At Home Workouts

I thought I'd dedicate today's post to workouts you can do at home. Our first year of marriage has been incredible- even when we were so poor we only spent $100/month on food!! There was a time when we couldn't afford a rec center or gym membership and it was too cold to exercise outside so we did DVD's. I think it's overwhelming to pick some DVD's so here's a list of my personal favorites and ones you could easily use daily without getting bored.

Top Pick: Biggest Loser DVD Series.

Cheapest Price: Shopko (that I found...maybe ebay might be cheaper. Mine were less than $10 each)

Equipment needed: Hand weights or bands. They use other equipment such as medicine balls and yoga mats but you can easily do the workout without those things.

What to expect:

These DVD's are a 6 week boot camp style. They start with 30 minute exercise and every 2 weeks you add more time to your workout until you are completing a full 60 minute workout. These are no cake walk. I think these are a very good place to start for anyone wanting to get back into shape or who is just starting to workout. I have done the Powersculpt, Boot Camp, Cardio Max, and Yoga. All of these workouts are challenging and will make you sweat! 

If your husband has an xbox you can look into their attempt at Wii fit. I got the "Yourself Fitness" program at a used game shop for about $4 and it kept me entertained for months. This thing is awesome! Sure it's a little weird exercising with a computer graphic but you get used to it. This program includes recipes, menus, fitness tests, customized workouts, and keeps track of all your progress. I love the physical fitness test part of this program. I don't have Wii fit but I hear it's very similar. Depending on the equipment you have you can do step aerobics, yoga, strength training, plyometrics, core exercises and pretty much anything else you can imagine.

If you don't mind sweating profusely in your living room and really want a challenge that will push you to the limit go ahead and give the P90X series a try. I almost finished the 90 day challenge in 2009 and really noticed a difference in my body. I have to warn you that those 90 days were so challenging in fact that I've never attempted to do the program again. A friend passed on a pirated copy of them to me along with their diet plan. This is a program for the strong, the committed, and the person who has A LOT of time to devote to working out and eating right. I would not recommend this program to someone who isn't already active, it's just not a good place to start. The results on the commercials are enticing and inspiring but you won't be able to properly perform the exercises if you aren't already active and you'll end up discouraged and hurting yourself. The only downside is that you have to invest in some equipment to do this program so if you're on a tight budget you might want to save up a little before starting this program.

I also endorse (free of charge) anything that the Tae Bo master Billy Blanks creates. He's one tough ninja fighter guy and I always sweat like crazy when I do his workouts. Even though he comes out with all these new programs I'm sure any of the DVD's from the 90's or early 2000's would yield great results if you can find them for cheap on ebay.

I have always wanted to try "The Firm" and the ballet bar exercise thing (there used to be an infomercial about it) but never bought the program. If those programs are as good as they look on television you would be in for a TREAT!

I also love jumping on the bed and from bed to bed in hotel rooms so maybe put some beds or furniture together and make a little obstacle course for yourself and call it something like bounce-er-cize.

Last but not least I love the windsor pilates DVD's. They will have you screaming for mercy in no time. I am leery of pilates and yoga DVD's but the I highly recommend the windsor pilates series.

I get bored really quickly with the same workouts so I like to mix it up and have a variety of exercises to choose from so at home DVD's aren't really a good fit for me unless I have a bunch to chose from.  I have completed the Biggest Loser 6 week boot camp series a few times in addition to the P90X program and have had good results with both programs. If you have a subscription to netflix consider checking out their huge selection of fitness DVD's to try before you buy. I also have a link bodyrock TV that has plenty of super challenging at home workouts that are quick and dirty.

As the winter months approach I know that I will be going back to my at home workouts because sometimes it's just too dang cold outside to even go to the gym! If you have any other DVD's to recommend leave a comment and I'll make sure they are made public.

I found these and couldn't resist posting them even though they are so so so hideous. About a month after we got married Dan started exercising with me so to motivate him I put on my "exercise outfit" I don't think it motivated him as much as it frightened him but he has such a good sense of humor he actually laughed...