The Top Five Exercises For Losing Weight and Toning Muscle at Home

Health and Wellness - Weight Loss

By: ponchomeg 11-Sep-2010

Browsing Health and Wellness Lists

Jumping Jacks

Jumping jacks offer great cardio. The best way to use jumping jacks are:
-As a warm-up
-Between other exercises
-Anytime, anywhere
To do a jumping jack, spread your feet a little more than shoulder width apartment and put your arms above your head with your palms pressing together. To do the move, bring your feet in with a little jump so that they are together and move your arms out (to look like a Y above your head). Then, do the opposite and jump back into the starting position. Repeat as needed.

Push Ups

Push ups are important because they help to build strength, increase stamina, and burn calories. Push ups are another exercise that you can do anywhere as there is no equipment needed.
To do a push up, lay down on the floor, try to balance the back part of your body on your toes and lift the front of your body with your arms. To do the actual push up, bend your arms to lower your body to the floor and straighten them out to lift your body up again (keep your butt in!). If this is too hard, go to your knees instead of your toes. But don't give up.

Core Exercise

When you hear people say that you need to "strengthen your core," they are mostly talking about strengthening your abs. If the abs are strong, the back becomes strengthened as well, and so injury is less likely during exercise and in daily life. So how do you strengthen the core? First of all, check out Pilates. Exercises like the hundred and the corkscrew really work the abs, and you can see a noticeable difference in strength (and posture!) in less than a week.
Secondly, do crunches and sit-ups. To do these, lay on the floor on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Put your hands lightly behind your head. To do the crunch, pull the abs in toward the spine as you pull your upper body toward your knees with your abs (not your hands and arms!). To do a sit-up, simply take the crunch all the way up so that you could hug your knees if you wanted. Look online for other variations on the classic crunch to make sure you are working all the muscle groups.

Squats

To do a squat, simply put your feet a little past shoulder width apart. Put both arms out in front of you and raise them straight up as you bend your knees and stick your butt out to squat (and stretch the back). For added difficulty, add small weights to the routine. I hold a 2 lb. weight in each hand, and even that small amount kicks up the intensity of the squat and helps to work the arms.

Walking

It's amazing what can be accomplished just by walking. Have an evening walk to unwind. Walk to the store instead of driving if you can. Walk laps around your house. Or walk on a treadmill while you watch tv. Just increase how much you walk every week (and don't increase your caloric intake) and you will see the weight fall right off.

Final Thoughts

I am not a medical doctor, so no matter how well informed I feel I am, it is very important that you talk to your doctor before embarking on any weight loss endeavor or fitness routine.