I kick *kitten* at cardio, but am stumped by strength training?

MarKayDee

As a little preface, I'm 5'4" around 170lbs and looking to lose 30-50lbs. I've been tracking calories for about a month and doing at least a half hour of cardio (usually joggin) every morning before I get up and start my day. I have a full time job and a two year old, so the gym is out of the question for me. I have been considering running a 5k this June, and I would really like to continue improving my cardio workout and running because the women in my family have shoddy joints in our hips and knees and I am worried that without strong legs I'll be doomed to have to relocate my hips randomly in the grocery store.
That being said I want to start adding some strength training into my workouts. I have a bit of a belly I am hoping to get rid of in a few months as I continue to lose pounds (down 5, yay), but I know I'll need to tone up the muscles underneath.

Does anyone have any suggestions for strength training I could do at home to help me strengthen my abs and legs?

napompl

I am by no means even close to an expert, but a couple that come to mind that you could do at home are....lunges, squats, crunches, situps, planks, calf raises ( just up on a step ) I'm sure there are many many more. I always browse on the internet to get new ideas
Hey and congrats on the 5 gone! : )

MissB46

You don't need to go to the gym to have a good leg or ab workout:

Do Squats - there are lots of variations that i.e. split squat, box squats ..... wallsquats are really good too.
Do lunges, deadlifts are also good and again lots of variations like single leg, romanian deadlift etc.

If you have some free weights or a kettlebell use those but to start off bodyweight is fine..

(If you want to work on your butt do hip thrust - these get your bumcheeks and the backs of your legs - again weight is optional)

For abs (core) do planks, again lots of variations: once you mastered the basic plank and you can hold it for a decent while you can do plank climbers, or elevate the plank or use a swiss ball etc and then there are lots of variants of crunches, leg raises etc

I would suggest to have a look on utube for the exercises if you are not sure how to do them and make sure you use proper form

kinmad4it

Shopping bags, rucksacks even handbags can be filled with heavy things and lifted. Two cans of soup one week, four the next, or bags of flour. Endless solutions.