Why getting in shape at home is now easier than ever
Research has shown that just 30 to 60 minutes of exercise a week can help you live longer and healthier. While this sounds great, not everyone has the time or money to commit to a gym membership.
The good news is that it’s never been easier to build a cost-effective home gym on a budget meaning you can always find the time to workout.
Quality Equipment
The majority of people start by investing significant sums of money in their equipment only to lose motivation a few weeks later, leaving it all to go to waste. Building up your equipment collection on a budget doesn’t have to mean sacrificing quality.
With a little research you can compare various manufacturers to find the best bang for your buck. With this in mind, the best policy is to start small. You’d be surprised by how much you can accomplish with relatively little equipment.
The trick is to find the most versatile products on the market and take full advantage. First thing on your list should be a yoga mat. While it makes for a brilliant workout, the utility of these mats extends well beyond yoga. Virtually every floor exercise benefits from a yoga mat, from sit ups to push ups, making them very cost effective.
While bodyweight exercises allow for near infinite variations and progressions, sometimes they’re just too difficult as a beginner. Pullups are a perfect example of this. Pullup bars are one of the most common and effective pieces of home exercise equipment on the market, allowing you to hit your chest, biceps and back simultaneously.
Unfortunately for many just starting out on their fitness journey even a single pullup can be a challenge. This is where resistance bands can prove invaluable. Resistance bands can be used to make exercises easier or more difficult as needed meaning that you can much more easily progress through bodyweight exercises that might otherwise have been too difficult.
Calisthenics at home
With so much emphasis on the gym in recent years, body weight exercises (known as calisthenics) haven’t gotten the attention they deserve. These exercises rely on nothing but the weight of your own body in order to build and tone muscle.
You might think that relying on body weight for stimulating muscle growth would be a limitation but the truth is quite the opposite. Because Calisthenics requires measured and precise application of weight through poses, the exercises work to improve flexibility and mobility alongside muscle.
An added benefit is that you can get started with no equipment at all with exercises like pushups, sit ups and squats. Everyday objects around the home can be repurposed as exercise equipment meaning that you can progress through your workout plan without having to invest significant amounts of money.
Chairs are a great example of this and can be used to perform tricep dips and split squats. As your fitness improves you may want to increase the difficulty of your workouts by adding extra weight using backpacks. Backpacks allow you to perform many of the same exercises (push ups, pull ups etc.) with a controlled amount of extra weight.
We’ve all heard how important exercise is to a healthy lifestyle but finding the time and money can be a real challenge. Luckily, the last few years have brought about a new culture of home exercise and budget workouts, meaning that anyone can get started regardless of how much equipment they have access to.
This means that the only thing standing in your way is you. So whether it’s weight lifting or pushups, get to it!
Previous in Lifestyle: Senior Fitness
Next in Lifestyle: Swimming Safety