More Easy Home "Gym" Exercises and the Health Rational for Doing Them

The preceding three exercises are basic to any gym-free home exercise routine. Here are three more that aren't as commonly done but tone different muscles.

• Banded hip extension. In a standing position, secure the resistance band behind your neck and under your feet. Push your hips back and bend at the waist until you feel a slight resistance in your hamstrings. Then return to a standing position.
• Single-arm dumbbell row. Stand in front of a chair with a dumbbell gripped in your right hand. Move your right foot behind your body and lean forward to brace yourself against the chair with your left hand. Lift the dumbbell up and down, pulling it toward your lower ribs, while keeping your shoulder blades together. Repeat with the opposite arm.
• Squat. Stand with your arms extended in front of your body. Clasp your hands and lower your hips as far as they comfortably go, keeping your back straight and knees aligned with your little toe. If you haven't done anything like this in a while, do the exercise while standing in front of a chair.

Any exercise you can do with a weight you can also do without a weight. The resistance provided by your own body mass, especially if you are overweight, also counts as exercise. It's better, of course, to work with the greatest weight you can use without injury, but if that's zero, that's where you start. 

Similarly, it's best to use "good" form, but it's critical to avoid injury, so you won't go right back to not exercising. Doing these exercises in front of a mirror helps you improve your form. Don't stop exercising just because you can't do an exercise like an expert. Just exercise.

How many repetitions should you do? Generally, it's a good idea to aim for ten. If you can easily do twenty reps, then maybe the exercise is too easy. If you can just do the exercise once, don't worry, this means you are exercising at your max, and your muscles will benefit. Do these exercises about every other day.

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What are the benefits of keeping in shape at home?

• Probably the biggest benefit is self-respect. You take care of your health without help. You can take credit for your gains.
• You keep muscles in good tone. This helps you avoid accidents and injuries later, and minimizes their impact when they occur.
• You keep your arteries and veins elastic. This lowers blood pressure, and also helps you survive cardiovascular catastrophes. You may also build collateral circulation that can keep blood flowing even when major arteries are clogged or clotted.
• You encourage bone health. Bones are constantly rebuilding themselves when they are placed under just the right amount of stress. Tiny stresses in exercise help your bones build up so that you are less likely to suffer a full-blown fracture in a fall, a crash, or an auto accident.
• Your brain benefits from exercise, too. You have better short-term memory. You make better decisions. You are more aware of the world around you when you exercise.

It doesn't take a lot of time to maintain your gains from the gym. As little as 20 minutes every other day, or an hour a week, may be enough. But you have to invest that hour a week to keep yourself in good shape so you can build fitness levels even better when you have time to go back to gym or sport.