6 Cheap At-Home Workouts!

Pedometers:
Many people have treadmills in their homes, but sometimes the workout can get boring. I recommend investing in a pedometer that counts steps. A person can carry the pedometer with them during the course of a day with the goal of walking 5,000-10,000 steps (2,000 steps is equivalent to one mile). Whatever steps are not completed during the course of the day can be done on the treadmill. This makes working out less drudgery.

Bodybars:
A bodybar is a great tool for working out at home. A good one for home use would be a 4-foot bar. The bodybar is a weighted bar with foam cushioning for added comfort. The bar weighs nine pounds, is under 30 dollars and can be used for squats, lunges, overhead presses, biceps curls, triceps extensions and chest presses while lying on the floor.

Medicine Balls:
These unique and versatile balls help to develop muscular strength, increase stability and help with joint integrity. They can weight up to 12 pounds or more and can be used to simulate free weights, as well as be used to perform unorthodox movements in the privacy of one’s home. For example, walking lunges while holding a medicine ball over one’s head helps with lower and upper body strength. One can also perform isolation exercises for each area of the body.

Dumbbells:
Dumbbells can be purchased for the home and one can invest in a safe material such as neoprene or vinyl. This will help to protect household items of value and allow one to get a good overall body workout. Dumbbells can be purchased for 50 cents per pound and up. The lighter neoprene and vinyl dumbbells are also good for aerobic tapes that incorporate light free weights.

Resistance bands:
Resistance bands are small, inexpensive and an extremely effective exercise tool. One can work the entire body with all types of resistance exercises. It provides for a perfect home workout. I also recommend that door attachments be purchased for additional exercises. One should pay attention to the various colors of bands to determine weight resistance. In most cases, yellow is three pounds, green is five to six pounds and red is approximately 10 pounds of resistance.

Videos:
There are many types of videos from aerobic dance, Pilates, yoga and aerobic/weight training combinations. Along with one of the recommendations above for resistance training, one can perform two days of resistance and two days of an aerobic-type video. This provides for a balance of strength training and aerobics.