The Home Workout and Do-It- Yourself (DIY) Routines

I eluded in my first post about Affordable Workouts in New Orleans that working out from home will be affected by your level of experience and motivation.  In regards to your level of experience, for example, for me to workout at home and create my own routines is pretty simple – I have enough knowledge and experience to put together DIY routines that will either provide me with full body workouts or target body parts.  I can also ensure I have plenty of interval training by mixing things up to get maximum results.  However, if you don’t have a full repertoire to rely on; you will need to do more homework, research and experimenting to find out exactly what will work for you.  We’ll gladly help with that!

Second – lets address MOTIVATION. Here are my recommendations to ensure you have and maintain your motivation to workout from home.

Establish Structure

Set your schedule.  Carve out the exact time you plan to workout.  Preferably it’s the same every day.  Let everyone in your life, your family, friends, co-workers…whoever has an impact on your time that from this time to whatever time on these days – that is your workout time. Yes, you should write this in stone.

Create Your Home Gym. Figure out where you are going to workout and buy the equipment you will need (more to come about equipment). Things to consider when selecting a space…if you plan on jumping up and down – you must make sure that you’re on a floor (preferably basement) that can accommodate that without destroying your house. You will likely need a TV or computer in the room.  You will need to de-conflict the use of the room with other members of the household based on yours and their schedules.

Say you plan to use the garage…how will you hold up in the New Orleans summer heat and humidity?!? Is there proper ventilation and cooling?

Write Out Your Weekly Workout Plan. The clearer you are on what you are doing on which day – the more likely you are to stick with it.  If you need to figure out what you’re doing last minute; it won’t take long before you find a reason to do something else.  This is why workout videos come with planners and specific instructions – it’s what helps people stick with the program.  You’re welcome to send me your plan each week!

Have the Proper Equipment: You definitely don’t need to go spend an arm and a leg on home gym equipment.  I recommend you start out with some dumbbells (3 pairs of 3 different weights), a mat, and an resistance band…may be a jump rope, medicine ball and exercise ball.  Eventually you can look into also getting a home pull-up bar and some other things you will come to realize you want. You can find all that you need at either Walmart or Sports Authority. My other recommendation is that you go to the store instead of ordering online…first because shipping for 3 sets of dumbbells is likely to run you an arm and a leg. But also because it will be good for you to see what other equipment is out there.  DO NOT get wrapped up into gimmicks – stick with the basics.

Walking, Running, Biking. Any one of those three or all three are also part of your home workout so don’t forget about them.  Figure out routes and distances that you want to either walk, run or bike.  Plan accordingly if you need to drive to a park to do it.

Set Realistic Goals. Don’t get into a home workout routine expecting crazy results after a week or two.  Look at this as a learning experience and adventure. Set your goals to sticking to your new establish routine.  Take it one day at a time and enjoy it.

This post is getting a little long – in the next post we’ll get into some recommended routines, videos to check-out and basic things to workout by!