Stay Fit With These At-Home Workouts, Fitness Exercise for Everyone

In addition to saving on gas, home fitness workouts save time you would have spent traveling to the gym. They allow you to exercise at a moment's notice and then dash into the shower and get dressed to go to the opera or to go food shopping.

Search Amazon for Exercise DVD's

Amazon offers countless choices. It always helps to check out the ratings and read the reviews. For example, "The Biggest Loser The Workout" has 411 ratings and 4 ½ out of 5 stars. From the reviews, I learned that this video is high-impact.

Other Amazon choices include DVD's of yoga, core abs, cardio and just about any other workout you can think of. My daughter does a boot camp workout, using a DVD with trainers from  "The Biggest Loser." 

"If you're a fan of the show," she says, "it's especially fun. You feel like Bob and Gillian are motivating you to keep going, as though you are in the gym with them."

She also works out with one of Bob and Gillian's On Demand shows.

On Demand—With This Much Variety, You Never Have to be Bored

When my kids visit, we workout On Demand. If you have On Demand, it's a great way to get fit. My Comcast On Demand offers so many exercise choices that the decision-making is harder for me than the workout.

Despite my impatience with indoor exercise, I like the On Demand "Start 2-Mile Walking."

Below are some On Demand categories. When I click on one of these categories a whole bunch of options appears. For example, the Workout Plans category offers 10 Pound Slimdown, Xtreme Calorie Burn, Crunch Gym.

• 10-Minute Workouts
• Bellydancing
• Dance
• Kickboxing
• Total Body
• Cardio
• Sexy Summer Body
• Pure Vitality
• Yoga & Pilates
• Jillian Michaels
• Walking
• Strenght and Sculpt
• Get up and Dance
• Abs
• Kids Fun fitness
• Most Popular

Yoga Website

My friend/ex-sister-in-law swears by www.yogatoday.com  "I love the convenience and do it in the most peaceful room of my home," she told me, adding, "And I save on gas!"

There are several options.  You can buy an individual class and download it onto your computer. Or you can sign up for a year and take as many classes as possible. To download the classes when you're a member is less expensive. There is also one free class that changes each week. 

My ex-s-i-l reports, "I have taken lots of yoga classes and I think these teachers do a better job of explaining movements so you are less likely to get injured when you listen. Yes, there is no one there to correct you, but I've found that instructors don't necessarily do that anyhow. 

"When I first started, I called and spoke with someone and explained all my physical ails. She suggested some classes, which I bought. I have bought others since then and like almost all of them."

As an added bonus the scenery is outstanding. Many classes have been filmed in Sedona, Arizona or Jackson, Wyoming.

DDR = Dance, Dance Revolution

DDR is a music video game we play that involves hooking up PlayStation to our TV and connecting dance pads that have up, down and sideways arrows for you to tap with your feet. Music plays and you follow arrows on the TV screen for your foot moves. You can choose to be rated on how well you do or you can just choose workout mode.

Dance pads come in pairs and it's fun to do DDR with a friend.

Wii

Another way to plug into your TV and wokout is with Wii, a Nintendo game in which you use a wand to play a variety of games such as tennis, baseball and golf. Wii also offers workouts and can measure your fitness level.

My Personal Favorite Home Exercise

I bought a simple old exercise bike at a yard sale for a few dollars. I keep it on my screened porch from which I can watch the small television in my kitchen while pedaling. When there is no outdoor alternative due to weather, for example, I often "bike" at home.

On a related note, I know people who work out at home a lot and have lovely homes, but they keep their exercise equipment in the basement.

If I had a home treadmill that I used everyday, I would put it in my favorite room in the house where I could watch the birds and see the sky while burning calories. But that's just my own two cents.

Treadmill Work Station

A home office with a treadmill work station can accomplish more that just working and exercising at the same time. When you move with activities like walking, washing dishes or showering, your creative mind gets triggered.

So working/walking on a treadmill can make your output productive in more ways than one. Look for my upcoming article about Treadmill Work Stations.

How do you get exercise at home?

For double taskers, Workout While Cleaning.