Exercising at home

Norbert D’souza

ISSA certified Fitness Trainer

If you’d like to get in shape, feel more energetic and look great without knocking yourself out at the gym, here’s few tips what you can do. Regardless of your fitness level, there is no reason why you cannot improve your health and fitness quotient in the comfort of your own home. All you need is either a step box or a bench or a Swiss ball and an exercise mat – all freely available props that can double up as accessories for your home!! And to add zest and intensity to your workout, you could invest in a pair of dumbbells.  And remember – the cornerstone to getting fit in the ambience of your own home is MOTIVATION and a POSITIVE ATTITUDE – combine these with simple home training exercises that will help you get in shape without attending a gym. Prior to working any muscle in your body, it is essential that you are aware of the following guidelines to prevent any injury or muscle soreness that can be caused by exercise:

1. Seek clearance from your doctor before you embark on any kind of exercise
2. Do not exercise if you have eaten a heavy meal in the last 2 hours.
3. Warm-up and Stretch prior to performing a vigorous workout
4. Breathe naturally, and never hold your breath, whilst exercising

Jogging/walking around your neighborhood or park will cost you nothing – all you need is a GOOD pair of running shoes. To have an effective walk, your walk should be brisk — brisk to a light jog for 20 to 40 minutes. Follow this up with a stretching routine. It is very important to warm your body up with light movement before stretching, because your muscles are like a rubber band in a freezer before you work out. If you start stretching right away, they may snap. So you have to do some sort of light movement to loosen up the muscles before you stretch.

If you have stairs around your home, you can get a great workout from that. Household chores also help burn calories. I think just being creative with what you have and using what’s around you will definitely help you get in shape. Using your stairs, jogging in place, jumping rope, and even dancing around the house can be a great way to throw in short periods of cardio. And then as you get stronger, progress on to trying some light weights.  What you have to do when you‘re doing your fitness routine is to try to find different workouts for different exercises that may work the same muscle, variety is the key in fitness to achieve progress, so you always have to look and learn new ways of doing your fitness routine. for working your upper body you can do push ups, dumbbell press, overhead press, dumbbell curls, dumbbell extension etc for targeting your lower body you can perform squats, lunges, step-ups, abduction, hip extension etc. The best way to work your abs is to start doing some sit-ups, crunches, reverse crunches, back extensions etc.This way, not only you will work your abs, but also your lower back.