Apparently, it’s Winter Survival Guide week here at Already Pretty. Apologies to you southern hemi readers – I’m hoping these posts are still slightly useful, or can be stashed for future readings.
Now. If you’re like me, winter weather provides you with AMPLE excuses to fink out on your gym membership. “Oh, not tonight,” you think, “It’s too cold/slippery/dark out to risk driving/walking/bussing to the gym. I’d better stay home and re-read the entire Harry Potter series. While eating every salty food in my house. Including, eventually, soy sauce sandwiches.”
And although the salty food binge is only a good idea if you blood pressure is dangerously low, sometimes venturing out to work out just isn’t in the cards. It’s better to be alive and slightly less fit than toned and dead in a ditch, am I right?
However! You can still work out at home, and you don’t even need any fancy mats or weights or videotapes to do it. And although you may not want to, I guarantee that spending even fifteen minutes getting that heart rate up will make you feel all the more cozy and delighted when you dig back into “The Prisoner at Azkaban.”*
- Jumping jacks: Yes, your dog will get very excited, and your roommates may snicker, and you’ll feel a little bit like you’re back in third grade. But seriously, this is some fast, effective cardio. And if you can put on a little Fatboy Slim for the ride, jumping jacks can be downright fun. Do sets of 20, try for at least three sets.
- Sit ups: I don’t care if you do crunches, traditional sit ‘em ups, or some of my personal favorite shopping-based ab exercises. Work that core.
- “Weights”: If you live in a dumbbell-free zone, use a tasty beverage instead. A two-liter bottle of soda, an aluminum water bottle filled to the brim and capped, or even a gallon of milk can serve the purpose. Figure out a way to lift carefully, and get crackin’.
- Push-ups: If you can’t do plank push-ups, don’t sweat it. Make your knees your fulcrum. I lift weights four times a week, but just started on push-ups recently and they were very challenging. I can now do four sets each of three plank and three knee push-ups before I collapse into a pile of dramatic gasping humanity. Push-ups are HARD, so only do as many as you reasonably can.
- Superman: Lie on your stomach on a carpet, mat, or towel. Then lift your arms out in front of you like Superman and lift your legs slightly off the floor simultaneously. Try to isolate your lower back muscles, and use your glutes as little as possible.
- Dance: I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Spend two or three songs dancing hard and fast and you’ll work up a happier sweat than anyone glued to a Stairmaster.
- Stretch: Even if you can’t do anything else for the night, stretch out your muscles a bit. Do legs, arms, back, core. Then do them all again. Then sleep soundly.
When you can’t keep up your regular workout routine, what are your work-arounds? Ever improvised exercise at home? Other easy ways to stay fit without any fancy equipment?
* DISCLAIMER: Only you know your fitness level. If hefting gallon milk jugs around is going to make your trapezius spasm, or if jumping jacks will jar that old knee injury … well, don’t do ‘em! Use your common sense, as always.
Image courtesy j / f / photos.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Being snowed in is an excuse to do all your housework and treat it like a workout! 2 birds with one stone and all that!
I found that my cable company has dozens of fitness videos available "on demand," free! They rotate after several weeks, so I'm never bored by doing the same thing over and over, and I try a lot of things that I would never do otherwise. It's fun just to see what wacky gimmicks the instructors and producers have come up with–there are some seriously nutty ones!–and since the programs are already in my house and already paid for, there's no reason not to use them.
I love the photo that goes with this post! And I snickered out loud re: soy sauce sandwiches. Lately, I've considered just snorting the salt for an undiluted high.
Hi Sal, what a great post.
I've got a couple of posts up on my blog about simple yoga routines for everyone that are perfect when you're snowed in. There's even one for yoga at your desk if anyone is interested!
http://scoliurbanyogi.blogspot.com
Great post. Those are some good ideas. Reminds me that I need to get a work out in today. May I offer another suggestion?
Mountain Climbers
Get into plank position, like a push up. Then bend your right knee and jump up, bringing your right thigh under the right side of your torso and leaving your left leg out behind you. Then kick your leg back while bringing your left leg up. It's kinda like when you're getting ready to take off running.
This exercise is torture let me tell you, but it WORKS. Look up mountain climbers on youtube if you need a visual.
I know you're a fellow fan of stumptuous, she has a great article on at-home working out!
http://www.stumptuous.com/no-weights-no-problem
some of its outside stuff, but you could haul a sack of potatos around your house or stairs or something!
