home workout

judesherry

Hi
My boyfriend and me want to start our own workout program at home. We don’t wanna buy loads of equipment just the basic stuff. We live in the middle of nowhere so cant go jogging or walking as its too dangerous. There is only one gym and it is too far away, plus its too dear for the two of us.

Equipment wise all I can think of at the mo is skipping rope weights and exercise mat. We’ve done a few years of circuit training so we remember most of the exercise from that. We’re gonna spend 2 1/2 min on the following exercises: sit ups, push-ups, skipping, various weights (just easy stuff), star jumps, running up the stairs, sprinting outside, back ups(don’t know proper name), lunges etc.

I can’t see any reason why we cant have a good exercise routine at home as oppose to an every expensive gym. We really just wanna loose some weight and generally get fitter.

Does anyone else exercise primarily at home and what have you found to be the best routines. Are their any good books for exercising at home with detailed diagrams on exercises and strengths. Or any good dvd's on aerobics, yoga etc.

or has anyone got any views on what to avoid and possible dangers there are, not stretching properly etc.

Brenner

I've been doing this since July with 2 small hand weights (3kg each). I know there's no aerobic/cardio aspect to it but I've found it to be a great & short workout that I can do every day without spending too long. Each exercise repeated for 1min. I liked it first because its time based not rep based so depending on how much you want to do in a minute...

Exercise 1 - Chest and Shoulders
Lie on your back and grasp the weights with the palms of your hands facing up, and your arms outstretched to the sides. With your elbows slightly bent, lift your arms above your chest until your hands are almost touching. Return to starting position and repeat.

Exercise 2 - Chest and Shoulders
Lie on your back and grasp the weights with the palms of your hands facing up, and your arms outstretched above your head. Grip your weights and bring them over your head and down to your hips, by your sides - a semi-circular motion. Lift back to starting position and repeat.

Exercise 3 - Chest and Back
Sitting with your back straight (preferably supported) and legs straight out in front of you, hold your weights in at your chest with your elbows out to the side (parallel to the floor). Push your arms out straight in front of you then pull them back in. Repeat.

Exercise 4 - Back and Shoulders
Stand with feet shoulder width apart and arms by your sides, gripping the weights with palms facing outwards. Making sure your movements are slow and concentrated, tense your shoulder and upper back muscles, then slowly "shrug" them up and down.

Exercise 5 - Shoulders and Upper Arms
Stand with feet shoulder width apart and arms raised straight up above your head, grip your weights with your palms facing behind you. Slowly bring your arms forward and down, without bending at the elbow, until level with your shoulders. Lift back to starting position and repeat.

Exercise 6 - Upper Arms, Shoulders and Back
Standing with feet slightly apart, grasp your weights and bend at the waist until your torso is parallel to the floor. Extend your arms towards the floor with palms facing outwards. Lift your arms out to the side, keeping them straight, until parallel to the floor. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Exercise 7 - Upper Arms, Shoulders and Back
Standing with feet slightly apart, position your arms straight down in front of you almost against your body - with your weights almost touching. Bend your elbows and lift your weights towards your chin, bringing your elbows out to the side, in line with your shoulders. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Exercise 8 - Arms and Chest
The classic push up. With your hands shoulder width apart place your palms on the floor. Stretch out your body with either your knees on the floor, or if you're feeling ambitious, your toes - so you are supporting your body weight. Keeping your back straight and using your arms lower yourself gently toward the floor until you are hovering just over it. Push yourself slowly back to your starting position and repeat. Remember - don't lower yourself to the point where you come into contact with the floor, it'll be much harder to push back up.

Exercise 9 - Arms
In a sitting position with your back straight, relax your arms in line with your body. Grip your weights with your palms facing upwards and curl them up towards your shoulders, then back down again. Repeat. Keep your torso still and back straight, let your arms do the work.

Exercise 10 - Forearms
Holding your weight with your arm outstretched in front of you, tilt your wrist up and down repeatedly. Try doing this with both an overhand and underhand grip on your weight. Do one arm at a time.

Results
The secret of successful body toning is regularity. If you do each of these exercises three times a week (always with at least one break day before repeating any particular exercise) you'll see results within weeks.

PJG

Get a punch bag, great workout for the arms and shoulders. Floor to Ceiling ball is good also, elasticity forces you to work and really helps hand to eye coordination. Get a body ball and look up different exercises on the net. You can do multiple variations of pushups, situps, etc.

