Do-It-Yourself Home Gym
Do you use your home to workout? There are many ways to accomplish some aerobic, resistance, strength and stretching exercises without leaving your home, whether you use Wii Fit or follow along to exercise tapes/DVDs...to just including your daily/weekly chores (gardening, vacuuming, lawn mowing, dusting, etc.) as exercise.
I recently read an article in the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter regarding a Do-It-Yourself Home Gym that I thought was great!
Here are the four items you need to create your own Home Gym:
1. Elastic exercise bands (cost: about $3.00)
2. Large vinyl therapy ball—also called a physio-, Swiss, or gym ball (cost: about $20.00)
3. Exercise ball (these are weighted, 5-9 pounds) (cost: about $20.00)
4. Fitness Jump Rope (cost: about $10.00)
With the combination of these four items, you can exercise all major muscle groups, as well as improve coordination, muscle tone, balance, flexibility, strength, speed, posture, stamina, and burn calories.
There are endless possibilities of exercises and activities you can achieve using these four basic equipment items, while working on strength and calisthenic exercises, plyometric exercises, aerobic and resistance training. The website above (click on Wellness Letter above) provides some specific exercises and tips/strategies to get started.
Have you incorporated one, or all, of these items into your fitness routine? If so, how is it working? any favorite routines or specific exercises that you've noticed results with, that you would like to share?
Comments
I love my balance ball - so does my cat. My younger son used to laugh at me, until he tried doing pushups with the ball balanced under his ankles. He wasn't laughing after that, lol!
I also love my Pilates bands and always pack one when I travel.
My home gym also includes weight balls, a jump rope, a balance board, a mini stair stepper and my Total Gym. I've been seriously considering adding a treadmill, since going to the gym never seems to fit my schedule. I've been trying to convince my husband to put in a pool, since I'm an avid swimmer (the neighborhood heated pool is open year-round and a short jog away); an Endless Pool would be ideal.
But, dancing to fitness DVDs is also a fun way to get in some good cardio/aerobic exercise, too. :)
I love the exercise ball. I've used it during sit-ups and noticed some improvement. Instead of putting my heads behind my head or out in front of me, I lift the exercise ball above my head and feel the resistance in both my arms and stomach.
Granted I'm not doing THAT many sit ups yet, but I'm on my way. Will keep you up on my progress.
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