Home gym workouts
Sticking to a long term exercise program can be difficult, especially if the program requires you to go to the gym several times a week. Many people find that working out at home improves their chances of fitting their exercise regimen into their daily schedule. Home workouts are more convenient, require a smaller time commitment and are cheaper too.
Getting Started With Your Home Gym
The most difficult part of working out at home is figuring out what exercises to do. The exercise routine that you should follow will depend on your personal goals, as well as your exercise preferences. Someone who is training to get better at a specific sport will want to follow a different routine to someone who is interested in strength, aerobic fitness, or weight loss.
Before you embark on any fitness routine, you should speak to your doctor. This is particularly important if you have been sedentary for a long time, or if you have any pre-existing medical conditions.
Finding a Good Workout
If you do not have a lot of exercise experience, it is not a good idea to try to come up with your own exercise routine. Rather than simply guessing which exercises work well together, you should try a published workout that meets your goals.
If you are interested in aerobic fitness, weight loss, or just generally improving your overall fitness levels, consider investing in some workout DVDs. You can find DVDs for everything from step aerobics, yoga and Pilates, to Zumba and other workout-to-music routines. These routines are fun, entertaining and a good workout.
If you are more interested in strength training, then there are lots of pre-designed weight lifting routines available online. Pick a program and stick to it for at least six to eight weeks. Do not get demoralized if the routine does not feel like it is working in the short term. It can take time to see results and if you jump from routine to routine without giving any of them a chance to work you will hamper your progress.
Schedule
During the early stages of working out at home, it can be tempting to try to train every single day. This is not a good idea! If you train too often, you could burn out and get bored, or you could injure yourself.
Try to limit yourself to no more than five days a week or short, intense workouts. If you are following someone else’s routine and they recommend fewer workouts, then follow their recommendations. If you have excess energy and want to exercise more often you should limit the workouts you do on the other days to low or moderate intensity.
After following a workout routine for a few months you may notice that your progress plateaus. At that point you should re-evaluate your goals and make sure that your diet is correct and that you are getting enough rest. If you are sure that your diet is good and that you’re getting enough sleep, but you are still not making progress with your training then you can look at changing up your routine or adding new exercises.
