Exercising at Home.

  As I stated yesterday, I exercise at home.  You can effectively exercise at home and you do not need to invest in a lot of equipment.

A good fitness workout is composed of 5 parts.
1.  A warm-up
2. A cardio workout.
3.  Strength training.
4.  Flexibility training.
5. Cool down.

The warm up could be as simple doing a short walk.
Cardio can be done through a DVD, walk faster, or jump rope. Other cardio exercises include jumping jacks, jogging in place, climbing stairs or dancing.

Strength training often uses dumb bells but you could substitute a couple cans of food to start with.  Most standard cans weigh just under a pound.

If you chose to do crunches, squats, leg lifts or push-ups you have added a bit of resistance training to your overall work out

 Flexibility is covered by doing yoga and then cool down can be as easy as walking slowly and throwing in a few stretches.

Remember, if you need to follow a DVD to follow, you can check out You Tube for free exercise videos.  Just type in the type of exercise, or the program/person you want.  That is all and you are off. 

Some tips for people who exercise at home include:
1. Challenge yourself but make sure you pay attention to your form so you do the exercise as correctly as possible.

2. Find a partner so you have accountability.

3. Keep a journal to monitor your progress.  Include both good and bad days.  I write down which DVD I used and how long I exercised.  I also write down tips I find.

4. Schedule your workouts in your daily planner so its there.

5. Set a goal that is within your reach.  It should be something you cannot do right now but something you can reach in a reasonable period of time.  It might be "I am going to loose 5 lbs."  As you progress towards your goal, give yourself a mini reward such as a new fitness magazine.

6.  Make exercise as much a part of your life as eating and sleeping.

As you can see, you do not need anything fancy to exercise at home.  Go for it.  Let me know what you think.