When you are new to trying to get yourself fit again and in shape, some of you will want a low cost and quick way to work into it. I started with bodyweight exercises, and there are certainly a number of them out there which can be combined into a workout for basically no cost at home.
Here is one weekly plan from Scooby Werkstatt of scoobysworkshop.com for beginners:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/beginning-workout-plan/
When you are ready, or if you prefer to just start with these, resistance bands are a great way to kick things up a notch. I like the set below because the handles are detachable, which means you can combine the three different levels of resistance bands into seven combinations which actually give you seven progressively harder levels of resistance. When I travel to a location without any access to weights or equipment for workouts, I throw these in the suitcase and they give me a pretty intense workout, I can go to muscle failure with these on all my exercises. They cost around $20 to $25 bucks, and I got mine several years ago at WalMart. I have included a link to them on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Golds-Gym-Long-Series-Resistance/dp/B00CXSLG1Y
The exercise video below is a basic full body resistance band circuit by Christie, trainer at Gymra.com. The video is two circuits in 30 minutes, so to do just one circuit would be 15 minutes. For those new to exercise terminology a circuit is a group of exercises done in a specific order, then repeated for the desired number of circuits. The circuit shown hits all the major muscle groups and would be the kind of thing which can be done in your home in a short period of time, most of us can find 15 minutes out of our day if we try .
I had never heard of this website before googling today, I was looking for a good example on YouTube to give you an idea of what a full body workout would be like with resistance bands. I don’t necessarily endorse this particular workout, but I do endorse the circuit concept of hitting all the major muscle groups in a time frame which can be managed in a busy life without a lot of prep time. You can probably find a large number of these on YouTube, I would suggest trying a number of them and see which one works the best, just try and do one which catches the same number of muscle groups shown below.
When I bought my resistance bands (shown above) they included a similar 20 minute routine on a DVD which I did for close to a year before moving on to weight training in a gym.
Additionally, for those of you who want more direction than to just design and do your own workout, these media give you someone to follow along with and that can be motivating for some folks.
Bottom line, it does not take a huge investment in money or time to get fit, just desire and understanding how to build and maintain the habit of doing it consistently.
John Bauer
Leave a Reply