I’d love to see the neighbors face if they hear you running up and down the stairs and sprinting outside.
Maybe they won’t cause your in the middle of nowhere.


Any way have fun.

daymobrew

I cycle/run to work and then do some weights at home. I have a York bench from Argos and a barbell/dumbell set from VJ Fitness.

A week or two back someone asked about toning their rear so I photocopied two workouts and put them on my web site. The 'speed_workout' is tough going. I don't use either anymore, instead concentrating on weights:
- Bench press
- Bicep curls
- Crunches
- Upright shoulder presses
- Squats/lunges
- Upright row

I've gotten exercise ideas from books from my local library.

judesherry wrote:

We live in the middle of nowhere so cant go jogging or walking as its too dangerous.

I would have expected the opposite - with no one around it would be safer. Maybe you could drive/cycle to somewhere where it is safer e.g. a football pitch. I don't think you'll get a great aerobic workout indoors.

SBob

You really can't beat push ups and chin/pull ups for an all over upper body work out, i try to do this once a week to complement the gym, if you do it right you could be sore all over for days afterwards..

chillywilly

Brenner wrote:

I've been doing this since July with 2 small hand weights (3kg each). I know there's no aerobic/cardio aspect to it but I've found it to be a great & short workout that I can do every day without spending too long. Each exercise repeated for 1min. I liked it first because its time based not rep based so depending on how much you want to do in a minute...

Exercise 1 - Chest and Shoulders
Lie on your back and grasp the weights with the palms of your hands facing up, and your arms outstretched to the sides. With your elbows slightly bent, lift your arms above your chest until your hands are almost touching. Return to starting position and repeat.

Exercise 2 - Chest and Shoulders
Lie on your back and grasp the weights with the palms of your hands facing up, and your arms outstretched above your head. Grip your weights and bring them over your head and down to your hips, by your sides - a semi-circular motion. Lift back to starting position and repeat.

Exercise 3 - Chest and Back
Sitting with your back straight (preferably supported) and legs straight out in front of you, hold your weights in at your chest with your elbows out to the side (parallel to the floor). Push your arms out straight in front of you then pull them back in. Repeat.

Exercise 4 - Back and Shoulders
Stand with feet shoulder width apart and arms by your sides, gripping the weights with palms facing outwards. Making sure your movements are slow and concentrated, tense your shoulder and upper back muscles, then slowly "shrug" them up and down.

Exercise 5 - Shoulders and Upper Arms
Stand with feet shoulder width apart and arms raised straight up above your head, grip your weights with your palms facing behind you. Slowly bring your arms forward and down, without bending at the elbow, until level with your shoulders. Lift back to starting position and repeat.

Exercise 6 - Upper Arms, Shoulders and Back
Standing with feet slightly apart, grasp your weights and bend at the waist until your torso is parallel to the floor. Extend your arms towards the floor with palms facing outwards. Lift your arms out to the side, keeping them straight, until parallel to the floor. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Exercise 7 - Upper Arms, Shoulders and Back
Standing with feet slightly apart, position your arms straight down in front of you almost against your body - with your weights almost touching. Bend your elbows and lift your weights towards your chin, bringing your elbows out to the side, in line with your shoulders. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Exercise 8 - Arms and Chest
The classic push up. With your hands shoulder width apart place your palms on the floor. Stretch out your body with either your knees on the floor, or if you're feeling ambitious, your toes - so you are supporting your body weight. Keeping your back straight and using your arms lower yourself gently toward the floor until you are hovering just over it. Push yourself slowly back to your starting position and repeat. Remember - don't lower yourself to the point where you come into contact with the floor, it'll be much harder to push back up.

Exercise 9 - Arms
In a sitting position with your back straight, relax your arms in line with your body. Grip your weights with your palms facing upwards and curl them up towards your shoulders, then back down again. Repeat. Keep your torso still and back straight, let your arms do the work.

Exercise 10 - Forearms
Holding your weight with your arm outstretched in front of you, tilt your wrist up and down repeatedly. Try doing this with both an overhand and underhand grip on your weight. Do one arm at a time.

