Last Updated on September 30, 2024 by Michael Brockbank
Not everyone has the money to join a gym. Others still may not have the time available. Regardless of your finances or schedule, you can get a workout at home to lose weight and stay fit. Some ways may be things that you would normally do anyway.
It all depends on how you approach exercise and keeping yourself motivated to continue. You don’t need a lot of time or pay hundreds of dollars for a yearly membership to a gym that may wind up going to waste.
Getting a Good Workout at Home
Even some of the most mundane chores can be a method for losing weight and toning muscle mass. Here are seven easy methods for improving your lifestyle while staying close to the house.
1. Chores
Washing dishes, vacuuming, mopping the floor and many other chores can be used as a method to get some exercise. Instead of viewing these as droll activities, attack them with gusto. Usually, I commit to a 20-minute routine of vigorously cleaning everything I come across every day.
In most cases, I work up quite the sweat. It all centers around keeping yourself moving. Essentially, it’s a cardio activity that has a visual result. Not only will you burn quite a few calories, but the house will start to look amazing.
You’d be shocked by how much can be done inside 20 minutes when you have the mindset of pushing yourself.
2. Moving the Furniture
Moving furniture around could be part of your chores if you wish to really get a good workout at home. However, you don’t have to move your stuff to permanent places. Experiment with moving the furniture, but move everything back if you’re not satisfied. I know, it might take a great deal of effort rearranging your home. On the up-side, you’ll burn through a great deal of calories while utilizing a wide range of muscles in the body. There’s been plenty of times that I would find stuff I thought was lost just by moving the couch back and forth.
3. Cook More
A lot of people don’t realize the potential cooking has from an active viewpoint. You’re on your feet while moving your upper body and traversing around the kitchen. In fact, I’ve noticed that I’ll burn three times the calories when cooking than if I was sitting at my desk watching Netflix.
If you throw some healthy recipes in the mix, you could be getting a bit of exercise while eating better at the same time. Don’t underestimate the value of standing on your feet for 20 minutes or so while whipping up an elaborate and healthy dinner.
4. Walking and Riding
Many people take the one activity that comes naturally for granted. It doesn’t take much effort or time to increase your cardio activity by walking around the block. Although I do walk periodically, my cup of tea is riding my bike. In either case, it could vastly increase your health by sticking to a routine.
This is probably one of the easiest ways to workout at home without costing extra money do to so. Every step you take that is greater than what you did yesterday is beneficial to your health.
5. Dumbbells
Dumbbells are usually inexpensive at places like Walmart or Target. Start off with a single weight and buy more as you become financially able to do so. For me, I started with 10-pound weights. Commit yourself to a routine of lifting weights throughout the week and you could enhance your fitness.
You could even do a workout while watching television – which is something I do quite often. On average, I’ll lift more than two tons worth of weight within a single episode of Voyager or Deep Space Nine.
Design yourself repetition goals for each set and try to break your personal bests each week. I would suggest starting with lighter weights and lower repetitions until you find your personal limits. You want to work out the muscles, not strain yourself into a stroke.
6. Gaming
If you’ve visited this site before, you may be aware by the high praises I give the Xbox Kinect when it comes to fitness. Consoles like this can be greatly beneficial for losing weight and getting a fair amount of exercise. However, this is dependent on your physical movements.
The more you put your body into the game, the greater the workout. You can also get things such as putting greens, skeeball games for the kids or even indoor bowling sets that can help you workout at home as well. Even a cheap dart board can add to fitness in some degree.
7. Landscaping
Landscaping is great as a cardio workout at home. Things like raking leaves, mowing the lawn, sweeping the walkways and much more is akin to the chores mentioned earlier. This is also a good way to enhance vitamin D development and use in the body.
Sunlight helps humans create this essential building block in much the same way plants use it for energy. Just make sure you wear some sunblock – too much exposure can lead to many problems such as cellular damage and cancerous growths.
Keep Yourself Moving
These are only a few methods that I do to get more activity throughout my day. The key to the best workout at home is keeping your body in motion. Simply moving around requires your body to burn carbohydrates and fats for energy. All that you truly need is motivation and determination to live a healthier lifestyle.
What kinds of things do you do around the house that you’ve noticed are physically exhausting? Do you have a routine that can benefit yourself as well as the home? I’d love to hear from you…