| Product: |
Other Equipment in general |
| Date: |
04/01/07 (288 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: doesn't cost anything to do
Disadvantages: you might get obsessed with it..lol
After the excesses of Christmas and New Year many of us resolve to lose weight and get fit. This is all very well and good and we go back to our work-lives with the intention of joining a gym or exercise class or rush out and buy the latest piece of exercise equipment…then life takes over. We receive the January bills and all of a sudden that additional expense of a gym membership is just not affordable. Most of us gain weight over the festive season and I always try to visualise my weight gain in bags of sugar..yes I know it sounds really stupid, but if you have put on 10pounds or 5 kilos in weight, go into the supermarket, put 5 bags of sugar in a basket and carry it for 5 mins. That is how much extra weight you are asking your body to lug around. .
However, there is a very simple solution. You can do it by yourself or invite a friend, you can do it whenever you like and not be tied to gym opening times, you will not need to buy any overpriced fitness dvd..in short, you can create your own gym at home, using "equipment" that will be already in your home and it won’t cost you a penny. I have loads of gym training experience and would advise that you start of slowly and build up, do not go for overkill, you will end up harming yourself. Always support your lower back if you are doing any kind of sit up and never ever use jerk or forced movements, your body will loosen up fairly quickly and will bend and stretch when it is ready. Always work in sets, usually of 10, exercises. This ensures that you exercise both sides of your body equally and believe me, it is much easier to see the end of a set of 10 than a set of 50 or 100. Build up the number of sets over time. Always start with a warm-up.
Warm Up Exercises
Wear loose fitting clothes and play your favourite cd. Start from the top of your body and work your way down.
Start by slowly moving your head from side to side, trying but not forcing to look over each shoulder in turn. Do this is sets of ten. I would recommend starting off with one or two sets and building up to five sets. Do not try to recreate the Exorcist, your head will not turn 360degrees.
Then rotate your shoulders, both at the same time, again in sets of ten, building up to five sets.
Shake out your arms, pretend you have something sticky on your fingers that you are trying to shake off, let your fingers loose, then lift your arms up until they are level with your shoulders and bending from the elbow, bring in each arm in turn until it reaches your chest, again in sets of ten.
Then it is the turn of your hips. Put your hands quite firmly on your hips and slowly rotate in as full a circle as you can manage, keep the circle small though. Do this slowly so that you do not jerk your back. Again in sets of ten. This will loosen up your hips without doing any damage.
Shake out your legs, pretending that you have a shoe stuck on each foot in turn, keeping your foot loose and dangly. Then using one leg at a time, bring up each knee in turn, again in sets of ten for each knee.
Ok, that was the warm-up, muscles should be nice and flexible by now and able to work a little bit harder. Time to use all that "equipment" that is already in the house.
Arms always seem to need a lot of toning, especially if you want to avoid “bingo wings”. Take two tins of beans from the cupboard, one in each hand and keeping your arms straight and by your side. Lift each arm to shoulder level and drop, again in sets of ten. Then holding arms at shoulder level, out to the side, bring arms in to meet in the middle of your chest, keeping tins of beans firmly in your grip. You will develop more exercises the more you do this.
A couple of small childrens’ rubber balls or tennis balls gripped and released in your hand, again in sets of 10, will tighten up lower arms
Legs and thighs usually need attention and any work done on thighs usually leads to a tighter bum as well. Just go to the bottom step of a staircase and step up and down…this will become very painful very quickly, but try to get through the pain and build this one up, it is really an excellent exercise. As you progress, you can go up and down two or three stairs, but one is enough to start. This will help your legs and increase your cardi-vascular rate. Start slowly and build up speed.
Another good leg exercise..find a pair of loose socks (slipper socks are ideal) and slip a one pound pack of eg raisins inside each sock. Then lie down on your back with legs out in front of you and slowly lift and lower each leg in turn…you will be amazed at how much harder this is with a bag of raisins attached…be careful to support your lower back with a small cushion when doing this exercise.
Skipping Rope - this can be made out of any rope and all you need is a space where you can skip without knocking over ornaments, furniture etc. Again start slowly & build up.
Rope Balls - Another kid’s item that is an excellent piece of exercise equipment. If you don’t have one then make one. Take a tennis ball, make a hole through the centre and feed a piece of soft rope through it. Tie it at one end, leave a tail about 2 foot long and make a loop to go round your foot at the other end, make sure it is loose around your ankle. Then fit it on your ankle, swing the ball around and keep swinging and jumping over the ball as it rotates around your leg. This is a great exercise.
Hoola Hoop - Remember those, you may have a kid’s one lying around unused, if not, they only cost a couple of pounds to buy and can be found quite easily.
Other Exercises
Walk across the floor on your knees, stretching out, this will lengthen thigh muscles. Walk across the floor on your bum, keeping knees bent and held up, this will get rid of a flabby bottom. Stand with your legs apart and slowly flop forward, open your legs until you can touch the floor, then over time bring legs closer and closer together until your body is stretched enough that you can touch your toes without forcing (this will take a few sessions so don’t push it).
Sit Ups - I am not a great fan of sit ups because people can do serious damage to their back, however, there is a way in which these can be done safely to start with while you build up your back and stomach muscles. Lie on the floor on your back with your feet (from knees to ankles) supported on an armchair or sofa, support your lower back with a small cushion and slowly raise your head towards your knees. Do this in sets of 5 and remember to breathe, you don’t need to hold your breath when doing sit-ups. When you have strengthened all the major muscle groups you can go onto doing proper sit-ups.
So there you have it, a little work-out program that can be done with the minimum of fuss, little and often is usually the key. All of the above will take about 20-30minutes and the time will fly if you do it all to music. I guarantee that by the end of January you will feel much fitter and provided that you don’t overindulge in food and drink, you will definitely have lost excess weight. Continue this until the summer and that swimsuit will fit…and all that without the cost of a gym membership.
If you have any sort of heart condition, are pregnant or have any other serious health concerns, I would check with your doctor before embarking on any sort of exercise program.
As well as the above, you could make sure you walk every day, again try this while listening to music, make the tracks vary from slow to fast and back to slower and walk in time to the music. If you own a bike, then get on it and start cycling ohh and isn’t this the time of year when we should be starting to turn over the garden..or is that just asking too much…lol.
Happy exercising.
Summary: no need to use expensive gym equipment to exercise
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