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Keeping up with going to the gym can be really difficult these days.  After all, we need to balance our work lives, our family lives, our social lives, and getting in some alone time.  Additionally, gym membership prices are increasing all the time.  It might seem impossible to keep fit.

I promise you that this isn’t true!  There are plenty of ways that you can maintain your physical health right from the comfort of your own home.  You’re probably wondering to yourself, okay, but how can I do that?

I have some good news!  I’m here to explain exactly that.  I have several years of experience of working out at home and recommending my routines to my family and friends.  Here are my four handpicked methods for keeping fit at home.

1. Chest Building Workouts

It’s easy to feel like getting a toned and muscular chest is completely out of our reach.  Luckily, this isn’t true – and you don’t have to drop a lot of money on a gym membership to do so.  Like Men’s Health mentions in this article, there are a lot of techniques you can try for building up your chest bulk.

Many of these are called press ups.  There are a few different forms.  You could try a spiderman press-up, a diamond press-up, stair press-ups, wide press-ups, or clap press-ups!  For a real challenge, you can even do them with one arm.  

If this all sounds foreign to you, don’t worry.  You probably know these better as push-ups.  However, I think that “press up” is a better term, because of how your body moves.

Another variant I can recommend are decline press ups.  These involve placing your feet on a higher surface such as a couch or bench.  You lean the top half of your body down onto the ground and try to perform the exercise like that.  All of them will help you build your upper body strength.

2. Aerobic Exercises

One of my favorite types of work outs are aerobic ones.  For one thing, they have a lot of benefits.  These include lowering your blood pressure, aiding the control of blood sugar, improving your cardiovascular conditioning, decreasing your resting heart rate, increasing good cholesterol levels, improving your lung function, and helping with weight management.

If you’re not sold yet, I understand.  Some of these exercises might seem unappealing.  That’s okay!  Try dipping your toes in a little bit at a time.

Funny enough, walking is considered an aerobic exercise.  If you’ve got a treadmill from somewhere like Home Gym Mania, setting it on a slow pace and just going for a walk on it counts!  That’s probably why I consider aerobics the most accessible type of work out.

If you’ve got elliptical equipment, this is another type of aerobic exercise.  As you can see, there are plenty of options.  As with all work outs, make sure you do not push yourself too far, though.  Always keep yourself hydrated with plenty of water or a sports drink if you would prefer, have at least a small snack beforehand, and don’t exhaust yourself.

3. Try Yoga!

I know what you might be thinking.  Yoga is only for girls!  Yoga isn’t an intense enough work out to count it as really exercising!  However, I assure you, these common perceptions of yoga could not be more wrong!

You do not need to find a studio to practice yoga.  You don’t need special, fancy clothing or a ton of space.  If you set up a mat on your floor and get into some comfortable fitness wear, you’re well on your way to becoming proficient at it!

Nowadays, there are a ton of different options for trying it out.  You could watch some of the hundreds of videos that exist on YouTube that will guide you through.  Even the New York Times has put out an article about yoga that you can read here.

My best advice here is to take it slow.  Don’t try to rush your learning process.  Practice a move until you get confident with it, then progress to the next one.  If you’re trying to go too fast, you might get sloppy with it and not fully reap the benefits intended for each pose!  

4. Try Something New

When you see this, you might think it’s a cop out.  I promise you, it’s not.  Let me explain!  Honing a new fitness skill is always something good to try out.  Don’t get too stuck in a rut.

Now – establishing a routine is important for maintaining fitness levels.  You want to make sure you are keeping up with yourself and not falling off the wagon, after all.  It can be all to easy to stop for one day and then go completely off the rails.

That being said, do not confine yourself.  If you prefer muscle building workouts, for example, try out an aerobic exercise or a cardio one.  If you only ever try one thing, you’ll never achieve your full potential.

Consider training your balance or your flexibility if you normally don’t.  It’s hard to remember every type of work out, after all.  No one expects you to always do every single type out there in a week.  Just do your best to mix things up!

So – now you can see that working out at home is nothing to be intimidated by.  You can keep yourself just as fit and healthy in comfort as you can at a gym with a membership program.  

Investing in personal equipment can certainly help you on this process, but don’t think you can’t start with small items.  Don’t let your goals be out of reach because they feel too expensive or impossible.

When you put your mind to it, you’ll be able to form a workout plan that works for you and allows you to stay at home.  You can try any of the things I’ve detailed above or think of something new!