How to Exercise at Home With No Equipment

Joining a gym or purchasing exercise equipment that can be used at home can be very expensive. Fortunately, there are plenty of exercises you can perform at home without any weights or other equipment. Utilizing a variety of at-home exercises can improve your strength and flexibility and help you to lose weight. The best part about these exercises is that they can be done while watching TV and they only take a few minutes to complete.

Instructions

1. Shadow box in your home. Shadow boxing is a great cardiovascular workout and can also increase your arm and leg strength. There are two ways you can shadow box. You can move around a room and pretend to fight an imaginary opponent, which involves "dancing" around the room, throwing combinations of punches and ducking and avoiding imaginary punches. Or you can work on different punching combinations while staying mostly stationary. This can be done while watching TV or listening to the radio.

2. Do push-ups twice a day. The standard push-up increases strength in both your arms and chest. All you need to complete this exercise is enough room to spread your body out on the floor. Complete one set of push-ups in the morning and one in the evening each day and you'll begin to notice your improved strength within a week.

3. Perform different abdominal exercises each day. The sit-up, reverse crunch and other similar ab exercises require no equipment at all. It is recommended, though, that you lay on a carpet while doing sit-ups so that you don't hurt your back. A complete abdominal workout can be completed while you watch your favorite sitcom.

4. Strengthen your legs with jumping exercises. As long as you don't have low ceilings, you can complete this workout in any room of your home. Extend your hands straight up into the air and leap from your toes as high as you can. After you land, immediately leap straight up into the air. Continuing doing this for 1 minute straight. When you've finished, take a 1-minute break. Repeat this 2 to 3 more times for a leg and cardiovascular workout.

5. Do calf raises. Stand straight with your feet roughly two feet apart and your hands at your side. Slowly lift your body with your toes so that the balls of your feet are completely off the ground. Go as high as you possibly can and then hold it for three seconds. Slowly lower yourself back to the ground. Repeat this exercise 50 times and then take a short break. Do 2-3 reps every other day as a way to increase your lower leg strength.

6. Increase your upper leg strength with squats. Stand so that your feet are about 2 feet apart and put your hands on your hips. Keeping your upper body perfectly straight, bend your knees slowly. Go down as low as you can without feeling any discomfort in your knees. Once you've gone as low as possible, slowly stand back up into the starting position. Do 50 of these every day.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember to stretch before and after every workout. Stretching does more than prevent soreness and injuries. It also improves flexibility and can even increase the overall effectiveness of your workout.

• Always consult your doctor before beginning any new workout or exercise program.

Resources

• Read this article on how to shadow box.
• This article outlines how to do a proper push-up.
• Learn to do upper ab exercises.
• Do lower ab exercises in your home.