Exercise At Home When You Can’t Get To The Gym

by glenn on May 25, 2012

Yesterday was an awful day weatherwise.  Whether you work in an office or you work at home, this was not the kind of day that motivated you to head to the gym.  Yesterday was the kind of day where you want to stay in bed or on the couch and watch a full season of your favorite show on DVD.  The skies were gray, the rain was hard at times.  There were even a couple of claps of thunder ringing through the afternoon sky.  If you actually thought about skipping the gym, there is no reason that you couldn’t just decide to do some quick exercises at home instead.
Working in a home office has positive and negative aspects.  Without getting into the list of pros and cons, let’s just agree that being able to exercise on impulse is an advantage.  While you may not have work colleagues to motivate you for a noontime workout, you do have great flexibility of how and when to exercise.  You never know when you will need to expend some nervous energy or release some stress.  I am often reminded of the scene in “A Few Good Men”, where Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, and Kevin Pollack are discussing the case and Tom Cruise suddenly decides he has to go and get his bat.  “I think better with my bat,” he says.  For many, exercise is the bat and when you need to do it, you need to do it.  It probably would not look so good to see someone doing push ups in the middle of the office.  Colleagues would think the person has lost it.  But if you need to do some push ups or jumping jacks and you work at home, this is a more acceptable energy outlet.

Exercise options for the home have changed significantly over the last decade.  There was a time in the 1980’s when workout videos were the craze.  People couldn’t get enough of them.  With the explosion of personal training in NYC, many personal trainers in Queens are becoming more than trainers.  They are innovators and entrepreneurs.  It seems like everyday there are new kinds of resistance bands, stretch bands, water filled weights, sand filled weights, adjustable weights, and mats.  Every tweak seems to add a whole new brand and style of workout.  This is in addition to the already vast amounts of innovative workout dvds and videos touting different workout programs.

No longer are home workouts limited to push ups, sit ups, and a jump rope. Those are great options, but now there are many new pieces of equipment you can incorporate that do not take up much space at home.  Many of the items listed above can be slid underneath a couch or stored in a closet until it is time to get moving.   Resistance bands can help provide you with a vast number of upper body exercises to help strengthen and tone your arms, back, shoulders, and chest.  If you can loop it behind a pole or under your feet to stabilize it, you can get some great shoulder raises or bicep curls done.  Many of these bands will come with literature outlining many, but not all, of the exercises that can be performed with the product.

Remember to see your doctor for a complete checkup before starting any physical fitness or weight training program,.  A complete annual physical should be a part of everyone’s wellness plan.  This simple visit to your doctor can help stave off chronic or serious health problems from developing.  This is especially important if you will be working out when you are alone.  If you are at risk for any health problems, you will want to know before you get started.  Plus, this will  give you a great picture of your current state of health so your can compare later on for results.

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