Fitness Friday: My at home workout essentials

1.10.2014

Happy Friday! Today's post is about what I think are essentials for at home workouts. I very rarely get to go to the gym, between the kids and my husband's schedule, it just isn't possible for me to get to the gym everyday. However, I totally believe in the phrase no excuses when it comes to health, so I've taken to pretty much working out on my own at home -inside and outside. I do miss the gym at times (no distractions from kids for example, ha!), but I don't miss packing up everyone to get into the car and being exhausted by the time I even get there among other things. Each has their pros and cons, all that matters is you get it in!

1. Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor - I talked about this amazing little gadget here. Again, I love this watch. It's very helpful for my home workouts as I can see how many calories I'm burning.

2. Jump Rope - You can buy these anywhere, and they are fairly cheap. When I first started working out at home I always complained I felt like I wasn't getting in cardio comparable to running. Then one day I tried an interval circuit with the jump rope and I almost died. Yep, there went that excuse.

3 & 9. Cute workout clothes. Ok so I know this one isn't a necessity, BUT I do always feel a little more motivated to work out at home when I'm actually dressed to do so. Nothing gets me motivated to workout like a cute little outfit, :)

4. Stability Ball - This is great to help simulate various exercises that are done in the gym or to kick up your at home workout a bit. Getting bored with the regular chest press, try laying on the ball and you'll find a whole new set of muscles being worked while trying to stay stable.

5. Water bottle - Don't forget to hydrate with water!

6. Shoes - I, again, always get dressed as though I'm going to the gym so functional shoes are a must.

7. Dumbbells - There are tons of exercises that can be done with bodyweight only (burpee anyone??), but sometimes it's nice to challenge your body. Also, with exercising comes progression. At some point you will want to add weights to help sculpt your body even more. I don't have a crazy dumbbell collection, I started out with 5 lbs then I gradually moved up to 15 lbs (for some exercises) once I felt the other weights were too light. Depending on where you are in your fitness journey 5 lbs may be perfect for a while. Options for weights include a kettlebell, medicine ball, or even water bottles filled with sand or water.

8. Resistance bands - Just like the stability ball and dumbbells, these are just a nice addition that I find that I use often. Once I started getting more into weights (and not just cardio), I found myself using these to stimulate various exercises done in the gym. There are all types of tutorials online for how to incorporate these into your workout.

9. See #3

What are some of your workout essentials?

*I am by no means a fitness expert, just simply sharing what works for me*

xoxo,
Sarai

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