Up in the morning and off to the health club: 10 minutes on the treadmill to warm up, 20 minutes on the weight machines and 30 minutes on an exercise bike. You’re energized and ready for the day.
But there is a downside. In order to get that much exercise time, you have to set the alarm for 5:30 a.m. and fight your way through commuter traffic on the way to the health club and, later, on the way to work. The machines you want are busy when you want them; you meet an old friend who wants to talk rather than exercise; and you have to rush through your shower in order to make it to work on time.
There has to be a better way, you think to yourself. And there is: exercise at home.
Sometimes working out at home is a short-term solution. You have a tight schedule at work; the roads are clogged; or your children have a snow day from school and you need to be there to keep an eye on them. And there are times when you would just rather stay at home. So do it.
If you commit yourself to working out at home regularly–whether because of cost, time or other issues–then you may want to consider setting up a home gymnasium. This may be in your garage, the basement, an extra room in your home or even an area of a room used for something else. Most exercise equipment is portable enough to be moved when not in use.
For the cost of one year’s health club membership, you can buy pretty good equipment that meets your needs. This could include a treadmill, elliptical trainer or exercise bike for aerobic work plus some dumbbells or barbells for resistance training. No matter how committed you are to running or biking, the strength training is an important part of a rounded exercise program.
You probably don’t have space for a complete rack of weights similar to the ones you see at the health club. And there is no need to spend that kind of money. (Dumbbells cost about $.50 a pound.)
Progression Is Important
Progression is an important element of weight training, but, realistically, you’ll probably never work your way up to a 70 pound dumbbell. As a starter, you can accomplish most of your goals with three sets–say 10, 15 and 20 pounds. If you’re comfortable at 15 pounds for curls, you will probably need lighter weights to work small muscles in the forearm and triceps and heavier ones for the large muscles of the back and chest.
If you do the same routine with the same weight day after day, of course, you are getting nowhere in terms of building muscle. Trainers advise that you need to lift enough weight and/or do enough repetitions to fatigue the muscle you are targeting, ideally within 90 seconds.
So you can progress by adding repetitions rather than weight. Studies show that there is basically no difference between lifting a heavy weight for 15 reps and lifting a lighter one for 30 reps as long as you are working the muscle to the same degree of fatigue. But if you are doing curls for 90 seconds and not feeling serious fatigue, you are wasting your time.
Another way to progress is by altering the routine to make it more difficult. Do curls or rows while standing on one leg. This builds balance as well as strength in the leg and core body muscles. Sit or lie on a stability ball while lifting. Or use a step: step up, curl and step down.
At some point, you’re probably going to have to buy another set of dumbbells or barbells–advancing to 15, 20 and 25 pounds. Or you can buy an adjustable set in the first place.
Make sure you are following good form, and go slowly–not just with each lift but as you progress. Don’t work the same muscles again without at least one day of rest in between. One approach is to alternate upper body and lower body workouts.
Work Out without Equipment
You can also get a good workout with no equipment at all, just using the weight of your body. Most of the following routines are well known but not so frequently used.
PUSHUPS have long been a basic exercise for both civilian and military physical training. And they still offer an excellent way to strengthen arm and chest muscles while tightening the midsection.
Your feet should be hip width apart, your hands, just outside your shoulders. Keeping your body straight, lower yourself till you nearly touch the floor and then back up. You can make this exercise harder by changing your hand position; move them out farther from your shoulder, and you’ll get a better chest workout. If you’re really strong, you might be able to do one-handed pushups.
TRICEP DIPS can be done with a bench or a kitchen chair. Place your hands just outside your hips, slide off the edge of the bench or chair and extend your legs. Now dip your body down and bend your elbows until they form a 90 degree angle and then back up. You’ll feel it in your triceps.
FORWARD LUNGES are an excellent way to strengthen the quad muscles at the front of the thigh. With your feet hip-width apart and your hands on your hips, step forward with one leg and slowly lower your body until the knee is bent 90 degrees. Then repeat with the other leg.
Lunges can also be done with a dumbbell in each hand or a barbell over your shoulders.
PLANK EXERCISES: There are several variations on the plank, all excellent for building core body muscles. For the front plank, lie face down resting on your forearms with palms flat on the floor. Resting on the elbows and raising up onto the toes, push your body off the floor. As with a pushup, keep your back straight and flat. Contract your abdominal muscles to keep your body from sagging in the middle. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds, lower your body to the floor and repeat.
From this position, you can also extend one leg out to the side and back, then repeat with the other leg.
There are many other exercises; you may remember some from your high school physical education class. Fitness requires moving and using your body. You don’t need a special place or fancy equipment to do that–only motivation.
REFERENCES:
“Advantages of working out at home,” Human Kinetics (excerpt from The Strength Training Anatomy Workout by Frederic Delavier and Michael Gundill).
Stephen Ball, Ph.D., “A strength training program for your home,” American College of Sports Medicine, February 2, 2012.
Adam Dachis, “How to get a complete workout with nothing but your body,” LifeHacker(/)
Kristen Dold, “Work out at home,” Women’s Health Magazine, March 4, 2011.
“How can you do weight training from home?” WeightTraining.com, 2014.
Paul Rogers, “Home dumbbell weight training program,” About.com Weight Training, updated May 27, 2014.
Hugo Rivera, “Top 7 best pieces of body building training equipment for home gyms,” About.com Body Building.
Pete Sisco, “Heavy vs. light workouts,” askmen.com.
Paige Waehner, “Top 10 best ab exercises,” About.com Exercise, updated June 16, 2014.
“Strength training 101: where do I start?” NerdFitness blog by Stacy January 14, 2014.
“A weighty issue: surprising research on lifting light vs. lifting heavy,” Huff Post Los Angeles, October 21, 2010.
09/19/2014
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