Running Brain.com

WHO HAS TIME TO GO TO A GYM?

You don’t need a gym membership to get fit and lose weight. With good nutrition, a specific goal, body weight exercises, and interval training, you are your own gym. Body weight exercises negate the need for a gym and require minimal to no equipment. Interval training maximizes calorie burn for the time spent, getting better results than hours on the “dreadmill”, stationary bike, or elliptical. Nobody has 90 minutes 4 days a week to go to a gym and do endless cardio or aerobics. Everybody can find 12 to 20 minutes several days a week to build strength and fitness and make a few dietary changes for their health. Aerobic exercise is important, but by itself is not enough to do the job. As we age, we need combat muscle and strength loss by building which will then burn more calories at rest.

 Let’s take a look at pushups. They work the chest, arms, shoulders and core at the same time. They can be modified for anyone’s current strength. For example, if you can’t do a regular pushup, you can do them on your knees. If you can’t do them on your knees, you can start with standing at an angle against a wall and pressing your chest away from the wall. As you become stronger, you move to the next harder version, and soon you are knocking out regular pushups. If that becomes too easy, you can make them challenging again by putting your feet on a step, on a ball, or changing hand positions.

Pull ups scare most people off, but for the adventurous, consider investing in a portable pull up bar (hangs on the door frame and is removable) and give this a try starting with your feet on a stool or chair, Over time you build up strength until you can do an unassisted pull up. When I started pull ups, I could only do 2 of the easiest version but over time now, I can do quite a few, even different hand grips (wide, narrow, palms forward, etc.) Pull ups work the arms, chest, shoulders, back, and core and are truly a total body exercise. They are definitely harder for women, but with a boost (stool or chair), anyone can tackle this beast of an exercise. Remember “chin ups” with palms facing you are the easiest type. 

Squats are great for the legs and bottom. They build strength in the legs and help with hip flexibility and reduce chronic back pain for some (including me). They build muscle, and that muscle burns fat at rest. Because you do many reps, they also build fitness. There are easy and harder versions. You simply stand with your feet shoulder width apart, put your arms out in front of you for balance and bend at the knees while keeping your back straight, pushing back up through your heels. Take care that the front of the knee does not pass your toes.

 Sit ups also strike fear in the hearts of many of us, ever since 6^th grade gym class. There are dozens of variations and some are more fun than others. I prefer plank poses to classic sit ups and crunches, as they are easier on the lower back. You start with 15 seconds and work up to 60 to 90 seconds. What is plank? See the picture below with the man on his forearms in a pushup position. Side plank is also shown below.

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Here is an example of a simple interval training workout:

Warmup – march in place for 60 seconds, jog in place for 60 seconds, then:

15 pushups, 15 squats, Plank for 30 seconds, 15 jumping jacks – 1 minute rest, and then repeat until you break a sweat, usually three or four repeats. I don’t stop my interval workouts until I drip sweat, but I’ve been doing them for years. If you did 4 repeats, it would be 60 pushups, 60 squats, and 60 jacks. Not bad. If it is too easy, you up the reps to 20 of each. Too hard, cut it to 5 or 10 of each or do less repeats. Workouts like this are completely modifiable for your strength and energy that day. Notice this simple routine works the arms, chest, legs, buttocks, and core. It also doesn’t take very long and is intense, so it is also called high intensity interval training (HIT). 

Body Weight Exercises

What are body weight exercises? The oldies but goodies are pushups, pull ups, squats, and plank. I know those are scary words, but there are variations on all of these muscle builders that are fun, effective, and can be done by anyone.