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You may have a gym membership, belong to a hiking group or you may prefer to do your exercise away from the crowds. Whatever your style, chances are you won't always have time to leave your home to fit a workout into your day. Don't let this stop you from taking advantage of your own living space and creative thinking to stay in shape.
Working out from the comfort of your own home can be easy and remarkably effective. With the help of some tried-and-true electronic options, or your own personalized workout plan, you can get fit by dedicating a small chunk of time on “home-gym” days by moving your body in the privacy of your home.
The Rule of 3 - doing three different exercises every day - is a great way to mix things up and make sure you're not bored while you get the exercise your body needs.
Here are three easy things to do at home to get you started:
Choose a Pilates move to do each day
You don't even need a mat. Joseph Pilates designed his exercises so that people could do them from home. A quick online search will reveal detailed instructions on how to perform each pose.
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Stand tall against a wall, and keeping your body against the wall, walk your feet out about eight inches from the wall. Pull your stomach in. Keep your shoulders down and away from your ears, chest open, and raise your arms over your head. Keep your arms up by your ears as you slowly roll your spine down and away from the wall, vertebrae by vertebrae. Keep your abs pulled in as you work slowly, peeling the spine away from the wall. Relax your head and neck. Roll down as far as you can stretch while keeping your hips against the wall. Keeping your arms in the same place, roll up slowly paying close attention while you use your stomach muscles to move your body up. Keep rolling up, replacing your vertebrae against the wall one by one as you go. Finish in an upright position with your arms up and hands clasped together
Choose an exercise DVD or video game to which you can relate
"Jillian Michaels: The Complete Workout for Beginner" and "The Michael Jackson Experience" for the Wii are two excellent workouts to put on your TV and computer
The Michael's workout burns an estimated 370-460 while using 3- to 5-pound dumbbells and a resistance band. (97 minutes; $24.95 for a two-DVD set; jillianmichaels.com). Do as much of it as you have time for.
The Jackson workout is a product of the 80s and 90s, and I find it a pleasure to work out and dance to Michael Jackson's hits, and even one song - Smooth Criminal - gets my heart rate up so quickly I have to take a break between each song. You can do a few songs here and there throughout the day which is good for your overall fitness and heart rate.
Squats
Squats are my least favorite exercise to do anywhere- even at home, but boy, are the results worth it.
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You may be asking yourself if such a short, simple routine will do anything but make it hard to walk up and down stairs the next day. The answer is: Yes. Especially if you do it consistently.
By incorporating the Rule of 3 you'll soon be in the wonderful habit of taking care of your body and toning up while losing weight. Google, YouTube, Livestrong.com, and many other sites have so much information on daily workouts that you can choose three new exercises to try at home every day and never do the same thing twice, if you don't want to.
Miel is a teacher and freelance writer who loves to exercise when no one else is watching.
