How to Exercise in Your Own Home

Home exercise is becoming increasingly popular. When you exercise in the comfort of your own home, you can entertain yourself with the television or music, take breaks when you need to, and avoid the messy locker rooms and public showers. Home exercise is also essentially free after you purchase your initial equipment, and when the gym is in your house there is no extra commute time. Home exercise can be convenient in several ways, however…

Top 3 Keys to A Great Home Workout…

For your home workouts to be effective, you will need to utilize some of the best strategies for building muscle quickly, burning fat, and providing yourself with an intense workout. That involves using three of the most efficient styles of exercise available:

  • Compound Exercises
  • Interval Training
  • Full Body Exercises

Efficiency is a crucial part of a great home workout, especially because of the tendency for those that workout at home to get distracted.

1) Compound Exercises

Compound exercises are exercises that utilize multiple muscle groups at once in order to increase the efficiency of your workout. There is also evidence that shows that compound exercises may improve muscle strength and size more quickly than single-muscle workouts. Great home workouts will include compound exercises like pull ups, renegade dumbbell rows, and deadlifts.

2) Interval Training

Interval training is a type of intense cardio training that boosts your heart rate and leads to rapid fat burning. Interval training involves alternating between high intensity exercise and low intensity exercise in set intervals. For interval training, you can include exercises like mountain climbers, squat jumps, and burpees.

3) Full Body Exercises

Ideally, your home workouts should also utilize as much of your body as possible. The more of your body you use, the more fat your body will burn, and the easier it will be for you to show off your six pack. Make sure that your entire workout routine is using as much of your body as possible, because even though your goal is to develop your six pack, all of your muscles can help you burn fat quickly and get the body that will help your six pack look its best.

Home exercises should combine these three effective strategies for a successful and efficient workout.

 

“Home-Friendly” Exercises…

Many of your workouts should use your bodyweight as resistance. For example, when you do pushups you are pushing against the weight of your body in order to exercise your chest and triceps. There several bodyweight workouts available, including:

  • Dumbbell Squats
  • woman-doing-dumbbell-squats-starting-position woman-doing-dumbbell-squats-middle-position
  • Dumbbell Bench Press
  •  

    • the Deadlift
    woman-dumbbell-deadlifts-starting-position woman-dumbbell-deadlifts-middle-position

     

    • Pull Ups
    man-doing-pulls-ups-starting-position man-doing-pulls-ups-middle-position

     

    Here’s a video demonstration of pull-ups:

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enzqOb3N1DE[/youtube]

     

    • Push Ups
    woman-doing-push-ups-starting-position woman-doing-push-ups-middle-position

     

    Here’s a video demonstration of push-ups:

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs5O3Qv3gK8[/youtube]

     

    • Lunges
    woman-doing-dumbbel-lunges-starting-position woman-doing-dumbbel-lunges-middle-position

     

    • Bent-over Dumbbell rows:

     

    • Tricep-dips

     

     

    Here’s a video demonstration of renegade dumbbell rows:

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI7LyS5Iwv4[/youtube]

    Bodyweight workouts are at the core of several of your exercise routines – especially your abs building exercises. You will also need a few pieces of equipment that use your bodyweight to target all of your muscles.

     

    Basic Equipment

    • Exercise Ball – Exercise balls are great for both abs building workouts and lower back exercises.
    • Dumbbells – It’s important to have a few dumbbells on hand as well. Dumbbells will help you with arm workouts (triceps and biceps) and add resistance to some of your bodyweight workouts. You can also get kettlebells in place of dumbbells if you prefer kettlebell exercises.
    • Cords – Cords are another valuable tool for adding resistance to some of your workouts. Cords are often used in arm workouts and leg exercises.

