At Home Workouts

Happy Wednesday!

Sorry for my leave of absence, but I just needed a break- but now I'm back!

But let me tell you a grrreeeaaat story...

 One  Sunday after it rained, the hub and decided to finally clear out a garden from behind our house. No biggie but it was terribly overgrown. We pulled plants, rocks, other debris, tilled and plowed. After awhile in there I showered and headed to work. Fast forward to the next morning, all of yesterdays activities had been forgotten. I woke up with a crazy itchy "rash" of bumps from my thighs to my neck. I was dying of itchiness. That afternoon I headed over to my moms house to get her opinion on what it could be. I get there show her, and she steps back and says "stay back!! It looks like chicken pox". I freaked out, I had them when I was little but I guess not to to bad. So like any modern age person my mom hits up WebMd, all signs point to chicken pox.I'm having a mini melt down because I think I need to quarantine myself and miss work and the gym. So I get myself into the local clinic that evening to get a final diagnosis. The nurse takes me back and she thinks there chicken pox, I'm thinking ah shit. UGH! So the doctor comes in, he's a farmer,  and just as country as they come. He takes one look at them and says chiggers. CHIGGERS? What the heck. I was so relieved. It was only chiggers, thank goodness! I just needed allergy pills and some calamine lotion. No quarantine, no long drawn out misery, I'm just gonna have some scratching to do. I guess they like tight clothes and my nike shorts and tanktop provided the ideal home for these little suckers. And that was the time I had chiggers so bad they thought they were chickenpox. 

Just a little bit of crazy.

I was writing up a guest post for a friend the other day and I touched on that on my days off I don't always make it to the gym because I live 23 miles from the town it's in, so I just have to make due and get creative to get in at home workouts. I get the feeling though that people think at home workouts might not be as effective without all the flashy equipment and stuff. And I'm guilty of thinking the same thing too, sometimes I feel that way too. But its so untrue, you can get in a great workout at home. Even with out a bunch of flashy equipment. 

And who doesn't want to a nice butt :)

It's always good to start a workout with cardio. Twenty to thirty minutes of cardio before strength training can help increase your caloric burn and up your metabolism.  Isn't that what we all want?? So do any combination of these in or outside your home:

*Sprints

*Jogging

*Farkle (Sprint as hard as you can as long as you can, then walk till you catch your breath and repeat)

*Stairs, run up and down the stadium or your own stairs.

*Bike Ride

*Skip

*Jump Rope

Then after your chosen cardio do your strength routine. You don't have to have hand weights but if you have them or want them- use them. If you look around your house and garage I'm sure you can find plenty of things that can double as weights. My dad does electronic combine balancing, so there are a lot of combine parts laying around that I can use to lift. But the best thing when doing strength is to remember PERFECT FORM! It's not about the quantity of imperfect moves, it is about the quality of each individual move. So do all the unweighted moves you want and do them well, add weight when you feel comfortable,  but never sacrifice your form for a number. Use chairs for step ups and dips even use step ladders for some stepping moves and calf exercises. Use your bed or sofa for dips or push ups. The possibilities are endless in your home, you just have to look around and see what other purposes things can have. 

Of course there are great at home dvd's too, but if you don't want to spend money, FitSugar has A TON of free workout videos of all kinds, yoga, Pilate's, ect!!

Here are some examples of at home workout moves that are good core workers:

What are some of your favorite at home workout dvds or workouts?

-J