Fitness Without Equipment

In this day and age most of us who want to get fitter, stronger, or lose weight know that in order to achieve our goals we must participate in some type of exercise program. One of the problems is that of choosing what sort of fitness equipment we should be using or buying. There are a number of choices on the market today, including elliptical trainers, rowing machines, exercise bicycles, steppers, weight machines, free weights, cable machines, and so on.

Now you have two choices when it comes to using fitness equipment. First is to purchase a piece of equipment, depending on the quality of what you want, buying can be pretty expensive. The second choice is to become a gym member. This will give you a wider of choice in the types of fitness equipment you can use, but even this option can be expensive.

Now there can be many reasons that could make it difficult for you to take advantage of either choice. Perhaps you are in a position in your life at the moment where you cannot afford to purchase any fitness equipment or afford to join a gym. You may not have any space at home to use any fitness equipment, or have the time to travel to a gym 3 or 4 times a week. You may feel uncomfortable or not have the confidence at the present time to join a gym. All these reasons will result in one thing, and that is not exercising, and not achieving the vision you may have of yourself for the future.

Now I am going to be brutally honest with you. All those reasons are just excuses not to exercise. You justify not exercising with these excuses and this makes you feel that there is some substance behind why you cannot exercise. The fact is that there is no substance behind these excuses, because when you focus on why you can't do something your mind will come up with lots of reasons for that point of focus. However if you focus on a regular basis on why you should exercise, your mind will come up with reasons and ways for that as well. You can reach extreme levels of fitness without equipment.

The truth is that we associate great bodies with fitness equipment and we have the perception that fitness without any equipment is not something that can be achieved successfully. This is a million miles away from the truth. You don't need any fitness equipment to become fitter, stronger, or slimmer. Your own body is one of the best pieces of fitness equipment that you have. You can reach extremely high levels of fitness using nothing but your body.

Take a look at the sport of boxing. It is only over the last few years that boxers have started using weights or weight machines to train. A few years ago 99% of their training consisted of using their own body for their training. Boxers would get up in the early hours and run the streets, not use a treadmill at lunch time. They would spend many hours a week doing push ups, sit ups, chin ups, stretching, shadow boxing, and a whole host of other body weight exercises. Boxers are warriors and they reach warrior status without any equipment. Boxers have the fittest and most durable physiques in sport.

To become a soldier is no mean feat, the training is extremely tough. The bulk of a soldiers training consists of exercising without equipment. They spend hours running over rough terrain carrying equipment and heavy backpacks. They spend months doing circuit training consisting of swimming, push ups, chin ups, sit ups, and various other exercises. Nobody can say that a soldier is not an extremely fit individual.

There is a huge choice of exercises you can use, where your body is the only piece of equipment you will need. Depending on the method of training you use, just 15 minutes a day will give you fitness levels far beyond what you have at the moment. Pick a set of exercises that hit different body parts and make a circuit out of them. Circuit training will improve your strength, fitness, and endurance. Pick your own circuit or use the one below

Free squats (30 seconds) Rest (20 seconds) Push ups (30 seconds) Rest (20seconds) Crunches (30 seconds) Rest (20 seconds) Squat thrusts (30 seconds)

This circuit last just 3 minutes and it will work your body hard. Do as many actions of each exercise in a 30 second period and do not have any more than 20 seconds rest. Try it once and see how you feel. Call this one circuit, and when your fitness improves do another circuit later in the day. There really is no limit to how far you can go on this circuit, the fitter you get the more circuits you keep adding. Just try one to begin with to get used to it and think on that one circuit is just 3 minutes out of your whole day. 3 minutes is not a lot compared to the benefits you will get from that time. Now you know that you are capable of reaching a high level of fitness without equipment.