Need suggestions for some (light) home exercise

kyle4jem

Hello all

In a previous life I used to go to the gym 4-5 mornings a week and spend 20-30mins on the X-trainer. Also did a few reps on the machines - mostly arms and upper body. I've never been able to do sit-ups, crunches or all that jazz.

Fast forward six years and going to the gym is now a viable option in my current day-to-day (I'm not shelling out £2K a year to be a member of a gym that I'd only be able to visit twice a week at most!)

Now, I have a pushbike and I've been getting out and about on it and I'm feeling great. I'm also getting in some walking instead of taking the bus/tram.

But what I really need is some suggestions for something I can do at home.

Now, I don't want to be doing workout-dvds because our TV's in the front of the house and I'm not standing in front of our picture window for all the neighbours to see me :embarassed: :laugh:

I was thinking of getting some dumb-bells or doing a bit of resistance/strength trainng. I get enough cardio from the bike and walking.

What do you think/suggest? :bigsmile:

rodaviarocket

hi im mike will if you ask me i prefer for walking and bike coz this 2 help 2 speed up ur metabolism as far as I know bye enjoy God speed

HeatherrSue

I've seen "home gym" things at walmar that's just a small compliation of bands and stuff that you fix to your door in the home, you could try that. Far as workout DVD's...if you have room where your computer is at, you could play the DVD's in the privacy of that room so the neighbors aren't watching ya in the living room. ) Good luck!

Christa4335

Hi Mike,

I have a App on my phone called VirtuaGym that has virtual exercise.

NemesisJRM

Hey mate I can give you some good routines for maxing the after-burn effect, and tighten and tone the tummy area

My basic workout is:

10mins of light joggin on the spot to get the cardio going.
Then Ill stretch the areas i'm going to work, legs. calves, thighs, arms and chest.
Then ill do rep's of push-ups, sit ups, abdominal leg raises, one arm bur-pees(alternating arms), prison squats. 10 of each, then rest for 30sec - 1min max, then burst out another set of them, then another rest. Then another set. If you want a killer chest workout, do 10 normal push ups, 10 hands in a diamond in front of your chest, and then 10 wide arm's.

**Once you get more advanced you can do spartan push-ups (one hand at waist lvl, and one shoulder lvl) or Spiderman push ups (which involve alternating legs up to elbows without putting the foot down, as you go down and up, As if your climb a wall on the floor.)**

Personally I wont weight train till I start getting closer to my goal weight, I wanna tone the muscle I already have which is what above will do as your working most muscle groups. Rather than start to build more, once closer to goal weight I can build as then the scale change wont put me off as much. Old Muscle is denser so weighs more than fat saying.

I'm not a fitness trainer tho, but the above is what I've done for years at martial arts to warm-up and prepare for body conditioning, kicking drills, punching drills etc and what I now do in the house to keep some fitness up. Hope it helps

P.S A lot of people miss or forget to Warm-down, dont! Take 5-10mins to do another light stretch, before just stopping, this will minimise then risk of pulled muscles and cramps. Also make sure and stay hydrated, and little more minerals in your diet on days you train.

kyle4jem

Hey mate I can give you some good routines for maxing the after-burn effect, and tighten and tone the tummy area

My basic workout is:

10mins of light joggin on the spot to get the cardio going.
Then Ill stretch the areas i'm going to work, legs. calves, thighs, arms and chest.
Then ill do rep's of push-ups, sit ups, abdominal leg raises, one arm bur-pees(alternating arms), prison squats. 10 of each, then rest for 30sec - 1min max, then burst out another set of them, then another rest. Then another set. If you want a killer chest workout, do 10 normal push ups, 10 hands in a diamond in front of your chest, and then 10 wide arm's.

**Once you get more advanced you can do spartan push-ups (one hand at waist lvl, and one shoulder lvl) or Spiderman push ups (which involve alternating legs up to elbows without putting the foot down, as you go down and up, As if your climb a wall on the floor.)**

Personally I wont weight train till I start getting closer to my goal weight, I wanna tone the muscle I already have which is what above will do as your working most muscle groups. Rather than start to build more, once closer to goal weight I can build as then the scale change wont put me off as much. Old Muscle is denser so weighs more than fat saying.