    Intermediate Equipment

    • Pull Up Bar – Pull ups are a great exercise for your back and arms.
    • Dip Bar – Dip bars are great for your triceps and shoulders. They also have dual pull up bar/dip bars if you are limited in space.
    • Ab Rollers – Ab rollers are a unique exercise device that allows you to add body weight resistance to your exercise. It is also one of the few abs exercises that  uses other muscles in your arms and back without taking away from your abdominal benefits.

    Here’s a video demonstration of using Abs rollers:

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNyCw4W6q74[/youtube]

     

    Integrating Exercise Equipment

    If you decide to switch to a home gym, you don’t necessarily need all of the bells and whistles of a standard gym. You simply need to perform bodyweight exercises that utilize some of the better in-home equipment available. An exercise ball, a few dumbbells, and cords should be your first purchases, and as you continue exercising you should consider moving on to intermediate equipment.

    Sample Home Workouts

    Workout 1 – Perform 3 sets of the following:

    • Dumbbell Squat Press: 8-12 reps
    • Dumbbell Bench Press: 8-12 reps
    • Push-ups: 20-25 reps
    • Double crunches: 15 reps (slow & controlled)

    Workout 2 – Perform 3 sets of the following:

    • Dumbbell Lunges: 8-12 reps each leg
    • Dumbbell deadlifts: 8-12 reps
    • Bent over dumbbell rows: 8-12 reps
    • Bicycle crunches: 15 reps (slow & controlled)

    Workout 3 – Perform 3 sets of the following:

    • Renegade dumbbell rows: 8-12 reps
    • Tricep-dips: 8-12 reps
    • Dumbbell Squat Press: 8-12 reps
    • Head-to-Toe Touches: 15 reps (slow & controlled)

     

    4 Reasons to Strongly Consider Going to a Good Gym

    woman-doing-pull-ups-with-a-partnerBefore you decide to do all of your workouts in your home, it is strongly recommended that you consider going to the gym instead. Going to the gym has a number of additional benefits that you won’t get if you work out at home. These benefits include:

    • Internal Motivation – When you go to the gym you have nothing else to do but exercise. You will go through your routine and be motivated to finish all of your exercises. When you exercise at home, any number of distractions may stop you from wanting to complete your exercises for the day. It’s important you stay motivated if you want to get your six-pack.
    • External Motivation – Having like-minded people around you that are also working to reach their own goals is a great motivator. Not only will they help you see what you can achieve, but you may even meet other people that will support you in reaching your goals.
    • Better Equipment – Gyms often have the best available equipment for exercising. Weight machines tend to be more solid and have a greater range of motion, and having dumbbells, barbells, and treadmills available when you need them will give you the tools you need to gain muscle and earn your six pack.
    • Accountability – The mere act of having a gym membership will help motivate you to use it. You’re paying regularly to use the facility, and knowing that it is there waiting for you is a great way to keep yourself accountable for your actions.

    Going to the gym is more beneficial than doing your exercises at home – it’s a better way to stay motivated, they have better equipment, and you’ll find that when you have a specific location to complete your exercises it is easier to keep yourself accountable.

    However, you may not be able to go to the gym regularly. It’s possible you don’t have the time to take a trip to the gym every week or perhaps there isn’t a gym nearby that suits your needs. Whatever the reason, when you can’t go to the gym, it is still possible to get six pack abs. You simply need to do the right workouts and have the right equipment.

     

    Working Out At Home

    It is still recommended that you exercise at the gym. Going to the gym is a great motivator, and the gym itself will have much more equipment available for you to vary your workouts and get the most from your exercise routine.

    But if you do choose to exercise at home, make sure you are choosing exercises and workouts that use all your muscles, and consider purchasing extra equipment to ensure you have all of the tools you need to get your six pack abs.

    2 thoughts on “How to Exercise in Your Own Home”

    1. Travis,

      Thanks for the information, because of my family situation right now I need to work out and home and all is going well since reading your E-mails. I have lost nearly 3-4 inches of of my waist and around 10-15 pounds. I continue to make time for workouts as much as possible plus I have most of the equipment at home that you have listed.

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