What are some good workout routines I can do at home?

Answer:

For a good home workout, you will want to focus on

four areas: flexibility, strength, balance, and endurance. Yoga or Pilates can improve flexibility as well as balance and strength. Five minutes of yoga or Pilates also provide a good warm up before your routine.

Building endurance will improve your general health. For this, a cardiovascular focus is more important than weight lifting. For cardiovascular benefits, aerobic exercise should be done for at least 25 minutes, 3 to 4 times a week, but if you’ve been sedentary for awhile, start out slowly, with maybe 5 or 10 minutes. You don’t need expensive equipment or gym memberships to reap cardio benefits. Try a brisk walk or a power walk. Put on your favorite music and dance, or climb up and down the stairs a few times. Do jumping jacks or jump rope or make use of a good workout DVD.

Strength training should be done 2 to 3 times a week, always allowing a rest day in between for muscles to repair and grow. For toning, you’ll do more lifting with lighter weights, and for building strength, you’ll do less lifting but with heavier weights. Invest in some stretch bands or free weights or make your own with milk jugs filled with water or sand. Your own body weight can also be used to stress muscles. A good full body workout could include push-ups, crunches, squats, toe stands, and lunges.

A recent study suggests that those who exercise at home get better results than those who go to a gym. Home workouts can be easy to incorporate into daily routine and they allow more time, require no travel, and can be low or no-cost. Be sure to check with your doctor before making any big changes in activity.

Hopefully these options will give you find some low or no cost ideas for good home workouts focusing on the four areas of flexibility, strength, balance, and endurance.

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