- Most sports stores carry what are often referred to as fitness balls. They come in varying colors and sizes, the latter dependent upon a person's height and frame. Ask salespeople about the appropriate size for your needs. Balls should be inflated properly to achieve maximum benefit. Fitness balls are ideal for performing simple stretches, such as cradling your back along the contours of the ball. From this position, you can also practice numerous sets of abdominal crunches. Fitness balls are also terrific for stretching your oblique muscles.
- At sports stores, you can also easily purchase simple dumbbells in varying weights. Isolating muscle groups through these anaerobic exercises is beneficial for increasing metabolism, toning the muscles and building overall muscular strength. Simple bicep curls with a challenging amount of weight serve as a nice, quick workout. Kickback exercises work for strengthening the triceps. For these exercises, get on your hands and knees. Then, making sure you are careful not to raise the dumbbells too high when you swing your arm back, you bend your arm repeatedly, rotating your elbow as your fist moves from beside your thigh to your oblique muscles.
- Never underestimate the power of stretching. The activity can be done anywhere, and is essential to avoid injury after aerobic workouts. Simple stretching, such as butterfly stretch, head rolls and split leg stretches also help to keep your blood flowing if you do a lot of computer work, or you are generally stationary for long periods of time. In butterfly stretch, you sit on the floor and, with your legs folded and your heels facing each other, you press your knees toward the floor until you feel a nice stretch in your groin muscles. Split leg stretches are also done from a seated position. In these exercises, you split your legs apart, fully stretched out, and lean your body forward toward the floor until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings.
- If you live in a house or apartment that's free of downstairs neighbors, you can jump rope or dance freely to your favorite type of music. Any spike in your heart rate is beneficial to staying in shape, it releases stress, offers a nice break in the day and can be fun.
