Fitness for Stay-At-Home Parents

This post is for all of you who stay (or work) at home with your children.  Not everyone has the opportunity to leave the house and go to the gym for their workout.  Even if you don't have kids or don't work from home, this post is for you. 

Making time for exercise is crucial...actually fitting it into your day can be difficult.  Although coming into the gym exposes you to machines and equipment you might not have access to, there are plenty of things you can do at home to get in your workout.  Maybe you don't feel like leaving the house because of the weather or maybe your child is home from school due to a fever, you still can get a total body workout, with cardio activity, right in your own home!  With little to no money out of your pocket, you can work towards your goals at home.

Full body, body weight exercises have been around forever...no equipment needed!  Most people have the perfect cardio equipment in their house (or apartment) and don't even realize it.  What is it, you ask?  A flight (or two) of stairs.  You are up and down those stairs every day carrying laundry, chasing the kids, shooing the dog/cat out of where they shouldn't be.  Now it's time to utilize those stairs for a workout.  Start with a quick warm-up of climbing up and down the full flight a few times.  Just enough to get the heart rate up and the muscles warm.  When you are ready for the cardio portion of your workout, walk (or jog) up and down the stairs at a brisk pace for 5-10 minutes.  You can vary your pattern by skipping steps or walking sideways up and down.  Want to really work on brain power while you climb stairs?  Try going up and down backwards!  But be sure to hand on to the handrails...it can be dangerous if you trip!

After 5-10 minutes of stair climbing, move on to your body weight exercises.  Push-ups are a great way to build strength in the chest and arms, and strengthen your core at the same time!  (Not sure what your core is..check out a previous post for more info.)  Squats and lunges are effective exercise for the lower body.  Dips on the edge of a chair or the stairs will work your triceps (back of the upper arm).  Got some heavy books or containers of laundry detergent?  Pick them up and do bicep curls or press them overhead for a shoulder workout.  Then head back to the stairs for another round of stair climbing.  Don't forget to stretch at the end of your workout!!

There are lots of ways to workout at home.  Don't neglect your workout just because you cannot make it to the gym.  You don't even have to spend any money...fill up an empty milk jug with sand and use that for weights.  Still need more ideas?  Our personal trainers can take you through a "home exercise program" and show you exactly what to do.  

Workouts can be done at home...it just takes a little ingenuity and dedication.  Call PROMATx Health Club today and get started.  Don't wait...stay on track and work towards your goals!