What Are You Trying to Accomplish?
When you first begin looking into home workouts, it can seem like there are a million different ways to stay in shape without going to the gym. However, when you break down those various options they actually all have a very specific purpose.
Each type of workout is designed to achieve a very specific outcome and benefits your body in a different way. Understanding what you are trying to accomplish with your home workouts is the first step toward designing an effective and efficient program. Here are some things to keep in mind as you explore your options further:
Strength Training
One of the most important benefits of strength training is that it can help prevent injury. If you want to be able to play sports or do other physical activities as you get older, you need to make sure you stay in good enough shape to do so.
No one is immune to injury, and many serious injuries can be prevented by building strength and maintaining flexibility. With strength training, you can build muscles and improve your joint health, making you less likely to suffer from chronic pain or injuries.
Strength training can also help you lose or maintain weight. While aerobic exercise burns more calories during the workout itself, strength training has an “afterburn effect” where your body continues to burn calories after the workout is over.
The amount of weight you lose depends on your diet as well, but strength training is one of the most important ways to maintain or increase muscle mass even as you lose weight.
Cardio
Cardio workouts, like running, swimming, or biking, are great for your heart health. They improve your VO2 max, which is the amount of oxygen your body can process, and your heart and lungs’ ability to pump blood through your body.
This is important because the more efficiently your heart and lungs work, the less likely you are to have health problems like diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Cardio workouts also help you burn calories, which can be helpful if you’re trying to lose weight or get fit.
The more calories you can burn in a day, the better. However, cardio workouts don’t always burn a lot of calories, especially if you’re not pushing yourself. If you want to lose a lot of weight, you’ll benefit by doing a lot of cardio, but if you just want to stay in good shape, you don’t need to do very many cardio workouts at all.
Body Weight Exercises
Body weight exercises are great for improving your overall fitness and health, but they don’t necessarily improve your strength. If you want to get stronger, you’ll need to add some weight lifting to your routine, but bodyweight exercises are a great way to get started and improve your overall fitness at the same time.
If you’re just starting out, you can do all these exercises using your own body weight. There are many great workouts you can do using just your own body weight, like squats, lunges, pushups, and crunches. Exercises like these can also help improve your balance and flexibility, which can help prevent injury, as well as improve your posture. They’re also much less expensive than joining a gym.
Resistance Band Exercises
Resistance band exercises are great for improving muscle strength and endurance. If you’re trying to get stronger, or if you want to be able to do things like lift heavier weights, you’re going to want to add resistance training to your home workout routine.
Resistance bands are a great alternative to free weights because they’re cheaper, don’t require a gym membership, and are safe for people of all ages and fitness levels. You can get a great resistance band workout in the comfort of your own home and do things like squats, lunges, jumping jacks, and crunches. They’re great for beginners, but they can be used by advanced lifters as well.
Jumping Exercise
If you’re trying to improve your cardiovascular health, you can do jumping exercises like skipping, jumping jacks, jump ropes, and box jumps. This type of cardio is great for people who don’t want to run, but still want to get their heart rate up.
You can jump rope outside or inside on a carpet. Jumping exercises are great for beginners because you don’t need any special equipment and you can do them almost anywhere. You also don’t need to be in great shape to start doing jumping exercises. You can do them as a warm-up at the beginning of your workout or as a cool-down at the end.
Conclusion
Home workouts don’t have to be a scary thing. It’s perfectly okay to not go to the gym, whether you’re intimidated by it, don’t have time, or feel like it’s too expensive. You can get a great workout at home using minimal equipment and still see many of the same benefits as if you went to the gym. Decide what you are trying to accomplish with your home workouts and choose the type of exercise that will best help you achieve those goals. From there, you can explore the different types of equipment you might need to get started.
