What do you do for exercise when you literally can't leave t

photo_kyla · January 2012

We are having horrible weather up here in the Pacific Northwest. We got snow on Sunday (which we never get and don't know how to drive in) and more snow yesterday. The roads are a mess, so all schools are closed and so is the gym. Usually I'm at the gym 6 days/week and at Zumba 3 days/week.
The first day the weather was nice, and I played in the snow and burned a few calories. Then the winds picked up. I was thinking about going for a walk into town yesterday (~7mi round trip), but a short walk outside quickly changed my mind. The windchill put the temperature around 0°F and there were little pieces of ice whipping into my face. Today we are supposed to be hit with freezing rain (coats everything in a sheet of ice) so walking is not terribly safe.
I don't have any exercise equipment or DVDs (or the ability to download anything like that). What are some FUN suggestions to get moving and burn some calories without leaving the house?

Edit: BTW This is day 5 of this mess and I'm more than a little stir crazy.

kjmommie · January 2012

Try to do core exercises

ChantelleFowler · January 2012

If you like zumba so much, why don't you Youtube Zumba videos? There are TONS of them. I know that Ive taken a zumba class for the past 8-ish months but didn't sign up for this current session because I'm busy with a different fitness program (and, quite frankly, I didnt have the cash). But I looked up some zumba songs we did in class on Youtube and can rock them in my living room now. You can also find 100s (1000s?) of different songs that you don't perform in your zumba class that zumba instructors have posted on Youtube so you can dance to new different songs to change it up! =]

There are hundreds of bodyweight exercises you can do to create your own workout. They're not necessarily fun but it'll give you a good workout! Why don't you try a bodyweight tabata workout?

If you're not familiar with tabata style workouts, they're made up of how ever many exercises you want where you do the exercise for 8 sets, 20 seconds of work 10 seconds of rest. A body weight tabata could be consisting of:

Pushups (20 sec. of pushups, 10 sec. of rest, eight times)
Burpees
Split squats (one leg on a chair or couch)
Tricep dips
Bicycle crunches
Jump lunges
Squats
Plank
Etc, etc, etc. There are a ton of bodyweight exercises you can put in here. Just don't underestimate the power of tabata. These are high intensity and you will be sore!

The possibilities really are endless!

I hear ya though, we have been having crazy weather here the past few days (-45 degrees Celsius with the windchill) and I havent been going to wrok so I'm going stir crazy with my daughter in the house too lol.

Janner9901 · January 2012

You could always tackle some major cleaning job around the house. As mundane as it seems, there are two benefits to this:

1) You get the satisfaction of a clean house.

2) You burn calories doing it.

mruntidy · January 2012

Don't forget every house has a Stepper, its just broken and not electronic - believe me running up and down the stairs 30 times will get your body pumped, you can even make circuits like ChantelleFowl said

Kitchen chair for dips
Shadow boxing with tins of soup
Bench pressing a small child

I have two canvas shopping bags at home I filled with 10lbs of bricks to do bicep curls with

Clark

kaypee65 · January 2012

I live in Alaska, and my minimum temperature for outdoor running is 10 ºF. We either have deep snow, or it's too cold lately. So I take the dog out, walking pretty briskly, for 45 minutes. Next, I was given an xbox kinect for Christmas. I have a couple of very intense fitness games. Before I had that, I did workout video like the Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred and the Biggest Loser DVDs.

TeaBea · January 2012

Walk at Home! Ok these are DVDs (Target, Walmart). Youtube has a few of these videos too. The moves are so simple; turn on your own music & just go. You can bump up the intensity with light handweights (or ankle weights)

http://www.walkathome.com/on-demand/1-mile_express.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnsfbneFQ_8&feature=related

Hulu.com also has free exercise videos

kaypee65 · January 2012

Buy a few DVDs, a pilates ball and some resistance bands so that you don't have to leave the house if you have a time crunch or intolerable weather. Personally I love working out at home.

Though I have to admit, since I've shoveled 90 inches of snow so far this winter, and am out walking every day in sub-zero weather, I'm finding the reaction to snow in WA and Or pretty dang humorous. It's really not bad if you have good outdoor gear.

dlaplume2 · January 2012

Shoveling burns a ton of calories. :bigsmile:

***SMACK****

Ouch!!!!! I deserve that.

Boy, I can't imagine that much entrapment. You could do some toning or strength training without a lot of euipment. Run in place while watching TV, you could do jumping jacks, run up and down your stairs, push ups situps. etc.

BrandiParsonRNC · January 2012

There is some free apps on your phone if you have that capability! I use them at work in the middle of the night! not fun, but will get you moving and working!

StrongGwen · January 2012

turn your favorite upbeat music up really loud and dance like a maniac until you can't breathe. Stop & catch your breath, and repeat! Sure beats shoveling snow!

DonnaKay67 · January 2012

A friend of mine just pointed out to me the other day that Netflix has exercise videos available for streaming. If you use Netflix, that may help.

0RESET0 · January 2012

My satellite TV provider has on demand movies for rent. When I checked them out last, there were a few workout videos for FREE. If you can get on line, google M100 exercise. That will take the stir crazies right out of ya.

BeckLowe12 · January 2012

On demand has free Jillian Michales sessions, they will give you a great workout. Otherwise go onto pinterest and look up some of the at home workouts. It's usually jump squats, lunges, burpees, push ups, mountain climbersand things like that. You don't need a gym to get fit, your own body weight works great. The more you can use your legs in ever exercise the better.

Suziq2you · January 2012

turn your favorite upbeat music up really loud and dance like a maniac until you can't breathe. Stop & catch your breath, and repeat! Sure beats shoveling snow!

^^This^^

Cheri1218 · January 2012

I don't know if you ever visit pinterest.com, but they have a fitness section that can offer some workout-at-home suggestions likes a series of sit ups, push up, jacks... things like that. I could make up a set on my own, but I feel like someone else is pushing me when I do the sets they organized for me.

trevmaat · January 2012

My favorite at-home cardio that I found was on youtube. Here's a link to one of his videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QGmSaPjbN8

They're intense! I usually replay several of his videos to get a 40min workout in, and at the end, I'm worn out. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as I do!

cheri0627 · January 2012

I've done deck of cards workouts at home a few times. It works really well.

Pick a move for each suit - things like squats, lunges, pushups, situps, burpees or tri dips work really well
Then figure out how you want to do your face cards, aces and jokers. Personally, I like doing A as 1, J as 11, Q as 12 and K as 13. Jokers is fun to do something like climb the stairs 5 times, but sometimes I do repeat the last card.
Flip a card and do the exercise for it. Then flip and do the next card's exercise, etc..

livingonpurpose77 · January 2012

I suggest you tube.

What do you do for exercise when you literally can't leave t

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