Home Workout Routines

There are three elements you can adjust while exercising: frequency (how often you exercise), duration (how long you perform a particular routine) and intensity (how hard you push yourself). Recent studies indicate that intensity is the most important of the three in maintaining aerobic fitness, the most important type for promoting cardiovascular health. In one study, aerobically trained subjects were able to maintain their fitness levels when they reduced the workout frequency from six days a week to two days but still exercised at the same intensity and for the same duration. Another group of trained subjects continued to work out at the same frequency for the same duration, but lowered the intensity of their workouts by two thirds (as measured by their heart rates during exercise). After 15 weeks, those in the second group had entirely lost the aerobic capacity that their training had produced originally. Knowing how intensely you exercise, therefore, is crucial to the success of quick workouts.

One way of measuring intensity is the amount of energy you expend in the form of kilocalories, more popularly known as calories. A kilocalorie is the heat required to raise the temperature of a grain of water by one degree Celsius. For an effective aerobic workout, exercise physiologists advise that you exert yourself vigorously enough to bum 200 to 400 calories. To be aerobic, this exertion must be continuous and rhythmic. For some of the most common aerobic activities, the pace you should set to accomplish this in 20 minutes. (The exact number of calories you use will vary slightly, depending on your weight. Heavier people hum more calories per minute when they exercise at the same pace as people who weigh less.)

In survey after survey, the main reason people cite for quitting an exercise program – Or for not starting one – is lack of time. They think that exercising requires setting aside inconveniently large blocks of time that will interfere with their other activities. But most people actually do have enough time in their schedules for exercise: The key is to learn how best to manage that time. One approach is to design. an exercise routine that is as convenient as possible. Several studies indicate that exercisers whose regimens require little equipment and that can be done at home, at work or nearby are more likely to stay with it than exercisers whose regimens are less convenient.

Here are some tips for squeezing exercise into a tight schedule:

1. Walk or cycle to and from work. Or, if you have to drive or take public transportation, stop a distance from work and walk briskly the rest of the way – you will burn 50 calories per half-mile.

2. Use stairs instead of escalators or elevators. Climbing stairs requires 15 times the energy that walking on level ground does.

3. Spend your lunch hour or coffee break walking briskly or performing one of the office workouts. Aerobic exercise at lunch can also diminish your appetite so that you eat less,. an aid to those trying to lose weight.

4. “While watching television – Americans watch an average of 4 1/2 hours a day – jog in place, use a stationary bicycle, rowing machine or ski exerciser, or perform calisthenics and stretches.

If you had the option of being able to get into shape at the comfort of your own home rather than going to an expensive gym, would you do it? It can be true that many people skip out on working out because of the lack of motivation for the initiative of going to the gym. So lets start out with old tradition into getting in shape…First, you need a gym membership, an expensive one at that. Next, you have to drive to get to the gym, which costs a lot of gas money on your part.

Don’t think that’s where you stop opening up your wallet, next you’re expected to get proper workout attire for the gym. Because are you really going to wear those old sweats back from the eighties and seventies. To some, these things are no big deal, but for many, it’s enough to say the hell with it. If you’d like to save as much money as possible, then perhaps creating your own gym at home and doing simple workouts would be more ideal for your situation.

It certainly has its advantages for creating your own gym at home. Although on the other hand, joining a gym does have it’s quirks and perks so to speak. If you have the money to spend, then choosing which ever way is really fine. Just as long as you’re happy with it. So if you feel that you are usually crammed up on time and not comfortable into going to the gym, then don’t let any of those trainers or sales people talk you into getting a gym membership when you know you probably won’t use.

Trust me, some of those sales people at the gym are really little devils, and will do anything to get your money through their door. But it’s to be expected from sales people, so expect it. What’s more important at this present time is you need to get into shape by exercising. With a little planning, it’s certainly possible to workout at home for allocating a space for a easy and fast workout.

