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by Flavia Del Monte

Don’t have time to go to the gym? I am about to share the best 7 at home exercises for women.  In this day and age, many women have to juggle working, being a mom, taking care of her husband, and her home.  It is not surprising that women tend to enjoy exercise done in the home.

I was inspired to share these 7 at home exercises for women after watching the movie, I Don’t Know How She Does it, last night staring Sarah Jessica Parker. Totally a girly movie, my favorite!

 

Importance of Working Large Muscle Groups

 

Any exercise plan needs to involve large muscle groups, focusing on working the antagonistin the same amount. Knowing the proper exercises can ensure you will also target the smaller muscle groups, creating harmony throughout the entire body by incorporating stability muscles as well. And in doing so, you will also cut the amount of time needed in the gym by leaving out certain body parts that were already targeted in other exercises.

You also need to be aware of the muscles being worked with each exercise to ensure you keep balance throughout all muscles. A simple chest press targets your pectoalis major, but also uses pec minor, deltoids, trapezius muscles, and your rotator cuff for example.

 

Importance of the Core

The core encompasses more than two dozen abdominal muscles, lower back muscles, and hip muscles that stabilize your spine to keep your torso upright. Your core allows you to bend forward, back, side to side, and rotate. Your core plays a major role in movement. Working your core (stability muscle) is crucial to optimal performance.

 

7 Best At Home Exercises For Women

 

You don’t need fancy equipment for you to benefit from exercise. Here are just 7 at home exercises, especially for women, that will not only better your appearance, they will better your health.

 

1. Chin-up/Pull-up 

These exercises target your lats but also hit your tere major (stabilizer muscle) and biceps (more so with chin-ups). Your core and middle back are also involved in assisting in the movement or acting as stabilizers.

How to perform:

1. Grab the bar with a shoulder-width underhand/overhand grip.
2. Hang at arm’s length and pull your chest to the bar.
3. Try to pause at the top, with your chest touching the bar before you slowly lower yourself back down.

 

2. Pushup 

This exercise targets your pectoralis major but also involves your front deltoids and triceps. As for stability muscles, your rotator, traps, serratus anterior, and abdominals all assist with this movement.

How to perform:

1. Place hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Squeeze your glutes for the entire movement.

1. Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor. Tuck your elbows as you lower your body and don’t drop your hips.
2. Pause at the bottom before pushing yourself to start position. Your head should remain in the same position throughout the movement.

 

3. Inverted Shoulder Press 

The shoulder press targets your front deltoids, middle deltoids, and the triceps. They also activate your upper traps, rotator cuff, and serratus anterior which act as stabilizer muscles.

See image above

How to perform:

1. Assume a pushup position, but move your feet forward and raise your hips so that your torso is nearly perpendicular to the floor.
2. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width and keep your arms straight.
3. Without changing your position, lower your body until your head nearly touches the floor.
4. Pause, then slowly return to the starting position pushing your body back until your arms are straight once again. Note: this is a tough one!

 

4. Squat 

These exercises target your quadriceps, but also activate your core, and every muscle in your legs including your glutes, hamstrings, and calves. This exercise burns a ton of calories and is a must-have home exercise for women.

See The Squatfor picture demonstration

How to perform:

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Lower your body as far as you can while pushing your hips back and bending your knees. Never let your back round, and keep your core tight.
3. Pause at the bottom and slowly push yourself back to the start position by keeping the weight in your heels.

*For extra burn add in a jump from the squat position.

 

5. Stability Ball or Towel Leg Curl 

This exercise is great for targeting your hamstrings and glutes, and also activates your lower back muscles and core. Because the glutes are the largest muscle in the body, any exercise involving your glutes will burn a lot of calories.

See Burn Fat For Hours video

How to perform:

1. Lie face up on the floor with arms to your side in a 45 degree angle with palms facing up. Place your lower legs and heels on the stability ball.
2. Push your hips up so that your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees (here you are doing a hip raise).
3. Without stopping, pull your heels towards your glutes and roll the ball as close as you can to your behind.
4. Pause and reverse the motion, only do not lower your body to the floor. Keep your hips as high as you can to engage your glutes. Focus on keeping your hips in line with the rest of your body throughout the entire exercise.

*If you are using a towel, simply put your heels on the towel and copy the same format above. If you want an extra burn, try one leg at a time!

 

6. Single-Leg Toe Hops off Bench or Chair

This exercise targets your calves, but also incorporates your quads, hamstrings, glutes and gets your heart rate up to the fat-burning zone.

See Calves That Get Noticed

How to perform:

1. Stand in front of the bench or chair, and place the right foot firmly on the bench.
2. Press your right foot into the bench and push your body up until your right leg is straight.
3. Hop up on your right toes.
4. Lower your body until the left foot touches the floor and repeat with the left foot.