Results
The secret of successful body toning is regularity. If you do each of these exercises three times a week (always with at least one break day before repeating any particular exercise) you'll see results within weeks.

have you seen a difference in tone since you started this?

sounds interesting, i think ill give this a try:)

BrianD3

Well it depends on what your definition of loads of equipment is. If you were willing to spend 120 quid you could get a basic 50 kg cast iron dumbbell barbell set from Argos plus 4 extra 10 kg plates (these come in packs of 2)When you get stronger you can add more 10 kg plates. You'll be able to do loads of weight training exercises with just this setup eg
-deadlift
-sumo deadlift
-stiff leg deadlift
-military press
-upright row
-bent over row
-dumbbell swing
-power clean
-push press
-bicep curl
-overhead squat
-weighted push up
and loads of others

I'll leave others to suggest some solutions for the cardio training.

Brenner

chillywilly wrote:

have you seen a difference in tone since you started this?

sounds interesting, i think ill give this a try:)

Yeah its great because its not intensive and you have it done really quick, TBH its the first routine I've ever stayed with for more than a few weeks. I think its because I decided that I was going to keep doing it, even after I got into the shape I want to be... that was really important because I'd usually count down the weeks to the end of a routine and not get there.

It took 8 weeks and I have found it dramatic. People comment now...
"Oh your so buff" hee hee
But I needed it, I was a bit flabby there before the summer.

Go for it!

chillywilly

Brenner wrote:

Yeah its great because its not intensive and you have it done really quick, TBH its the first routine I've ever stayed with for more than a few weeks. I think its because I decided that I was going to keep doing it, even after I got into the shape I want to be... that was really important because I'd usually count down the weeks to the end of a routine and not get there.

It took 8 weeks and I have found it dramatic. People comment now...
"Oh your so buff" hee hee
But I needed it, I was a bit flabby there before the summer.

Go for it!

ye i am gonna go for this, thanks, Mr Motivator:D

Boru.

You don't need any equipment what so ever to develop your physique. Although weight training, if done correctly will certainly speed up the process, the amount of weight needed and the need for proper saftey generally doesn't allow it, so my solution for you would be body weight exercises. Primarily a variation of a squat , a pushup and a gymnastic bridge. These three exerercises alone will build an incredibly stong, slim toned physique. Send me a pm with your email address and I'll send you a copy of the bodyweight program I give my clients. No books, no equipment, no expense, and the whole things done in 15 minutes.

hierro

I find the swiss ball is the greatest fitness aid ever and there is one for 5.99 (I think) in argos.

*Oul_Doll_Cork*

I bought a fitness dvd recently to see what it would be like!... Its a really fun workout and I do it about 3 times a week!..

Its called Pump it Up.. its made by the Ministry of Sound so there is some good music on it too!... Its a high energy aerobic excercise and it incorperates dance moves aswell!...
...There is a Bums and Tums section in it too for us women!!!... Great dvd to be honest!

mgmt

Buy a couple bags of 'pea pebble' from Atlantic Homecare for 4euro per 20kg. Seperate the pebbles into bags of 5kg and 10kg. Place the desired weight into a sports bag and you can then do 'sandbag' training.

Almost all weight training can be performed, for dirt cheap, with a sandbag:

• Bench press can be simulated by placing the sandbag on your back while you perform the exercise. You lift 60% of your bodyweight during a pushup so you will not need that much more weight.
  
• Bicep and triceps can be worked out by just lifting the bag.
  
• Legs can be worked using step-ups, lunges and single leg squats.
  

Add to that a cheap pullup bar and you will never need to visit a gym again.

Gumbo

mgmt wrote: »

Buy a couple bags of 'pea pebble' from Atlantic Homecare for 4euro per 20kg. Seperate the pebbles into bags of 5kg and 10kg. Place the desired weight into a sports bag and you can then do 'sandbag' training.

Almost all weight training can be performed, for dirt cheap, with a sandbag:

• Bench press can be simulated by placing the sandbag on your back while you perform the exercise. You lift 60% of your bodyweight during a pushup so you will not need that much more weight.
  
• Bicep and triceps can be worked out by just lifting the bag.
  
• Legs can be worked using step-ups, lunges and single leg squats.
  

Add to that a cheap pullup bar and you will never need to visit a gym again.

the thread is 5 years old man, im sure the OP got a routine by now
although good intentions.

Transform

kceire wrote: »

the thread is 5 years old man, im sure the OP got a routine by now
although good intentions.

totally agree - its like old thread week this week.

Need more new topics i think!!1