No Gym, No Weights, No Equipment – No Problem !

After talking with my friends and being part of a small fitness group, our worst enemy for not exercising and taking care of ourselves is………Excuses ! We have a million of them. Myself included. And some of us, are reeeeeally good at them. 

We have come up with a list of no excuse exercises. All of the ones listed below except for walking and running can be done in your living room, with your kids. So don’t give me no lip. Now, do “I” do these every day? Do “I” take my own advice? Hell NO, not always. But then I can only blame myself. But I do, do something everyday. Heck, take your dog for a good long walk, he/she will love you for it.

The no time excuse is my favorite. (Don’t worry, I use it too). Add up how much time you spend doing nothing, on Facebook, watching TV, or some other non-priority activity. I’m sure you can come up with at least 30 minutes a day. When my kid was a toddler and needed that constant attention or watching over. I would do 3-4 minutes of something throughout the day. Counter push ups or jumping jacks while I waited for water to boil. I still do jumping jacks or squats while I wait for my shower water to get hot. Anything in the few minutes I have. Or play ‘with’ your kids at the park instead of watching from the bench. Kick the ball around. Call out a “Dance Party” and start dancing with your kids in your living room or where ever you are (I can’t be the only one that does this). Trust me, you do NOT have to be good. Anytime I have offered to do a physical activity with my kid, she has not turned me down yet.

Photo from Pixabay

I know, exercise is daunting and intimidating and we don’t like it. You might be sore the next day at first. Diets suck, don’t last and rarely work. Pizza is delicious. I get it. I do. But one of my favorite lines is: if it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you. Enough said. And after awhile, when you start to see changes, if will feel good too. (almost always)

Photo from Pixabay

Things that have worked for me. 

1. Don’t diet. Make permanent changes towards healthier choices, at least ‘most of the time’. Have your favorite treat, but one of them, not twelve. Making changes one by one is easier to adjust to, than revamping everything at once.
2. Log that food. No need to calorie count, just write it down. Every single bite you take. You’d be surprised at the end of the day how much crap you’ve shoved in your mouth. 
3. Accountability. Get a few friends, or just one and hold each other to all this. Make a friendly competition out of it.
4. Move. Do anything. Some form of activity that gets your heart pumping.

Some friends and I tried to come up with a list of simple, normal, fairly common moves that can easily be done anywhere. I promise, no Turkish Get Ups from Jillian Michael here ! If you have more easy ones to add, put them in the comments below and we’ll add them. At first, no need to count reps or time anything. Just move. Do several of the moves, then choose another. Let your kids practice counting for you. If you make it easy and doable, you are more likely to actually do it. And look at the example you are setting for your kids. It’s a win-win.

50 Exercises you can do anywhere, anytime. These are listed in my terminology, not the correct one I’m sure.

1. Run, jog or walk. (If you have no shoes and no land surrounding your house, go ahead and jog in place in your living room barefoot). 
2. Burpees
3. Sit Ups 
4. Squats (all forms such as jump squat, squat with side kick, plie squat, criss cross)
5. High Knees
6. Supermans
7. Planks (all forms)
8. Push Ups (counter top push ups)
9. Donkey Kicks
10. Bridges (also called Hip Raises)
11. Bridges – One Legged
12. Tricep Dips
13. Crunches (all forms, raising head & chest up, or legs up, side, bicycle crunch)
14. Lunges (reverse and whatever else there is)
15. Scissor Kicks
16. Mountain Climbers
17. Jumping Jacks
18. Wall Sit
19. Step Ups
20. Tuck Jumps
21. Leg Raises
22. Alternate Arm to Leg Raises
23. Duck Walk
24. Frog Hops
25. Inchworm
26. Bear Crawl
27. Butt Kicks
28. Hop Heel Clicks
29. Punches
30. Upper Cuts
31. Side Leg Kicks/Front Leg Kicks
32. Climb Stairs (if you have some)
33. Yoga/Pilates (many free videos on youtube)
34. Calf Raises
35. Box Jump
36. Crab Walk
37. Crab Kicks
38. Skaters
39. Star Jump
40. Apple Pickers
41. Toy Soldiers
42. Wall Push Offs
43. Toe Touches
44. Wide Leg Shuffle
45. Renegade Rows
46. V-ups
47. Russian Twists
48. Pikes
49. Sea Turtle
50. Arms (Jenna Wolfe Lite Arm 7 Workout) Do all 6 moves really quickly without stopping switch seamlessly to the next.  

• Forward Shoulder Circles (Arms straight out perpendicular, make tight quick small circles).
• Backward Shoulder Circles
• Palms Up Pulses (Arms straight out perpendicular, then pulse quickly).
• Palms Forward Pulses
• Font Claps (You don’t actually clap your hands for this and next one, it looks more like a bird flapping it’s wings).
• Reverse Claps.

That’s all I have for ya today. Have a great day friends. 

Move Fast.
Move Slow.
Move Happy.
Move Grumpy.
Move A Little.
Move A Lot.
    Just Move.