Category: Exercise

Must Have Workout Equipment For Your Home Gym

http://motivationtoexercise.org/Stay Fit Indoors

You may not be able to go to a gym yet you want to stay fit? While outdoor exercise, like jogging, running or even walking can help you keep up your endurance or cardio respiratory function, you may not necessarily be meeting all your exercise needs. These fitness needs can be met at home, sometimes with equipment but often without. There are plenty of different exercises and workout equipment you can try for all levels of fitness.

Components of Fitness

One aspect of fitness is cardio vascular endurance. There are 3 other areas you need to tackle to ensure you are or remain or get fit. These are strength, flexibility and balance. We will consider what exercises are needed for each of those and then how you can meet your needs at home.

Cardio Vascular Endurance

Often just known as “cardio”, this is the stamina to keep going without getting breathless, to run for a bus, do a 5K or a marathon. Running, cycling, jogging or even fast walking can all help you get fit and improve your endurance

Strength

http://motivationtoexercise.org/This is the ability to lift your shopping or your child or a set of ladders for painting the house. Muscles need exercise to keep them strong and you can use weight machines, free weights or even bodyweight exercises, such as press ups to keep your muscles strong for everyday living and more.

Flexibility

This is the ability to scratch your back, reach down to tie your laces, cut your toenails or put your socks on, reach up high to lift something down or twist and turn when dancing or playing sport. Yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi can all help with improving and retaining flexibility.

Balance

If you have ever had a bout of vertigo (infection of the inner ear), you will know just how important balance is to being able to do anything. It’s also crucial for anyone suffering from osteoporosis or osteopoenia to ensure they have the best balance possible, to help guard against falls. Again, Pilates, Tai Chi and Yoga can all help to improve balance. There are also simple balance exercises you can do at home to improve, not only your balance but also, possibly to help remove the sense of nausea and vertigo.

Workout Equipment

Now, how do you get all of these aspects of fitness carried out at home, if you cannot even go out and jog? You may now be on the hunt for must-have workout equipment for home use. You could be like many who are searching for these items, but are unsure where to begin. With a little planning and attention you can have everything you want and need. You don’t even have to own a huge house or have a lot of space. Many workout essentials are small and simple enough to store, while bigger fitness tools may need a closet or dedicated floor space but with a little thought, you may not need the bigger items if you do not have the room or the budget to get these.

Strength

One workout essential that can fit in almost any room is weight plates. Weight plates are great because they require very little space and yet give you a full body workout, whether you use them with a bar or alone purely as weights. A great way to get started with weight plates is with a home gym exercise machine that these will fit onto but of course, this will be more expensive and will take more room. You may be able to acquire the weights quite cheaply on a local recycling page or app. If you have a home exercise bench, that’s perfect. They come in all shapes sizes and forms, and are an essential piece of workout equipment for home use. A good exercise bench will keep your form correct and keep your body in proper alignment during your workout. Most full machine home workout equipment comes with free weights, dumbbells or a combination of both. If you like to workout with free weights, you’ll need to make sure the weights you choose are of the right quality. While most are not too heavy, you do want to be careful of overusing them and hurting yourself. You don’t have to spend a fortune on these, just pick ones that are durable and will stand up to your workouts.

Another piece of equipment for weight training, if you prefer, are kettlebells or dumbells or even a medicine ball. Dumbbells and barbells provide solid muscle building exercises and can be used for bench pressing, shoulder presses, and lat pulldowns. These are classed as free weights, because they are used without any other equipment being needed. There are numerous workout exercises that can be done with these items and you will be able to find videos showing their correct use. You can exercise just about any muscle group with a medicine ball, including your chest, legs and back.You can also acquire a bar that fits across a doorway, for doing chin ups.

If you are not ready for a weights machine, medicine ball, dumbbells or kettlebells, you can also improve muscle strength with the use of resistance bands which are inexpensive and versatile. Resistance bands can help you lose weight, tone up and build muscle at the same time. These are like giant pieces of elastic that are used to create resistance for your muscles to work against. You can get different strengths (or levels of resistance) so you can improve your muscle strength gradually. These are very easy to store, they can be rolled up and put in a drawer.

There is also a no-equipment option using your own bodyweight to improve muscle strength. This can start off as easy as you like – doing pushups standing up leaning against a wall, progressing to pushups while resting on your knees, to full pushups. There are also other options, like “the Plank” and standing options lifting your knees.

Cardio

You can use an exercise bike for a home workout. These are small pieces of workout equipment, but they add a cardio benefit to your routine. Exercise bikes let you get some serious cardio action without having to use up more space than you have. And since many of the smaller ones can be folded up, you can easily find space for them. If you have the space and budget for a larger exercise bike, you can get ones with extra programmes, including adding resistance to provide a tougher workout and ones with variable programs to give you the option of flat ground and hill climbs in varying amounts. If you tend to suffer from backache, there are cycle machines (recumbent bikes) that you can operate lying down. These can be a great home gym investment because the smaller ones allow you to exercise in different areas of your backyard or front yard. While you won’t have to worry about weights, an exercise bike still provides a great way to burn calories and get fit. Look for one that’s easy to use and has a comfortable seat. Cycling is also a great piece of exercise if you are normally a runner or tend to get tight hips. Cycling does not put a strain on the hips and can even help open them, so they are more comfortable.

If an exercise bike does not sound like a must have piece of equipment to you but you have the budget and the space, you could try a running machine, a rowing machine or an elliptical glider. A smaller option is a stair stepper.

Flexibility

This aspect of fitness does not require equipment, although a large Swiss ball or stability ball can help extend the exercises you can do. Many of the flexibility exercises will require sitting on the floor and a yoga mat or exercise mat can be helpful here. You may also use some of the weight plates if carrying out twisting exercises, to add an extra dimension to your workout.

