Working Out Without the Gym

Personally, I don't feel like going to the gym every day. Getting out of the house can be a huge task for me on some days, but I generally try to work out at least ten minutes a day. These exercises are also really great if you don't have a gym nearby or you can't afford a membership.

First off, I suggest trying out a bunch of different workouts to find what makes you happy and what you find fun. You're more likely to want to exercise if you find out what you actually like.

I like to look on Pinterest for workouts. There's always great new workouts posted there and they have great variety. There are also many workout routines, specialized  for certain parts of the body (like arms, legs, core, etc.) or even a full body workout.

Stay away from '1000 Calorie Workout' and other such workouts. They generally won't actually burn that many calories, probably not even half. If that's the workout for you though, go for it; just don't be too disappointed when you're not burning as many calories as you might think. These workouts are more designed to make you tired or exhausted. You're putting out a lot of effort in a short amount of time, for very little payoff compared to other workouts.

Like "do 1,000 jumping jacks to burn one pound of fat". That is a lot of jumping jacks! I don't know about you, but I could find a better use of my time than just simply doing one exercise all day. That is also a lot of impact on your joints and can be very painful after a while.

I have bad knees and just doing 100 jumping jacks can be quite painful because of the way the knee joints have to move. If you're set on doing jumping jacks, I suggest Plank Jacks; they are lower impact on the joints and can activate more of your muscle groups.

I also like looking up challenges for specific body parts (thighs, core, etc) because it does give me something to do every day. I'll be more likely to work out every day when I have a specific challenge in front of me. I don't suggest doing the challenges that by the end of the month (or week), you're doing 100+ of a workout. Doing too many reps of a single workout, especially without any rest days, can actually make your muscle smaller and weaker! There isn't enough time in between for your body to heal itself, so the muscle are simply breaking down again and again without any build up.

Keep in mind that it takes 2-7 days (approximately) for a single mass of muscle to repair itself, so if you're not letting your body heal, than you can seriously injure yourself. Trust me, I pushed my body too hard a few times and ended up tearing the muscle, which is extremely painful and took about two weeks to recover. That means that I couldn't work out that muscle for two weeks, rather than the smaller 2-7 days if I were to have not overexerted myself.

Here are some basic workouts that are great for indoors and small areas. I'll put an * next to some of my favorites.

For weights, you can take a water bottle and fill it with water or sand and use those as dumbbells. Fill as you need more or less weight. If rocks will fit through the nozzle, you can use those as well. Make sure you have a good grip on the bottle - don't get one too big in circumference that you can't hold it comfortably.

Core:

Sit Ups

Crunches

Jumping Jacks

Jump Squats

Reverse Crunches*

Leg Lifts

Plank

Side Plank

Oblique Crunches

Bridge

Bicycle Crunches*

Mountain Climbers

Star Crunches

Heel Touches*
Toe Touches

Legs:

Squats (Traditional, Sumo, Plie, Pulsing, Split)

Jump Squats

Calf Raises*

Jumping Jacks

High Knees

Butt Kicks

Side Leg Lifts*

Inner Thigh Pulse*
Lunges (Forward, Reverse, Split, Walking)
Bridge

Arms:

Rows

Push Ups

Overhead Tricep Extension

Drawbridge

Bicep Curls

Tricep Kickbacks

Small Straight Arm Circles

Tricep Dips
Lateral Arm Raises
Front Arm Raise

Butt:

Squats

Donkey Kick

Fire Hydrant

Bridge Pulse
Lunges

Cardio:

Jumping Jacks

Running in Place

Walking in Place

Jump Rope

Burpees
Marching in Place
High Knees
Walking

I'm not saying that you have to do all of these exercises at once, these are just some really great options! It's also nice to have variety with your workouts so you don't get bored and end up giving up just because you don't find exercise entertaining.