the workout in this region to their hourglass figure.
A simple side lift involves getting on your side and consecutively lifting your leg up and down until you wear out. You can add some difficulty to this by lying all the way on the side until your head is on the floor and trying to lift both legs at the same time (you won’t get as high but you will feel the impact more).
Another variation is called the side plank. Starting with your body resting on your side, use your arm to raise your upper body off the ground until only the side of your feet are touching the ground. You can try and hold this position or make it harder by lifting one leg off the ground.
About 20 reps on each side to start should do it.
Workout at home – Squats
Squats are one my favourites because they are so easy to do but you can feel the burn quite quickly. “A squat a day keeps the doctor away” – should be the phrase we all learnt when we were younger. Squats tone up the glut muscles and your upper thighs. If you get good at them, you could be the guy in this photo, but for now, let’s focus on the standard squat.
Starting by standing straight, lift your arms out in front of you and push your body weight back from your waist until you are pretty much in a seated position. Use your thighs to push yourself back into standing position. Simple as that, you have done a squat.
If you want to make things harder, add some weights (buy an exercise plate) and hold the plate on level with your collar bone as you squat and come back up. The extra weight helps you burn fat faster.
Mix things up a bit as well. If you are listening to the music, do squats to the beat and stop at the bottom and pulse. You work out a different area and add some variety to your routine at the same time.
Workout at home – Push Ups
Push ups work your upper body and arms out. The resistance of your body weight is enough to tone those arms up and as long as you keep your core strengthened, it can also tone your abs up in the process.
If the standard push ups are too hard for you, try a variation with your knees on the floor. But remember, the more of your body weight that goes over your shoulders, the harder the press ups will be. Aim to push more of your body weight over your shoulders each time until your arms are ready to carry your body weight.
Other variations of this are to place your hands on a raised surface and do your push ups from an incline or to use a surface to put your legs on and incline at the opposite angle. Just like the standard example, shifting your weight over your shoulders will make the workout harder.
If you’d prefer a music based workout then see our DVD / download Kelta Fit