You can find DVDs and online videos to help with exercises for flexibility

Balance

Again, there is very little equipment needed for practising balance. A chair or other surface to help support you during the exercises is useful and a floor mat or yoga mat can help prevent slipping.

Looking For Must Have Workout Equipment

When looking for home workout equipment, look for the must have features and find what fits your needs the best. In summary, choosing home exercise equipment is not all that difficult. However, you must be sure to do your research and purchase what will meet your personal goals. and that will be easy for you to use. Once you have done all of this you will be ready to get started.

10 Ways To Boost Your Metabolism With Exercise

Increasing Metabolism Accelerates Weight Loss

www.motivationtoexercise.orgIncreasing your metabolism is one of the best ways to accelerate your weight loss. You’ll be burning more calories while at rest, and people who have a faster metabolism can cheat on their diet here and there with fewer negative repercussions.

In this article, we’ll look at 10 ways you can increase your metabolism with exercise. While it won’t happen overnight, you’ll burn slightly more calories in the first week. After the first month, your metabolic rate will be higher… and by the third month, you’ll have a high metabolism and have more energy for life.

10 Ways To Increase Metabolism

1. Running
Without a doubt, this is one of the best ways to burn calories and shed the stubborn fat. Running must be done at high speed. Sprinting is best because it puts you in fat burning mode for hours. This is how your metabolic rate skyrockets.

Avoid jogging which doesn’t put you in an excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) state. In other words, the calorie burning benefits ends once the exercise session ends. All you’ll get is impact on your joints and minimal fat burning benefits.

www.motivationtoexercise.org

2. Train legs more
When working out at the gym, focus on squats, box jumps, lunges, etc. The legs are huge muscles and training them more will not only help burn more calories, but you’ll develop lean muscle too. This will translate to more calories burned while at rest, because muscle is ‘calorically expensive’ and energy must be used to maintain them.

 

3. Focus on compound exercises
Pullups, deadlifts, squats, bench presses, etc. are examples of compound exercises. These exercises recruit several muscle groups and you’ll be burning more calories as compared to isolation exercises such as calf raises and dumbbell curls which only work one specific muscle each. Your workouts should mostly comprise compound movements.

 

4. Interval training
Interval training twice or three times a week will help to raise your metabolism and put you in fat burning mode for hours. They’re far more effective for fat loss than slow, steady state cardio.
You really do not need to do more than 3 sessions a week – and always have a one-day break between sessions. Interval training is so potent that if done daily without breaks, you can tax your central nervous system causing chronic fatigue and other problems.

 

5. Increase the resistance
Your goal should always be to increase the weight you move or the resistance you add in your training. If you run, you may use ankle weights to add resistance. If you lift weights, you should aim to lift as much weight as you can while maintaining good form and train safely.

www.motivationtoexercise.org
The more resistance you add, the harder your muscles will work. This will increase lean muscle growth and boost your metabolism.

 

6. Work your core
Hanging leg raises, planks, v-sits, etc. are all core exercises that work your core muscles and entire body. Incorporating a few of them towards the end of your workout session will help you tone your core and midsection. Your metabolism will also increase because many muscles are used to stabilize your core during core training.

 

7. Activity throughout the day
Drops make an ocean. The same principle applies in your daily life. You can spike and maintain your metabolism throughout the day by not slouching into a kyphotic position over your computer and being sedentary throughout the day.

Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk instead of using a car, if possible. Use a Swiss ball instead of a chair when you’re at your desk. Do 10 pushups, 10 half-squats and 10 jumping jacks every half an hour.

Not only will the short bursts of activity wake you up from the daily daze of monotony, but the short exercise sessions will work your muscles too.

 

8. Stay hydrated
Drinking sufficient water throughout the day has been shown to increase one’s active metabolism. The colder the water, the better. So, guzzle down those glasses of iced water.

www.motivationtoexercise.org

 

 

9. Change up your activities
The human body is a highly intelligent and adaptive organism. If you subject it to the same workouts every week, it will get more efficient at handling the workouts. This is why you see improvements in performance.

To stimulate your body’s metabolism, it would be a good idea to keep it guessing. Do new exercises and engage in a variety of activities. If you do CrossFit today, try indoor rock climbing the next day. A spinning class the day after that will be a refreshing change too. What’s next?

Kickboxing classes, rowing machine training, yoga, etc. You’re spoiled for choices. While you don’t have to vary your workouts daily, adding a new activity once a week will keep your body in ‘constantly adapting’ mode.

 

10. Slow your movements
This is applicable to weight training. When lifting weights, it’s best to check your ego at the door and stop comparing the size of your muscles with others. Some people have a natural tendency to want to lift the most weight just for bragging rights.

Very often, form goes out the window and jerky movements are used to lift weights that are far too heavy for them. This is counterproductive.

Instead, you should lift weight in a slow and controlled manner. One count to lift the weight up and three counts to slowly lower it. The eccentric phase of the movement stimulates the muscle fibers and causes growth. This will lead to a higher metabolism.

The 10 pointers in this article are highly effective if you apply them.

Warnings

Of course, you should consult your doctor first and tailor an exercise program to fit in with your current level of fitness. If you’ve led a sedentary lifestyle for years or you’re obese, you’ll not be able to handle high intensity training initially. It will be best to walk more, clean up your diet and lose several pounds till harder exercise becomes possible.

Once you’re lighter and can move more fluidly, you can apply the more ‘hardcore’ tips mentioned here. What matters is that you make exercise a part of your daily lifestyle.
You have everything to gain from it. The only bad workout is the one that didn’t happen.

Get moving today.