Working out in the privacy of your own home can have both advantages and disadvantages. While it is less expensive, you won’t have the advantage of working with a fitness trainer from the gym, the equipment or the motivating teachers yelling at you through droplets of sweat streaming down your face, arms and legs. And, to achieve the results you want, you’ll have to do some sweating.
However, doing aerobic exercises at home also has some advantages that may not be as obvious at first.
In the first place there are many different programs you can purchase to use at home . . . .from straight calisthenics, step aerobics to dance and Zumba. In fact, you don’t even need to purchase a program. Instead, surf through YouTube for programs that put together calisthenic exercises to a routine that you can follow.
In the second place, you can switch up the programs you use almost daily. This helps to confuse your muscles and makes them work harder with each program you do. While that might sound more difficult, without the difficulty level and sweat you won’t achieve results nearly as quickly.
The reason is because your muscles and body will accommodate to the exercises you do each day. As time goes on they get more efficient at doing the exercises and you don’t get results nearly as quickly. You won’t burn as many calories either. So switching programs frequently can be very beneficial to watching the weight drop off the scale and your muscles become leaner and fitter.
There are programs that last 10 minutes for those of us who have limited time each day and programs that can take up to 1 hour. You can work to a DVD, complete with music, or just a list of exercises on a piece of paper and your own MP3 player in your ears.
You might use a few small pieces of equipment, such as a chin-up bar, step or resistance bands, or you might just use your own body weight.
The options and combinations are really quite fun to explore. And, with that exploration you’ll also learn more about your own body, how far you can push yourself, and how many calories you can burn during your program and throughout the day.
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