Cutting Down

Today’s rather sluggish economy has forced a lot of Americans to bring down their monthly spending. Unfortunately, it is common that one of the first costs that is shown the door is one’s gym membership. However, this does not mean that one would have to give up working out and let one’s body suffer the consequences of having no regular workouts. Fortunately, working out from the comfort of one’s home is totally possible. With some creativity and planning, the following tips should be very helpful in establishing an effective home workout program.

Cardio, Cardio & Cardio

Even if one’s primary objective is gain muscle mass, it is still necessary to have some type of cardio program in one’s workout in order to ensure the efficient distribution of nutrients throughout the body (among other things). There are a lot of ways on how one can integrate cardio in his workout and so long as a good amount of this type of exercise is performed, it should be able to contribute in bulking up those muscles. Some folks opt to perform mini cardio exercises in between their strength movements. Others would rather do their cardio separately, either on a different day or even right before or after their strength training.

Cardio workouts are very easy to perform at home simply because there are a lot of exercises that do not require the use of machines found in gyms. Instead of using an electronic treadmill, one could jog around the neighborhood a couple of times. If it’s too cold outside then an option would be to run up and down as flight of stairs. The use of a jumping rope, as well as an oversized box for step-ups are also effective cardio exercises that can be easily done at home.

Strength Training

After planning out an effective cardio routine, one will need to focus on the strength training aspect of the program. The best way to go about this is by buying a pair of dumbbells or barbells which can be used for a variety of free-weight training exercises. However, people who may not have access to such equipment shouldn’t get discouraged. Times like these are when it pays to be creative.

One of the best and simplest workouts available is doing push-ups. There are a lot of different ways to do push-ups and one can easily adjust this routine depending on the desired level of difficulty. The great thing about push-ups is that it is able to target a variety of muscle groups all at once.

Other than push-ups, pull-ups are also a great way to tone a number of muscle groups including the lats as well as one’s lower back area. It’s as simple as looking for a strong enough bar in the house which will be able to hold one’s weight. Three sets of 15 repetitions each should be good enough for any type of strength training routine.

Those who are looking to work on their glutes can opt for jump lunges. Similar to pull-ups (and as a matter of fact, for most exercises), it is ideal to do 10 to 15 reps for each set. GP