Working Out in Your Apartment
Turn your apartment into a fitness factory! You don’t even need to buy a home gym!
Depending on your goals and preferences, you might want to buy one, or more, of the following items:
- Jump rope (high intensity cardio)
- Mini-trampoline (mid-intensity cardio)
- Exercise DVD (for those who like guidance and motivation)
- Free weights or an exercise band (strength training)
- Exercise ball (core strength)
These items are inexpensive and can add to your workout but they’re really not necessary. Read on for tips on improvising and creating your own routine.
Cardiovascular Exercise
This type of exercise increases your heart rate and tones your muscles. Here are some suggestions:
- Jog in place and do jumping jacks.
- Jump rope (start slowly as this is very high intensity).
- If you have stairs, run up and down or use only the bottom step to jump on and off, using both feet.
- Do old-fashioned aerobics (think 80’s dancing). Aim for at least 20 minutes and make sure your heart rate is elevated.
- For a more effective calorie-burning routine, alternate five minutes of cardio with one of the strength exercises below until you’ve worked every muscle group. This is called circuit training and should keep your heart rate elevated. When your heart rate remains high throughout your exercise time, you burn more calories.
Strength Training
Compliment your cardio routine with strength training. Strength exercises are necessary for a complete workout. Building muscle raises your resting metabolic rate, which means you burn more calories throughout the day. If you aren’t into the big and bulky muscle builder look, don’t worry about it. It’s pretty much impossible for you to get that way without incredibly intense training and supplements. Follow this full-body plan 2-3 days a week for the best results.
Arms - You can either purchase an exercise band (about $10 at a retail store), free weights (prices very by weight) or fill up a milk carton with water or sand until it reaches your desired weight. Do 12-20 repetitions of bicep curls, tricep dips and shoulder raises.
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