If you cycle, get a set of rollers (a cheap version of an indoor trainer) so you can ride your own bike indoors!!!
Oh, and The Cake…? mountain climbers are killers! So are burpees (add a push-up for more intensity).
Check out Women's Health magazine website. Lots of great workouts without equipment.
ohh i hear you!
i ALWAYS do yoga in the winter when i can't get motivated to get to the gym. it makes me feel calm and happy and you hardly need any space to do it.
great post (as always), sal!
I've always loved jumping jacks, even if I can't do them!
I have a small trampoline in the closet and I dance/jump on it while watching music videos.
I also do Pilates stretches from a couple of my exercise books, for those days when my delicate constitution won't bear all the jumping around.
I've got a jump rope in my house and I bust that out for a few minutes all the time (but I live totally alone, everyone else should watch out for their dog, cat, ficus tree, husband, etc).
I also have a Sonicare toothbrush and am always trying to do STUFF in those two minutes in the morning, which is hard with only one hand, and so I go up and down my stairs repeatedly while brushing… I usually make it up and down them about 12 times! It's a good way to get my blood moving early in the morning!
Soups cans or any canned goods make great dumbbell substitutions.
I did find myself doing stretching, jumps, squats and sit ups during our snow in fest. Mind you taking petit garcon to nursery on a sledge was a great arm and core workout.
I love this post! It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who would rather hunker down with a bag of pretzels and a good book then drive all the way to the gym in the freezing cold. I am going to try jumping jacks and stretching tonight (if I can't talk myself into doing the real deal). Great ideas!
I'm with Retro Chick–I clean when I'm restless at home and looking for activity. Running up and down stairs, pushing a 20-lb vacuum cleaner around the house…works for me!
been working out a ton lately. thanks for the tips
dallas
http://dillydallas.blogspot.com
I am all about squats, crunches and press ups. You can do them anywhere without having to go to the gym, and they are awesome lol. Hope you're having a fabulous week
Jumping rope is a fun one at home. Nobody can see you, and it doesn't matter how long you keep it going, or how many times you miss.
Also: FitTV!
I re-tweeted this, using the triple S of "soy sauce sandwiches." I laughed out loud, and you know I needed that today, Sal!
I know that it involves equipment, but I just received a Wii Fit for Christmas and it's shockingly good. The personal trainer gets annoying sometimes, but provides a great demo for how to do the exercises with multiple angles available. The exercises are easy enough that someone not in great shape can start it, but build up enough to become challenging if you want them to be. And watching those points climb day by day is ridiculous but fulfilling. Plus, it's great for me because I belong to the gym at work, which isn't available on weekends.
When I really want a workout at home, I just clean out our junk closet (nicknamed "Closet O' Doom"). Lots of bending, stretching, lifting, and strangely, a good bit of balancing.
Or, Rachel said it: yoga. Mats are nice, but they're not really that necessary. All you need is a flat, stable surface, and maybe a little music.
Just, beware. Some people don't "get" yoga. Ever since I showed my boyfriend the tree pose, he's insisted on doing said pose with his own wacky improvisations to make it "look more like a tree." Practice with discretion in front of such boyfriends, or giggly children if you have them.
"It’s better to be alive and slightly less fit than toned and dead in a ditch, am I right?"
Yes, you're right! The operative word being "slightly" of course.
Once you reach the globular state, it's time to do something! I have a trainer here with my bike on it, but for the life of me, I CANNOT get motivated to use it. I intermittently go to Pilates, but riding a bike indoors? Why can't I do it? I LOVE biking, just not in my house.
Does cleaning count? I do a fair amount of that. Globular. That's right. GLOB-ular.
So I read this this afternoon and didn't comment because I'm an at home exerciser anyway. Treadmill, weights, videos … But tonight I was dancing around with my kids and my 40 lb. daughter wanted me to hold her and jump (to the Black Eyed Peas) and holy work out! I immediately thought of this.
Great post, Sal! All of those things are incorporated into Jillian Michaels' 20-min Shred workout! Jumping jacks are certainly great cardio, mixed with some crunches and lifting soap cans while lunging equals a quality workout!
That's exactly what I've been doing. I cut the gym membership out of my budget, so I'm working out with my free On Demand Exercise TV from my cable company, and I'm taking a weekly Yoga class for relaxation, flexibility and strength.