 

7. Side-plank 

This exercise improves the strength in your back and will help with performance. Planks target the entire core, making this exercise a must-do for health and appearance sake.

How to perform:

1. Lie on the right side with knees straight and prop your body up on your right elbow and forearm. Your left hand can be placed on your hip, head should stay in line with your body.
2. Position your elbow to stay under the shoulder and keep your hips raised and pushed forward. Keep your abs tight throughout and raise the hips until it forms a straight line from your ankles your shoulders.

Knowing the foundation behind what exercises you are performing and why is key to meeting your weight loss goals. There is a right and wrong way to exercise. You can spend hours doing the wrong form of exercise and never see a difference in your body.

Happy shaping!

By Andy Bolton

Whatever your goal – whether you want to get
stronger for the sake of being strong, stronger
to increase your muscular size and build a
harder, denser physique or stronger to improve
athletic performance…

The 3 powerlifts will help get you stronger
faster than anything else you can do in the
gym.

The 3 powerlifts are of course the Squat, Bench
Press and Deadlift.

Now here’s the thing…

These days you are bombarded with choice when
it comes to what you do in the gym.

You can do the 3 powerlifts, or you can do
Olympic Weightlifting, or you can do Strongman
training or you can lift Kettlebells.

But, when it comes to building absolute strength,
the powerlifts RULE. They always have and they
always will.

That’s not to say that the other methods of
weight training aren’t valuable, of course they
are – but when it comes to getting a STRONG
AS POSSIBLE… you can’t beat the squat, bench
press and deadlift.

Think about it…

The biggest Kettelbell is 48kg. Is that likely
to build the same strength as squats with 500
pounds or more and deadlifts with 600 pounds +?
I think not. And I use kettlebells myself, but
they are an assitance movement, not my main
thing in the gym.

The Olympic Weightlifts are awesome for building
explosive power, but when it comes to limit
strength, they are still second to the powerlifts.

Strongman training can build a ton of strength
as well but not the same way as the powerlifts
can.

There’s a clue here by the way… Many olympic
weightlifters and strongmen use the powerflifts
to improve their strength.

For instance, weightlifters tend to squat a lot
and strongmen tend to squat and do a ton of
deadlifting.

I think what I am saying is clear.

If you want to develop absolute strength and
the kind of rock hard, tough as nails kind of
physique that only strong dudes posses – you
should be doing the powerlifts.

The next thing we should discuss is how to
actually squat, bench and deadlift.

It is my experience that most gym rats are
always looking for the ‘miracle’ training program.

The one that’s going to add 400 pounds to
each lift in 8 weeks.

Well, guess what?

It doesn’t freaking exist!

However, if there is something that is more important
than you’re training program – it’s your technique.

Most guys have truly awful technique and could make
rapid improvements in their strength by improving
their technique.

I have seen technical improvements add 50 pounds

The same cannot be said of a particular training
program.

And you are probably in the same boat. You probably
don’t have perfect form and you should work on it.
It’ll make you STRONGER and reduce your injury-risk.

A nice ‘double whammy’.

I’ve been in the iron game over 20 years and I’ve
squatted 1214lbs, benched 755lbs and deadlifted 1008lbs.

And do you know what?

I still work on my technique each and every time
I train and I have my clients do the same.

Plus 10 workout ideas that I believe are more effective and fun!

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of best-selling program:  The Truth about Six-Pack Abs

Now that I pissed off all of the treadmill and elliptical machine worshipers… let me say that if you truly enjoy mindlessly pumping away on a treadmill or elliptical (or exercise bike for that matter too), then by all means, keep doing what you enjoy, because enjoying your exercise is one of the most important aspects to sticking with any exercise program…

However, don’t say that I didn’t warn you that you were wasting your time with all that mindless cardio machine boredom.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I don’t believe in cardio machines, and to be quite honest, I don’t think I’ve personally used a treadmill, elliptical, or exercise bike for at least the last 7-8 years or so.

As a matter of fact, I don’t even use cardio machines anymore for warmups before a workout (I did before occasionally)… Nowadays, I prefer to do dumbbell orkettlebell snatches and swings mixed with bodyweight exercises as the perfect full body warmup at the beginning of my workouts.

So why do I have such hatred for cardio machines?  Well, here are 5 reasons:

1) Treadmills, ellipticals, and exercise bikes are mind-blowingly BOOOORING!  Personally, I can think of a million things I’d rather be doing than pedaling my way to nowhere!

