At Home Workouts

At home workouts aren't any less effective than working out at the gym. However, in order for your in home workout to tone and strengthen your body as well as if you had a personal fitness trainer you need two things: self-motivation and the proper equipment.

Key Components of Great At-Home Workouts
Any effective workout program will incorporate cardio exercise, strength training and flexibility training. Your body needs all three of these in order to reach your optimal level of physical fitness.

Cardio exercise. Cardio exercise raises your heart rate to a level where you're breathing hard, but still able to comfortably have a conversation. Cardio exercise burns calories efficiently while strengthening your heart and lungs.

You'll want to aim for between 20 to 60 minutes of cardio exercise five to seven times a week. If you want to make sure you are getting your heart rate up high enough with your cardio training, invest in a heart rate monitor and make sure you keep your heart rate up in that desired range for at least 20 minutes five times a week.

Strength training. Strength training uses resistance or weight tobuild, strengthen and tone muscles. Muscles builds when it's pushed to the point of failure, causing the muscle tissue to temporarily break down and then rebuild with stronger, tougher fibers. This can be achieved through the use of free weights, weight machines, calisthenics, resistance bands and exercise balls. Plan to strength train two to three times a week, leaving rest days in between those sessions so your muscles have time to repair themselves before you push them again.

Flexibility training. Flexibility training improves balance, reduces your chances of injury and improves posture and coordination. Stretching, yoga and Pilates are all great examples of flexibility training. You'll want to begin and end every workout with a five minute stretch, and devote time to deeper stretching at least twice a week. If you have suffered an injury in the past, you will want to do stretches and exercises surrounding the injured muscle group or joint as a regular part of your exercise routine as re-injury prevention.

Home Exercise Workout Suggestions
Pick and choose from the options listed and create an at-home workout program that best suits your lifestyle and fitness goals.

Use the great outdoors. A great way to get your cardio exercise in is to go outside and either walk, jog, run or bike. Make sure you get proper shoes and equipment (a good bike, a tire pump, a helmet, running shoes, a heart rate monitor, etc.) and enjoy some sunshine as you work your heart and lungs.

Climb your stairs. You've seen the stair-climbing machines in the fitness club, right? Climb your own stairs at home (be careful on the way down, especially toward the end of your workout when your legs might feel rubbery). Rest for a moment when you're breathing hard and have had enough, then stretch for one to two minutes to allow your body to recover. Climb those stairs again!  Record your progress in flights and/or time and set goals for yourself to do more and climb for longer. 

Do a set of calisthenics.Sit-ups, crunches, leg lifts, push-ups, lunges and squats all make use of your own body weight to strengthen and tone your muscles.

Life free weights. A set of free weights is an inexpensive way to weight train. Use the handheld weights to work each muscle group until you reach muscle failure. Make sure you stretch before and after working each muscle group. Schedule a session with a personal trainer or get a book that shows you how to use the weights properly so you do not injure yourself. Start with low weights and build up slowly, making sure you never use so much weight that you no longer hold proper form.

Build core strength with exercise balls. Exercise balls (often called Swiss balls) are excellent ways to strengthen your core muscles (your back, abdominal, oblique muscles and glutes). You can even use the ball as a chair in your home office (to challenge your core muscles as you do bills or work) and you can use the ball to enhance core strength exercises.

Tone using resistance bands. Resistance bands can take a normal exercise move and ratchet the intensity up significantly. A set of resistance bands is an inexpensive, easy-to-store and portable form of strength training that you can use every day in your home.

By using the different levels of resistance, you can work a muscle group to muscle failure one day, and work the muscle group significantly less the next day. If a particular exercise no longer challenges you, you can increase the difficulty with the use of the resistance bands without changing anything else.

Watch TV or DVDs. Most cable and satellite TV providers offer fitness channels as part of their basic programming packages. Take advantage of this free programming to support your at-home workouts or build up a library of fitness DVDs that inspire you. You can learn how to practice yoga, pilates and tai chai, do aerobics and kickboxing and learn how to put your hand weights and resistance bands to good use. The advantages to using a show are that you will be more likely to push yourself for the length of the program and you get to see more people demonstrating movements with proper form.

Consider investing in equipment. If you find you really love a particular sport (such as running, for example) but are limited by weather and do not want to join a fitness club, consider buying a treadmill or home weight machine. These can be quite expensive, but you may find it worth the investment if the machine allows you to workout frequently in your own home.