I'm not a fitness trainer tho, but the above is what I've done for years at martial arts to warm-up and prepare for body conditioning, kicking drills, punching drills etc and what I now do in the house to keep some fitness up. Hope it helps

P.S A lot of people miss or forget to Warm-down, dont! Take 5-10mins to do another light stretch, before just stopping, this will minimise then risk of pulled muscles and cramps. Also make sure and stay hydrated, and little more minerals in your diet on days you train.

OMG!!! Jim, I think that would just about kill me off :laugh:

I could just about do the warm-up stretches and then I'd probably collapse in a heap!

Even the couple of times I was a gym bunnie I could NEVER do more than 5 situps. I was able to do about 20-25 with the aid of one of those ab-cruncher roller-frames.

Not sure if abdominal leg raises are what I think they are (is that where you lie on your back and raise one leg up, then the other?) if yes, then I used to do these after I'd been on the ab-cruncher thingy

If I did pushups, my belly would get in the way - seriously!

Burpees??? ...is what I get when I've eaten too quickly. :sick:

Prison squats... sounds a bit kinky-fantasy to me :laugh:
And then you go off on some superhero routine ... :devil:

No, the routine sounds incredible and maybe I could work up to that once I've gotten rid of the bellies :bigsmile:

I don't really want to do any serious weight training... certainly not in my current physical condition... but I can see and feel my legs are getting more toned with the resistance they get peddaling me along. I was just thinking dumbbells becasue I could work on my arms and shoulders (which aren't that flabby) as well as push me a little bit without sending me to coronary care :laugh:

xraylady33

Kettle Bells....

Buy a couple. Three twenty minute workouts a day for a male will yield great results. If you would like a routine let me know. Check it out on YOUTUBE...snatches, gobble squats, kickbacks and get ups! Trust me on this one!

kyle4jem

Kettle Bells....

Buy a couple. Three twenty minute workouts a day for a male will yield great results. If you would like a routine let me know. Check it out on YOUTUBE...snatches, gobble squats, kickbacks and get ups! Trust me on this one!

Wow, I've seen a lot online about kettlebells, but then as you suggested I watched a pile of exercise clips on YouTube and all I can say is... this is most certaily NOT somethings for beginners. Sorry, but I would not like to try this at home without having had prior instruction on how to use these safely. I've seen too many sports injuries in the past from swinging weights and I'd be worried about doing myself an injury. :indifferent:

However, I did find a couple of positive clips targetted at the obese which were really helpful so I think I might get some light weights and a resistance band and start there

Unfortunately there's also a bunch of really cruel clips taking the p*ss out of fat people which is just purile and not at all funny :mad:

NemesisJRM

Kyle, just do what you can, as long as your rotate you'll cover most bases. you'd Surprised what you can do. PMA (positive Mental attitude) The above is what we start with in martial arts for all levels, more advanced used to do more, before stopping and I not saying this to be big headed, but just to let you know what people our size can do. as I was still 120+kg when I was training,

Warm Up 15 mins bouncing foot to foot, then a good stretch.

Push ups on knuckles - 60 - 3 sets of 20's
Sit Ups - 40 - 2 sets of 15 and a set of 10
Legs Raises: 60 - 3 sets of 20 (both legs at once)
Reverse Ab Crunch - 80 - 1 Set continuous set (this is where you start at the top of a sit up and go half way back down and up)
Prison squats - 40 - one set (Yeah sounds kinky but its harmless :P Just a squat but right down, and back up, hands on top of head or behind ears, IE prisoners style. )

Training in punching, kicks, blocks, attacks, Jiu Jitsu about 1hr total of it all
Then Sparing for 30mins, 3mins rounds about 6 or 7 with about 1.5mins rest in between.

I'd did that twice a week. I'm hopefully starting again soon as I was up there tonight seeing people, so next grading is my black belt so lots of preparation will be needed, so will be training even harder. Starting out slow and building up though not just straight back in to it as id die