2) Mindless steady state cardio exercise while watching TV or reading creates a mind / body disconnect resulting in poor results from your exercise routine.  Instead of reading a gossip magazine or watching a cheesy reality TV show on the TV screen in front of the cardio machine, a REAL workout consists of actually having your mind engaged strongly in what your body is doing!

3) I’ve seen studies that indicated that treadmill running may be less effective than outdoor running for various reasons such as stride abnormalities on treadmills vs natural running, slightly less caloric burn compared to outdoor running, etc.

…although I never recommend just “jogging” anyway (or as Ron Burgundy would say, “yogging”) … Instead, variable intensity walks / runs or sprints are so much more effective, training your heart rate in a much wider range instead of just the same pace during the entire workout.  I choose to do a lot of hiking up mountains and also wind sprints, but never steady state jogging.

4) Treadmills and ellipticals are ridiculously expensive and a waste of money for people that workout at home… there’s so many better options for home workouts you could have spent your money on rather than wasting it on a treadmill, bike, or elliptical.

The perfect home gym setup is MUCH cheaper… there’s no reason you need anything other than a jump rope, bodyweight exercises, a few dumbbells, stability ball, maybe a few kettlebells (if you want to get fancy), and perhaps high tension bands for some more variety.  And of course… the great outdoors has some of the best workout options of all… hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, skiing, sports, and more!

5) Treadmills and elliptical machines are just a very ineffective way to workout compared to other options.  The metabolic response is much lower compared to the types of workouts ideas that I describe below.  Why should you do treadmill or elliptical workouts when you can get better results by doing more interesting forms of training that actually stimulate a fat-burning hormonal response and stimulate your metabolism to a greater extent…

So what are the alternatives to treadmills, exercise bikes, and elliptical trainers? Here are TEN of my favorite types of alternative workouts:

1. jumping rope – great mind-body connection – try speed jumping, crossovers, and double jumps once you get skilled at it.  An amazing metabolic exercise with one of the cheapest pieces of equipment available.  There’s a reason that every world class boxer uses this exercise!
2. kettlebell training – nothing will get your heart pounding like high repetition KB swings and snatches or clean & presses (can be done with dumbbells too, but I prefer KBs).  Personally, I think one of the most intense body changing exercises ever invented are double kettlebell snatches (snatching both kettlebells at the same time overhead from the floor).
3. outdoor wind sprinting (the ultimate exercise for a rock hard ripped body… just look at the chiseled powerful bodies of world class sprinters, and compare that to the weakling withered physique of a typical marathoner… nuff said!  I generally do wind sprints 2-3 days a week during the warm times of the year, and I’ll do something such as 50 yards, 60 yards, 70 yards, 80 yards, 90 yards, 100 yards, and then repeat (with about 40-60 second rests between sprints).  By the way, for the international folks, a “yard” is just slightly shorter than a meter.
4. hill sprinting – yet another classic exercise for a rock hard lean and powerful body!  I like to do 30 yard sprints up a steep hill and then walk down and repeat a bunch of times for maybe 20-30 minutes.  Amazing workout.
5. The rowing machine – ok, I don’t really lump this in as a “cardio” machine like treadmills and ellipticals… I think the rowing machine is actually a great full body workout that actually uses resistance… The best results come from using variable speeds and really pulling hard to challenge your body.
6. Sprint style swimming workouts – a more muscular workout than steady state distance swimming… I actually love the upper body pump I get from sprint style swimming — this is the same concept as sprinting vs jogging but in a pool instead.  It’s all about intensity!
7. heavy bag punching / kicking workout, speed bag, rebound bag – all are great forms of training and much more interesting than boring cardio machines.  These exercises are also great examples of exercises that require an intense mind-body connection, which is missing in boring cardio equipment like treadmills and elliptical machines.
8. shadow boxing – This is an awesome workout, but if you’re shy, this is best saved for your home workouts since you’ll get some crazy stares doing this at a typical gym from people who think they’re “too cool” for stuff like this.
9. dumbbell circuits — This is a super metabolic type of workout that involves alternating between various full-body multi-joint exercises to get a crazy fat-burning workout in minimal time.  A good example would be alternating between dumbbell lunges, overhead presses, bent over rows, step ups, and squat presses all with minimal rest between.
10. bodyweight training – bodyweight squats, pushups, lunges, jumps, bear crawls, mountain climbers and jumpers, planks, and the list goes on and on.  Another example of great mind-body connection and much more metabolic type of training than treadmills and ellipticals.

Written by: Shin Ohtake, Fitness & Fat-Loss Expert
Author of MAX Workouts, The Ultimate Lean Body Fitness Program

Every morning, shortly after we get up we take our dog out for an hour walk.  It’s our daily morning ritual.  Fortunately weather in southern California allows us to participate in this joyful activity and we take full advantage of it.

