[iDream]

Hello all! Please forgive me if this question has been asked already, but I'm 'new' to the forum (was here a couple of years ago and now back and recommitted!) and would love some input!

I'm currently working out at home and I'm not quite ready to sign up for a gym yet. I'm looking for fun, low impact, sweat inducing workouts and any suggestions for routines. My main goals for my fitness are to reduce fat (obviously), gain lean muscle (don't want to bulk up) and to improve endurance/regain a higher energy level--ya know, general improvement of overall fitness & health stuff.

Right now my routine goes something like this:

Work out my Abs every morning
Work out my arms/upper body every other day
Work out my legs/lower body every other day
Treadmill for 30 minutes every night

I'll be honest, I don't know a whole lot about exercising other than I'm long overdue for it and it's good for you! I do remember reading somewhere that you should give your muscles a chance to 'recover' so that's why I've been alternating the upper & lower body work outs. I'm beginning to wonder if I should do my abs every other day as well? After 3 pgs (the last of which with twins) and 3 c/sections--my 'core' (if you can call it that ) is a mess and in dire need of help!

Anyway, I'd love to see what those of you who work out at home are doing! Any exercise video suggestions would be greatly appreciated too! I have a feeling the treadmill is going to get boring fast!

Thanks so much in advance for any input!!

[meganmcrae]

Welcome back!

What you are doing so far sounds good. But I can see what you mean about it getting boring. How do you feel about exercise videos? They are pretty cheap and there is such a wide range of them that you are almost guaranteed to find something that you like (if you like that kind of thing, that is). I am an wkt dvd fanatic and have several dozen in my own collection.

Good luck and keep it up!

[iDream]

Thanks so much for the reply.
I'm recently dug out all of my old work out dvds and videos and honestly, none of them were very fun, I'm thinking of maybe trying to find a fun dance workout if I can.
I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing until it starts getting boring or too easy and then I'll go from there.

Thanks again!

[getlost]

i'm currently working on 30day shred by Jillian Michaels and it really makes you work. it's about 25-28 min long for a stage 1 and i feel great doing it!

[Misora]

Ohh if you have Netflix they have a pretty nice DVD collection and if you don't really care for it you can send it back and try something else! Plus some on demand cable companies have fitness programs.

My biggest thing is trying to fit more atheletic things into my day to day life. That means riding my bike to the stores near my house or making a point to take my nephew to the park that's 2 miles from the house instead of the one thats at the end of the street. Of course then you get into situations like I am right now where it's rained every day for a week and you're sick of the excercise machines :P

[craftykath]

The 'allow muscles to relax' rule applies to every muscle, including your abs. I just read about briefly in this article, near the middle of the page: www . marieclaire.com/health-fitness/news/articles/sexy-strong-abs?link=emb&dom=yah_life&src=syn&con=blog_mariecl aire&mag=mar

[iDream]

Originally Posted by getlost

i'm currently working on 30day shred by Jillian Michaels and it really makes you work. it's about 25-28 min long for a stage 1 and i feel great doing it!

I just got this DVD yesterday and gave it a shot last night--way more challenging than the 'ol treadmill and more fun too--even if my knees hated those jumping jacks!

Misora~ I do have Netflix, I never think to order exercise DVDs off of it! Thanks for the tip!

Craftykath~ thanks for the link, it was a good read! I've been thinking about doing my abs every other day, that just confirms what I've been reading, thanks so much.

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

[looloo86]

you could try increasing the mins sometimes the speed sometimes and the inclination other times on ur treadmill to increase ur indurance.Also using heavier weights and more reps with weights.
Good Luck