Valentin Bosioc
Today, people around the world have understood the need for health and fitness because the changing lifestyle is causing many diseases in their lives. More and more people are hitting gyms and joining health centers in order to stay healthy.
According to a report, currently 2.2 billion people – nearly 30% of the world’s population – are either obese or overweight. This is a worrying trend because obesity is the leading cause of heart diseases, strokes and other life-threatening ailments.
However, being regular at a gym and working hard on your muscles and bones to get fit is not an easy proposition for all. When you are not comfortable with spending your valuable time and money to go to a health club, you might as well want to explore other options. Time and money notwithstanding, many people especially women are quite reluctant to go to gym for the simple reason that they think they would be judged by others.
READ: The Ultimate Home Gym Guide
Having said that, in this age of information, going to gym is no longer the only option to remain in shape. Based on the experiences and inputs of many health experts, we have compiled some tips to stay healthy and fit even at home.
Incorporate a power-packed home exercise regimen
A regular exercise is very important for everyone and it’s a good habit to keep up. Since you want to remove that extra flab and get in shape, you need to incorporate exercises that are effective and burn more fat. To begin with, you take these exercises as fun which will help you go along with them nicely and comfortably. Here are some common yet effective home exercises:
- Stairs: Make use of stairs whenever possible; if you’ve got them at your house, go up and down few times. This will help you not just tone up your leg muscles, but also act as a low-impact aerobic exercise.
- Pushups: Doing pushups is a good full body workout as it includes a large number of muscles in your body. Pushups specifically strengthen your arms, abs and the lower body simultaneously. This activity also promotes good posture and prevents back pain.
- Squats: Squats are a powerful exercise that strengthens your legs and buttocks by acting on quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. If you do them regularly, squats will greatly help you in burning large quantities and body fat and building lean muscle.
- Crunches: It is one of the best exercises for strengthening abdominal muscles and to improve posture. It must be done in a variety of ranges of motion and in different angles in order to engage all muscles.
- Skipping: Skipping is the most convenient and fun way to ensure your good health. It is essentially a full body workout that uses your abdominal muscles to stabilize your body, legs for jumping, and shoulders and arms for turning the rope.
Create your own home gym
READ: How to Create a Home Gym
One of the most cost-effective and powerful ways of getting in shape is having a home gym. However, you have to be motivate and diligent enough about your training. The main benefit of working out in a gym is the availability of a variety of equipment and if you want to have one at your home, you can purchase certain inexpensive gym-style equipment. There are a plenty of home gym system equipment that aren’t too costly but will help make your workout more effective and more interesting. These equipment are essentially meant for total fitness where you can use your body weight to perform strength building exercises.
Do home maintenance work yourself
Doing your home maintenance work yourself is a great way for performing workout to stay fit as well as for saving penny. If you find your bathroom tap broken and a few other household chores that need fixing, consider doing them all by yourself. It will not only be a good exercise for your body, but acquiring new skills will be good for your brain. Exercise in any form is a good way for attaining a better physical work. New studies also corroborate the fact that dusting, vacuuming and mopping are no less than any session at a gym. This helps stretch and tone your muscles as you can burn up to 315 calories per hour.
SEE: Essential Items for Working out At Home
Go for hiking
Hiking is an awesome way that improves your cardio-respiratory fitness. Going outdoors and hiking allows you to get your heart pumping while enjoying some fresh air. During hiking when you take sharp turns to propel yourself forward gives your body an all over workout. It strengthens your quads, glutes and hamstrings. Since it is good for your heart, hiking improves your blood pressure and manages your blood sugar levels. In addition to that, research shows that going for hiking helps combat the symptoms of stress and anxiety. Many experts also suggest that hiking is a great way of healing your body and mind and nourishing your imagination. Furthermore, hiking burns as many as 370 calories an hour.
Take up gardening
Gardening is an amazing exercise that keeps you active and reduces your stress levels. According to a study conducted at Kansas State University, gardening strengthens your limbs, helps the cardiovascular system and develops flexibility. It is also a great way to incorporate workout while growing your own food. So go ahead and use gardening to take a break, connect with nature and keep your worries at bay. Over the years many people have been using gardening as a feel good pastime. Also, due to these obvious physiological and psychological benefits, gardening is being used as a form of therapy for our body and mind.
Go to swimming
While mentioning home based exercises, we cannot simply skip swimming, for it is highly cost effective and excellent way to get fit. When you propel your body forward against the resistance of water, you include a large number of your body muscles to do so. As a result, your heart functioning improves, your endurance gets build and muscle strength increases. Swimming is an effective way to burn calories – even a gently swim can burn over 200 calories in just half an hour. It also increases your energy levels and lowers the risk of diseases.
READ: How to Lose 10 Pounds by Swimming
Final Thoughts
The most important elements for staying fit are your will power and motivation without which you cannot maintain your health and body shape. While gyms are being considered as ideal places for burning out extra fat and strengthening muscles, but there are other ways for staying healthy as well, especially for those who see no reason for spending extra money and time.
Author Bio:
Suzanne is independent health care industry analyst & speaker and entrepreneur. She has two little cute children. Having hands-on experience in health, she has answer to all your health related queries. She loves to share her thoughts by writing article and discussion with people. She is also contributor on Esprittoday.
