Summary
Establishing a home-based workout can save time, save money, and result in fewer excuses to skip a workout. At home, there’s no waiting during circuit training to access a weight station. This document offers some suggestions and considerations for establishing a home workout routine. Remember that any significant change in diet or exercise should be discussed with your primary care physician.
Goals and Outcomes
Many people exercise to burn calories and lose weight to look better with the end goal of dating someone. They may consider gym membership to be a singles club.
Once a person is married and perhaps raising a family, they have less time available and probably no interest in meeting singles. A home workout helps parents keep an eye on their children and stay close to home for other tasks.
It’s been said that we can’t out-exercise a bad diet. Given that a typical fast food meal could easily have over 2,000 calories and more than 100 grams of carbs, there’s no way the average person could burn those calories and carbs away with a typical workout. You’d need to run a marathon per day.
Cutting back on calories can have a similar weight-loss benefit to several hours of working out.
We should consider intermediary practices that help move us toward our wellness goals and not focus so much on burning calories. Some other goals of exercise can be:
- better sleep
- more energy
- improved flexibility
- greater alertness
- overall health benefits
Daily Nature Walks
A relaxing walk, without stress and pressure, may produce greater long-term outcomes for health and wellbeing than a stressful run that results in injuries. If you can combine walking with time in nature breathing fresh air, it will have additional benefits beyond what you would achieve with a treadmill or indoor walk.
Mixed Exercises
Different types of exercise and activity each contribute to the others:
- Cardio — Helps to cleans through sweating, increase oxygen levels and promote deeper breathing. Can result in greater sense of wellbeing and calm.
- Meditation — Helps to still the body physically, mentally, and emotionally. Quiet meditation as well as reflections can be a benefit.
- Resting — Physical attentive resting to calm muscles is beneficial. Listening to music or nature sounds can help.
- Stretching — Stretching helps avoid stiffness and injuries during exercise and throughout the day. In addition to a warm-up and cool-down, having mid-day stretching is good.
- Strength Training — Having toned and strong muscles help provide some structural support to the body, and also reduce the chances of overexertion when lifting, moving, or engaged in other activities.
Don’t focus only on cardio or only on strength training. Just as with your diet, a balance is beneficial and complementary. The mix of anaerobic and aerobic exercises is a benefit. one of the many health benefits of anaerobic exercise is that it builds and tones your muscles, which can also improve endurance.
Invest in Quality Equipment
Exercise equipment that is sturdy and reliable can help motivate more activity. By contrast, unstable equipment, noisy equipment, and systems with belts and pulleys that catch and aren’t smooth may result in injury or fatigue.
Stretch bands can offer an inexpensive high quality workout experience. They are smooth, quiet, and easily adjustable. They can be easily adjusted for different angles. Ankle attachments make leg workouts possible with stretch bands.
Dumbbells are generally inexpensive and can take little room. If you have room for a weight bench, this creates more versatility with free weights allowing you to focus on specific muscle groups. When standing, curls have a narrow field of gravity. If you can be on your stomach or back, the direction of gravitational pull will shift the angle of resistance which can impact different muscles.
Consider HIIT Training
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is another excellent way to exercise at home without a gym membership. During a HIIT workout, you’ll do a range of exercises, moving at high intensities for a set amount of time, and take a brief break in between sets. If you don’t know where to start with this, websites such as YouTube have a range of videos you can follow at varying intensity levels.
Workouts Without Equipment
Don’t let the cost of equipment be a barrier to getting a good workout. You don’t need gym equipment to get a quality workout since you can use your body weight as resistance. For example, pushups, like a chest press machine, engage your triceps, pectoral, and shoulder muscles. Other exercises to add to your routine include:
- Squat jumps: engages glutes, hamstrings, calves, quads, and core.
- Lunges: works glutes, hamstrings, calves, and quads
- Planks: engages abdominal and oblique muscles
As you create your routine, strive to intermix some cardio—jogging in place, jumping jacks, mountain climbers—alongside these strength exercises for a full-body workout.
Cost Motivator
The regular cost of a gym membership motivates some people to commit to regular workouts. Nobody likes the idea of paying for a membership and not using it. Home workouts, without a membership fee, lack that motivation. Consider using an online training subscription such as an Apple Fitness+ plan.
Create a Schedule
Having a schedule can help you stay on track and committed to regular workouts. This is similar to planning a meal schedule for the week to ensure optimal eating.
Conclusion
Working out is an essential aspect of remaining healthy, so don’t let the lack of a gym membership hold you back. Get your body moving in the comfort of your home!