Whether if you’re a novice, intermediate, or in a advanced level of fitness, full-body workout routines can prove beneficial for any level of experience. One of the most common mistakes that beginners make is that they jump the gun and attempt to do advanced level workout routines. And what I mean by advanced, they take routines coming out of muscle and fitness magazines and try to implement these routines at the gym. Yes, most of the routines recommended by such magazines can be effective, but most of the times these routines are done improperly by inexperienced lifters. Another thing to mention is that these routines were original designed by professional trainers that are usually aiming towards intermediate/advanced level athletes. So with this in mind, I have designed a home workout routine that can be done at home with no equipment what-so-ever. We will be using weights in future workouts, but with this basic home workout routine, it’s designed to get you conditioned for higher levels of training.

As said before, full-body workout routines can be beneficial for any level of fitness, just as long as its designed appropriately and performed properly. If I were talking one on one, I’m going to talk as if you have no experience in exercising and are currently at a beginner/novice level. What we want to do first, is build the foundation aka the “core.” The core is made up of the lumbo-pelvic complex, the thoraic and cervical spine. The core is where the body’s center of gravity is located and is where all movement begins. Having an efficient and conditioned core is necessary for maintaining proper muscle balance throughout the entire kinetic chain. So with that said, let’s begin with 4 exercises designed to improve te functional capacit of the stabilization system:

Marching

Preparation: You want to lie supine on the floor with your knees bent, feet flat, toes pointing straight ahead, and arms by sides. This is the starting position.

Movement: As the movment begins, you want to draw navel in and lift one foot off the floor only as high as can be controlled while maintaining the drawing-in manuever. Hold this position for 1-2 seconds and then slowly lower down. Repeat this on the opposite leg.

Repetitions and Sets: First starting out, you want to hit 20 reps altogether in one set, 10 reps for each leg. And also, you want to make sure the region just below the navel stays drawn in throughout the duration of the exercise. By doing so, this ensures the intrinsic core stabilizers are to stay activated.

Two-Leg Floor Bridges:

Preparation: In the starting position, lie supine on the floor with knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and toes shoulder-width apart and pointing straight ahead. Place your arms to the side with your palms up.

Movement: As the movement begins, draw your navel in, and activate your gluteals. Next, lift your pelvis off the floor until the knees, hips, and shoulders are in line. At the peak, slowly lower the pelvis back down to the floor and repeat.

Repetitions and Sets: Perform 3 sets of this exercise with 20 repetitions each. Also, when performing a bridge, do not raise the hips too far up off the floor because this will place unnecessary and excessive pressure on the lumbar spine. Make sure at the end of the position, the knees, hips, shoulders are all in alignment.

Floor Prone Cobra:

Preparation: In the starting position, you want to lie supine on the floor with arms in front of the body, with palms facing toward the ground.

Movement: First, drawl the navel in, activate gluteals, and pinch shoulder blades together. Next, lift your chest off the floor and hold for about 1-2 seconds for the duration. Afterwards, slowly return body to the ground while keeping the chin tucked in.

Repetitions and Sets: Perform approximately 20 repetitions for 3 sets total. And also just like the floor bridge, do not come too high off the floor because this will put too much stress and pressure on the lumbar spine.

Prone Iso-Ab:

Preparation: In the starting position, you want to lie supine on the floor with feet together and forearms on the ground.

Movement: As the movement begins, draw your abs in and activate your gluteals. You want to lift your entire body up off the ground until it forms a straight line from head to toe, resting on forearms and toes. Hold this position for 1-2 seconds and slowly return body to the ground while keeping chin tucked and back flat.

Repetitions and Sets: Perform 20 repetitions for 3 sets total. Also to note, if this exercise position is too difficult for you to perform you can apply other positions as well:

-Perform in a standard push-up position.
-Perform in a push-up position with the knees on the floor.
-Perform with the hands on a bench and the feet on the floor.