Working out at home is a lot easier and convenient being a full-time working mama of (almost) 3! Working out at home is also less intimidating than going to the gym. I remember when I used to be a “gym goer” I would spend over an hour of travel time PLUS the time spent getting the kids ready to get out the door. Also, working out at home allows you to wear whatever the heck you want! 🙂 All of your sports bras sitting at the bottom of your dirty clothes pile? No problem! Opt for your favorite nude-colored Victoria’s Secret push-up! Nobody is going to see you! jk… (Not that I’ve ever done that 😉 )
Working out at home is generally more efficient than training elsewhere. Having a kitchen, a shower, and a closet nearby add a bunch of advantages that you may not have ever realized. Here are some important things to consider for getting the most out of your home workout.
1. Choose the right shoe from your shoe rack. Footwear is important. Working out barefoot is great to strengthen your feet and supporting muscles, but if you overdo it or aren’t used to it, it’s easy to get injured, especially during workouts like INSANITY or Max30. Consider the movements you’ll be doing, then go shopping. Your running shoes are made for running FORWARD. The tread on the bottom of them are NOT made for lateral movement – which you do often in HIIT workouts. Tennis shoes are made for explosive movements—both forward and lateral—making them better for most home workouts. The best home workout shoe should do a little of both. There are also “fitness” shoes or cross-trainers designed for this purpose. I choose this option. 🙂 I am a fan of the new balance minimus shoes/cross trainers. Spend a little time researching prior to shopping.
2. Hydration & Nutrition Something I LOVE about training at home is… food and water are always available! There’s no reason to be dehydrated at home and when I finish an intense workout… my shakeology/post workout snack is always just a few steps away in my kitchen so I can feed my muscles what they need to grow and heal after such strenuous activity. Just make sure you don’t reach for a beer or a soda. In fact… go ahead and do yourself a favor and toss those out right now… for good. 🙂 It’s easier to make a habit of carrying your water bottle around at home. Keeping yourself hydrated will energize your workouts, enable you to push harder, keep your immune system running strong, and make you less apt to binge-eat and/or drink.
3. The shower & Bath One of the best pieces of home workout equipment is your shower. Not only can you be clean and shiny within minutes of finishing your workout, you can use your shower or warm bath to improve recovery! Getting blood to circulate more quickly is one of the keys to an efficient recovery from exercise, and hot/cold showers are a great way to do this. Alternate your water temperature from hot to cold during your shower. Make each temperature as extreme as you can stand it and try focusing the water on the targeted muscles of that day’s workout. A few cycles of this after each workout can do wonders. Also, if you’re suffering from post-workout soreness… take a warm EPSOM SALT bath. 🙂
4. Space A lot of the time, I have people tell me that they don’t have enough “room” to workout at home. Well, that just means it’s time to get creative. 🙂 You might have to push a few chairs and tables out of the way or stack your coffee table on to your couch. That’s ok! If that tiny little effort allows you to get your workout in for the day… trust me, it’s worth it. I find that with all of my home workout programs, I only need about 6 sq. feet of space (if that!) And… sometimes I workout in different rooms just to switch it up for fun! My back porch and my front yard are actually my FAVORITE places to workout when the weather is nice. I can let the kids run around out there too. I’ve even done my workouts in the hallway while I watched my kids play in the bathtub. Trust me… you CAN find space in your house. 🙂 It doesn’t take much.
5. Equipment
I do have several pieces of *small* home fitness equipment – adjustable dumbbells, lebert equilizers, a sandbag, yoga mats, resistance bands, barbells, stability ball etc… But, I didn’t always have these items. There was a time when I had to get creative. “Lifting weights” doesn’t mean you have to own barbells and dumbbells. Soup cans, a bag of flour or a large bottle of tomato sauce make great light weights for workouts like P90x3 CVX (cardio with weights.) If you have small children, they make GREAT weights too (not joking! Have your 3 or 4 year old ride on your back while you do some walking lunges across the yard.) I used my coffee table as a bench for a long time and when I didn’t own yoga mats I used the oldest/crappiest blanket I had in my closet. Luckily, for most of the home workouts I do I don’t need any weights/equipment and I’m primarily using my body weight for some great cardio strength and endurance exercises! So there you have it! No gym? No problem! I hope you are feeling better about venturing in to your living room and starting your own home fitness regime! If you’re unsure of a home fitness program that’s perfect for you, then that’s where I come in! Contact me and we can get you started!
