Improve Fitness

There are some common barriers for people that want to improve fitness and get into shape.

* Current fitness level
* Time to go to the gym
* Money to spend on equipment or gym memberships.

If any or all of these are standing in your way to getting healthy and fit, this is your lucky day.

You do not need to spend large sums of money on gym memberships or buy a lot of expensive equipment to get improve fitness levels.

You do need the desire and willingness to improve fitness.

With little or no equipment you can create a fitness program that you can do in the privacy of your own home, at the park or even while on vacation. NO EQUIPMENT NEEDED, just your own body weight.

It is easy to find the time for this style of workout - you can do it while watching television or during your lunch hour at work.

The pros and cons of body weight workouts to improve fitness.

This is not being written with putting weight lifting down. In fact I am a huge proponent of resistance training and will say, you will want to progress to using weights for your exercise program. You just do not have to use weights in the beginning to improve fitness.

As your fitness level increases you can add some simple equipment. Equipment like, jump rope, dumbbells, chin up bar or a bicycle, depending on your over all fitness goals.

Advantage of Body weight Exercises

When first starting out, body weight exercises will be more than enough to challenge you and give you a good solid platform to build your strength.

When doing body weight exercises a number of muscles come into play during a single movement, this results in good overall fitness.

You have the ability to workout anytime and any place.

No gym fees or need to buy expensive equipment.

Disadvantages of Body weight Exercises

You will have some muscles that do not get worked to their full potential unless you add a couple pieces of equipment. This can be as simple as a set of adjustable dumbbells or a chin-up bar. One piece of equipment that I am a real advocate for are “Resistance Bands.” Resistance bands can add a huge amount of resistance to your workouts as well as being extremely portable.

After a month or two you will begin to feel less challenge from your workouts, unless you are constantly looking for new body weight exercises. Challenge will keep you motivated and eliminate the boredom a lot of people associate with working out.

Sample workout to improve fitness.

This is a fairly simple workout to improve fitness or if your schedule is limited. You might find this a little hard for your current fitness level. If so, reduce it down until you can comfortably do it. If it is below your current fitness level add more sets.

1. circuit - To begin if you are out of shape or new to exercising do this one time.
2. Circuits - After a week or two increase this to twice each workout.
3. Circuits - After a couple more weeks you can increase this another circuit as time allows
4. Circuits - When you can do this for four circuits, you need to look at adding some resistance exercises.

Skateboard Squats

Skateboard squats are not only a safe way to do squats, they are fun as well. My friend Scooby made this video and you really should watch it Now I do not agree with Scooby, he says you need to do these using weights. In our current condition, I don’t think this is true. Yes after a short time you will want to add weight, so fill a couple 1 gallon milk jugs with water. Later you might want to go beyond this and of course at that time, consider a good set of adjustable dumbbells.

Pushups:
Pushup position, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width.
Bend elbows to 90 degrees keeping body completely rigid. Don’t let the hips sag.

Burpees:
Begin with feet shoulder-width apart.
Squat all the way down to the floor, placing your hands on the floor.
Extend your legs behind you, shooting them back to get your body into pushup position.

Plank:
Position your body in the starting position of a pushup, except place your forearms and elbows down on the floor.
Maintain this position for time. Gently bring your knees down when you stop the exercise.

Create you very own workout to improve fitness.

Choose a variety of exercises that work out all the parts of your body.

If you’re just starting out, take it easy and gradually build up. Don’t get discouraged, and don’t overdo it!

mix cardio exercises with the strength exercises.

Do a variety of exercises that work the entire body.

As your fitness level increases and you become stronger, begin to add some other types of resistance training such as the resistance bands mentioned earlier.

When you are ready to take your effort to improve fitness to the next level click the banner below.