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"At Home With Your Workout"

By Crystal Reiber

Don't have time or want to take time, money, and travel to a gym or fitness center to get a good workout? Good! Stay at home and feel at home with your workout!

What's that? You don't have any equipment? Oh yes you do! If you don't have any dumbbells stashed away somewhere you can use milk jugs filled to a comfortable weight, use plastic handled grocery bags in which to place some canned goods or a book and lift away! For abs, there is no better equipment than your bodyweight and a mat, rug, or towel. Get the picture?

Staying open minded and creative not only can be fun, but can break a slump in a workout regimen and make it fresh all over again. Let the little kid come out of you to "play". An "at home" workout can be inside or outside and can use anything and everything imaginable as long as you always think safety first.

Walking stairs up, down, sideways, one step or multiple steps can be a great heart pumping cardio segment. As can jumping jacks, squat thrusts, pushups, or skipping instead of walking. Hulahoops have been around for ages and never go out of style and are one of the most versatile items a person can own for a workout. You can set up multiple ones to "run rings", you can hulahoop, or you can build a tunnel.

A broomstick can help do torso twists, mark a jump, hold the weighted bags(mentioned above) to make a barbell, or be used to do wrist curls.

Look around the room where you're sitting right now. What can you use for an effective workout? How about that comfy chair on rollers. Lower it to the lowest setting, kneel facing the seat, place your hands clasped together on the seat and then let the chair out from you and pull back in by contracting your abs and letting your arms come back into your body. How about grabbing the desk, table, or desk edge and do some triceps dips? How about balancing a book on your head and stand on one foot? How about sitting in an "imaginary chair"? With your back along the wall for support, position yourself and "sit" and hold....terrific for the quads!

Feeling knots in muscles, spasms, tightness? Take a towel and do some assisted stretching. Do chin tucks and "turtles"...poke your neck out like a turtle does and tuck it back in to its shell.

Oh, look! a play ball...just a simple ball used to bounce around. You can do ankle, wrist, and hand exercises. You can actually do bouncing exercises to keep the body's reflexes tip top and test your core's reaction time. You can sit and put your foot on top of the ball and extend your leg, pull back, ankle circles and sideways to build up the ligaments that often easily stretch or "turn over" as in a sprained ankle.

Come on, are you using that thinking cap? Are you excitedly looking around the house or office right now? Yeah, it's fun! Keep thinking, keep looking.

How about climbing a rope tied to the large oak tree in the back yard? Or walk, job, skip, jump, or run in the sand if you live close to the beach. Great way to add resistance. Let your feet get wet and cool off when you're done if you wish.

Talk about saving time. Working out at home saves gasoline and time spent in travel to and from a facility. You can have fitness equipment or improvise just:
Always think safety first.
Have fun and let your inner child explore and play.
In otherwords, feel at home with your workout.

About the Author:

Crystal Reiber is a Certified Fitness Trainer and Fitness Therapist located in Somerset, PA. She is a sought after motivational speaker and her passion certainly is "crystal clear". Crystal is a product of her own fitness quest. Her website is www.crystalreiber.com