Luckily we live close to the beach, so we take our walks along the beach and every morning we see all sorts of people partaking in fun activities like rollerblading, bike riding, walking.  But by far the most common activity we see is running…although I’m not sure if I’d consider running as a “fun” activity for me personally…I know many people love to run.

I think it’s partly the endorphin rush you get when you run, not to mention it’s also the easiest form of exercise.  It’s something anyone can do…but easy isn’t always the best.  The biggest problem I see with people running is that majority of them aren’t physically strong enough to run properly.

If you slowed down the motion and saw the biomechanics of running, you would quickly see that running is a plyometric exercise.  When you run, you actually put all of your weight on one foot and then push off with enough force to lift your entire body off the ground, while you switch legs and land on your other foot.  Running forces you to bear all of your weight on one foot at a time and then it’s repeated thousands of times or more depending on how far you run.

That’s a lot of force being applied to the joints on your legs.  It’s no wonder so many people that run suffer from foot, ankle, knees and hip injuries.  Their joints aren’t capable of handling that kind of forceful repetitive stress.

When you think about it, running requires a lot of muscle, tendon and ligament support.  So really, it should only be performed by people that are in good shape and strong enough to handle the repetitive force running places on your body.

Unfortunately most of the people I see running are nowhere near in the kind of shape they should be in.  It’s completely backwards…the people I see most often running are exactly the kind of people that shouldn’t be running.  It’s painful to see so many of these people that’s trying to get into shape by “literally” pounding their poor joints into the ground.

The truth is when you begin running you will burn more calories, hence you will lose weight.  However, what you’re not realizing is that you’re setting yourself up for eventual halt in progression.

Why?

Because your body has an innate ability to adapt and make things more proficient, so your body doesn’t have to expend as much energy.  What this means is that as you get better at running, your body ends up burning less calories when you run!  A double edge sword…right?  You want to get fit and be able to run better, but you also want to keep burning calories so you can lose weight.  So if your body keeps getting more efficient at conserving energy when you run, you have to either increase the distance you run OR increase the pace of your runs.

And for most part, people tend to increase the distance, because it’s easier to do.  Increasing your pace for a long distance run is difficult, challenging and it’s too hard to keep the pace up without stopping or resting, so if your running continuously your pace automatically slows down to a pace that you can keep running for long periods of time.  And this usually ends up in one of the two scenarios:

1. The first scenario is – you end up running the same distances at the same steady pace,  day in and day out and your weight loss progress complete comes to a halt.

 

1. The second scenario is – that you get injured.  Your body and joints can only handle the constant pounding and the repetitive stress eventually causes inflammation on one or more of your joints..

Either way, neither scenario is good.

Not to mention that running long distances causes you to lose lean muscle mass, which is your body’s most effective calorie burner.  Less lean muscle mass means less calories burned as well as decreased strength, which makes you more susceptible to injuries.  It’s a vicious cycle.

So what’s a runner to do?  STOP RUNNING.

There are far better and more effective ways to get into shape then just hitting the pavement and going for a long run.  Running has it’s place in a fitness regimen, but only after you’ve gotten strong enough to be able to sustain the kind of force running generates.  Even then, I think long runs should only be done sparingly…unless you’re training for an endurance event that requires you to do so.

I’d stick to doing short bursts of sprints or fast paced running followed by rest and recovery.  This way you’re only putting pressure on your joints for a short period of time followed by rest so your muscles, tendons and ligaments can recover…hopefully enough for you to be able to sustain the force for multiple rounds of short runs.  You can repeat this process as many times as you want (or as many as your body lets you)…although I see no need to do anymore than 20 – 30 minutes worth.

I would also recommend running on grass, sand or any surface that has some give instead of concrete…to reduce the amount of stress put on your joints.

Even then, these short bursts of running may still be too strenuous for some of you that are just starting out and need more time to develop proper conditioning and strength before tackling the runs.  Which is why it’s vital that you include strength training as part of your regular fitness regimen.

Now, I’m not talking about ineffective isolated exercises…sorry to disappoint, but if you’ve been hittin’ the weights doing bicep curls or tricep kick backs, it’s just not going to cut it. You need to be doing full body exercises that build functional strength.  Functional strength enables you to carry the benefits over to activities like running, hiking, climbing as well as essential primal movements such as lifting, carrying, jumping, pulling and pushing…all activities/movements that your body performs on a daily basis.

And let’s not forget that performing full body functional exercisesalso builds lean muscle mass which increases your ability to burn more calories…especially from fat…hence getting you leaner and fitter, much more effectively than “just” running.