Easy Exercise: Workout from the couch!

So last week I told you about walking, have you started yet? (Read here for a refresher)

It's one of the most simple things to implement in your healthy lifestyle, especially when you are just starting out. 

Hand in hand with walking, or any form of cardio, goes resistance training or weights.

Weights aren't scary, and they're not just for bulking up. Weights, when done properly can be an excellent fat burner and you don't have to go to the gym to start!

It doesn't get much easier than the way I started with weight training....

Floor exercises

One night, after the kids had gone to bed, and it was TV time, I laid down on the floor and started stretching. I found it really invigorating.  Then I would do a few sit-ups, leg lifts, planks, pushups and any other exercises I could think of while rolling around on the floor- you do get a feel for it!

After doing that 3-5 nights a week for a few weeks, I stepped it up a level.

I bought some dumbbells. You can get them from Kmart, eBay (I am obsessed with online shopping) or from any sports store.

I started with 2.5kg dumbbells. 


Here are some of the exercises you can do while sitting on the couch with dumbbells, watching TV:

Seated Lateral Raise Sit with good posture holding light-medium dumbbells at your sides. Keeping the elbows slightly bent and wrists straight, lift the arms up to shoulder level (palms face the floor). Lower back down and repeat .

Overhead Press  Sit with good posture holding light-medium dumbbells in both hands.  Begin the move with arms bent to 90 degrees, weights next to the ears (arms should look like a goal post). Press the weights overhead and lower back down.

Bicep Curls   Sit and hold light to medium dumbbells. Curl the weight up toward your shoulder and release. Avoid swinging the weights and keep the abs engaged.  (Source http://exercise.about.com) I found it was easiest to sit on the floor for those, and mix it up between the dumbbells and my sit-ups and other exercises. Sounds pretty lazy doesn't it?! There are so many different floor exercises you can do. You can look them up online for inspiration or you can even make them up.  I know I did! After you master the dumbbells, you can introduce more weights, I bought a full set of dumbbells, a medicine ball, a kettle bell and a theraband. The more you do it, the better you feel, and the more addicted you get to it! I find its best when I work hard doing one exercise, then swap to an exercise that uses completely different muscle groups and keep alternating exercise.  Rather than do heavy weights at say 12 reps, its best to use lighter weights but do 20 or 30 . This raises your heart rate and burns fat while also toning muscle. So, combine some basic floor exercises with your walking and you will start to see the benefits, not just in extra weight loss but your energy levels increase, you'll find it easier to get out of bed in the morning, and you'll start to feel your muscles toning and an overall sense of wellbeing. I was looking for the 'motivational' meme that went like this: then I found that this one does a bit better for motivation!