D.I.Y fitness at home
Setting yourself up for a home gym might be the best way to stop yourself avoiding the gym over the holidays and in the new year.
Gym fees and crowds can be scary for people who want to begin to start looking after their health by taking up regular exercise. If you want to begin a fitness routine and feel a little afraid about joining a gym and working out in public, you could consider turning a small clear space in your home into a home gym where you can begin. Here are a few tips to get you started at home.
Personal trainer
If you are going to do your exercise at home rather than joining a gym, consider spending some of the money you save on your gym membership on sessions with a personal trainer so that you learn what equipment you need and how to use it correctly.
No amount of specialised equipment in the world is going to work wonders if you use it as a clothes horse rather than for what it was intended, or use it incorrectly and end up injuring yourself, putting yourself in traction rather than training.
Floor
If you are going to be working out, you will need a surface that suits the impact of exercise, be it run-ning on the spot, skipping, or even lifting weights.
Heavy gym equipment can also damage delicate floor surfaces, especially tiles or wood, so set up your gym space with some non-toxic foam tiles which can be bought at most sports equipment or even toy stores. Interlocking foam tiles can be textured to help prevent you from slipping and come in a variety of colours, thicknesses and densities to give you the support you need.
If you need advice about what to buy, ask the salesman at your local sporting goods store, if neces-sary taking along a photo of the space you plan to use in your home to show the floor surface you have to work with.
If you are going to be doing a lot of floor exercises including yoga and pilates, the foam surface will mean you don’t need to get an exercise mat to use, although if you are going to be doing very ener-getic stamina building exercises you may want to still use a towel or absorbent mat to help soak up the sweat you produce during your workout.
Punching bag
A heavy punching bag is a great alternative for incinerating fat while building explosive power and speed if you don’t feel like hitting the streets for an outdoor cardio routine.
Speak to your local sporting store or mass store sports department and see if you can get a kit with gloves and wraps included along with the big heavyweight bag which will allow you to get started straight away.
If you want to increase your workout a big bag is also useful for a kickboxing exercise routine, al-though sometimes it might be beneficial to have a work out buddy to help you by holding the bag steady until you get proficient at using the equipment.
Pushup stands
No matter how much you might hate it, it remains a fact that the pushup is still one of the best upper-body exercises you can do with no equipment.
However, you can get yourself some pushup stands which can add incline grips to the classic pushup making it even more effective while protecting your wrists and helping you work out your chest, shoulders, arms and core better.
A pull-up bar
This nifty gadget which can be picked up at most sporting good stores can be wedged into the top of any doorframe to give you the equipment for pullups, chin-ups, along with a whole range of back and bicep exercises.
If you don’t have it wedged into the door frame it can also be used on the floor for tricep dips and easy-on-your-wrists pushups similarly to the pushup stands, making it a good all round piece of home gym equipment.
