Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Barriers, Busted: Part III (The Oldies but Goodies)

I hope all of you enjoyed your walk this morning and are eager to learn yet more strategies that make exercise an activity you do have time for. 

Let's recap.  Why don't people exercise (and I'm ignoring those people who just don't "like" it, c'mon, that's almost all of is)?  Number one, because they don't have time.  Number two, because they don't have a gym membership/equipment/fancy exercising stuff.  Number three...well, I know there is a number three, but it doesn't help strengthen my blog post arguments, so I'm stopping at two.

We saw that walking is something you can do anytime, anywhere.  But what about strength training and higher intensity stuff?  Now that's something that requires machines, gyms, trainers, spandex and smoothie bars, yes?  No.  Even strength training and higher intensity exercises can be done at home, with zero or minimal equipment.  Impossible you say?  Read on.

Remember in grade school when you had to take a fitness test?  Then again, maybe you were out "sick" that day.  Well then remember PE in general?  What did you do?  Fancy stuff with bells and whistles?  I doubt it, if you went to a school like mine.  I went to public school, we didn't have a budget for fancy stuff.  We did old-fashioned drills, sprints, jump rope and the like.  And guess what?  These exercises still work today, they didn't become obsolete like last year's smart phone.

What you need for a strength training program you can do at home.

1) Your body.
2) See: 1

Now here's your program.  Choose from this list:

Body weight squats
Walking lunges
Pushups
Sit Ups
Pull Ups
Flutter Kicks
Box Jumps (jump or step on something high and stable, like a ledge or stairs)
Mountain Climbers
Jumping
Sprinting
Jump Rope (yes, I understand it isn't just your body weight, but a jump rope is an excellent tool to have at home and adds a whole new element to workouts)
Burpees

That's enough.

Choose 3 or so of the exercises and do them in succession.

For example:
100 jump ropes
15 pushups
20 flutter kicks
Repeat 3-5 times

or

35 Mountain Climbers
10 box jumps (or step ups)
15 sit ups
1 20 meter sprint
Repeat 3-5 times

Or, just choose a few exercises to work on each day.  For example, try to do as many pushup repetitions as you can.  Every-other day, try to do two more reps.  By the end of the month, BOOM, you're doing 50. 

The best part of exercising at home is, wait for it, you're at home.  Chances are, you spend a lot of time at home, probably watching TV.  So while the TV is on, take 15 minutes and choose from the menu above and get your exercise in at the same time.  It's what I call "multitasking".  You do have time to exercise.  You do have time to improve your health and with these at-home classic moves, get fit at the same time.

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