Most people think of home exercise as following some 'leg warmers' exercise video from 1982 or getting on the treadmill for 15 minutes. One of the main reasons for this narrow sighted problem is lack of knowledge about what can be achieved at home in terms of health and fitness.
Most people only know what they've been told or what they've read. Unfortunately most of what people are told is skewed or misleading for a host of reasons too deep for us to get into in this article. The important point here is that there is a better way to go about getting the body you want and the fitness levels to go along with it.
So often, a home workout routine gets reduced to 15 minutes of wasted time because of frustration, half hearted commitments and lack of confidence in one's own program. Many times the fitness failure epidemic kicks in and people quit their home exercise plan altogether.
People are often misled to believe that that can only achieve incredible fitness at home if they make a big investment in home exercise equipment. Treadmills, multi-station weight machines and elaborate stretching devices, just to name a few, are all pushed on the public under the guise that without this stuff 'you are eternally doomed to a fat body and poor health'.
The truth is, all you need is a few square feet of floor space and the right mindset to make continuous and stunning progress in your quest for home fitness success. Sure there are some effective little gadgets that can add some variety and fun to your workouts but the number one piece of equipment on your list should be a comfortable floor mat. If you can't spring for a mat - just fold up a soft comforter and you are ready to go.
Before getting off the floor there are at least 87 exercises that you can do ranging from torso and lower body stretches to butt & thigh tighteners and core strengtheners. It doesn't matter if you are a first time exerciser or 'on-and-off' fitness veteran - a creatively structured home workout routine can deliver results to rival any fitness center workout. I say this not just from knowledge of the body but from many years of training people in their homes and offices for various health challenges and physical fitness goals.
Of course, if you are a hardcore body-builder or power-lifter, what I'm saying here may sound like a joke to you and that's alright because I wrote this article for the vast majority of people who just want to look and feel good, both physically and mentally. But, let me just offer you this (from personal experience) you should start thinking now about ways to reduce the high intensity stress and strain on your body - while still maintaining (and most likely improving) your overall health and fitness. High volume, heavy weight and machine type training routines are a long term ticket to aches, pains and injuries - some of you reading this know exactly what I'm talking about. Enough said.
The flexibility of a home exercise routine shows its value when you go on vacation or away on business - the same principles you follow at home can be done at a hotel, at a friends house and even in the outdoors, depending on the climate. For example, I regularly take my clients to local, public playgrounds for some of the best full body workouts I could ever dream up. It's amazing what you can do when you look at a playground with an eye for fitness training programs. Another plus, is that these types of workouts can be fun for family time as well. Take your kids to the park, turn them loose and get yourself a 30 minute cross training workout in while the kids try to copy you. You'll get fit, the kids will pick up the healthy habit from you and they sleep really well that night, too!
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