Losing weight is a very common goal when it comes to exercise. It may seem like a daunting task that requires all your energy. However, it doesn’t have to! You don’t have to be working out 24/7 or completely changing your lifestyle. Believing that it’s going to be too hard is only a mental block that keeps you from realising your full potential. Fortunately, you can learn how to exercise at home and lose weight without too much hassle! You don’t need to pull out all the stops and build a fancy fitness centre in your home. All you need is some motivation, commitment, and planning! So, here’s our guide on how to exercise at home and lose weight, so that you can stop stressing!
Table of Contents
How to Exercise at Home and Lose Weight
- Invest in a cardio machine
- Walk more
- Get your strength training in
- Do interval training
- Mix things up and do fun workouts
- Stay consistent
Invest in a cardio machine
Cardio is one of the most common ways that people approach weight loss. It’s a fast way to work up a sweat, helping you burn calories quickly. Another perk of cardio? It’s easy to do while watching something on the television. If you find yourself easily unmotivated, this can be a great encouragement!
Running is one of the most well-known ways of getting your cardio in. Whether you’re running outside or on a treadmill, you’re bound to burn plenty of calories. Running is also a great exercise, as it allows you to slow down or speed up when needed. So, whether you run the entire distance or sprinkle some walking inside your run, you’re still bound to encourage weight loss. You don’t need to run a marathon, either. Short runs can also be incredibly beneficial to your health and weight loss goals. Adding a treadmill into your home is a great idea for promoting exercise, and they can fit in most homes.
Luckily, there are other forms of cardio. Not everyone loves running, and that’s okay! There are a variety of ellipticals and cross trainers that you can choose from. Additionally, biking is a great way to get your cardio in! You can bike outdoors or buy a stationary bike. These non-treadmill machines tend to have more budget-friendly options, too. You can also have both a treadmill and a cross-trainer or indoor bike for even more cardio gains!
While cardio is an amazing step on your journey to exercise at home and lose weight, it shouldn’t be your only approach. Continue on with the rest of our guide to learn what you can add to your cardio routine!
Walk more
Walking may be an important daily function, but it can also help promote weight loss! Increasing the distance that you walk in a day has been proven to reduce both body fat and waist size. Walking can also be done anywhere and at almost any time, so it’s an easy addition to anyone’s busy life.
You don’t need an outdoor trail or treadmill to go walking, either. While having a treadmill can certainly boost your daily steps, you can also try and walk more inside the home. This doesn’t mean taking laps around the house for hours. Instead, make it a point to get up and move around frequently throughout the day.
Getting up and moving, even if just for a few minutes, is a healthy addition to your daily schedule. You’ll boost your daily step count, increase your energy, and get a short break in all at once! So, the next time that you feel like you’ve been sitting for too long, get up and do some moving!
Get your strength training in
It’s a common misconception that doing weight training will only bulk you up. Working on your strength through lifting weights or other forms of exercise can burn calories quickly, as well as promote muscle growth! This means that not only are you more likely to lose weight, but you’ll also grow some muscles in the meantime.
One key to promoting weight loss through strength training is by upping the intensity of your workout. You can lift heavy weights for hours, and it can help your muscles. Though, if you want to burn calories, you’ll need to work up a sweat. This is best done by engaging in high-intensity workouts that increase your heart rate. Work fast, work hard, and keep your breaks to a minimum.
Circuit training is a recommended strength workout when it comes to weight loss. This is when you alternate between a variety of exercises in the same workout, targeting different muscles throughout. So, you’ll go from an upper-arm workout to a leg workout, and so on. This is great for high-intensity workouts because it’s easier to go without a break. You’ll work out one muscle and move to the next, giving the previous muscle time to rest. So, you don’t have to take full-body rests every few minutes.
Some of the best circuit training moves include squats, push-ups, pull-ups, and barbell lifting.
Do interval training
Interval training is similar to circuit training in that you’re switching up your exercises throughout the process. However, with interval training, you’re doing more than just changing what muscle group you’re working out. Interval training encompasses plenty more workouts and is not only for strength training.
This type of training is when you alternate between high-intensity workouts and rest periods, but the rest periods are only brief. So, you may go from pumping iron for 60 seconds, taking a 30-second rest, and then sprinting on the treadmill for 60 seconds.
If you have a handful of workouts that you like doing, you can bring it to interval training. This gives you the opportunity to go through your regular workout routine but faster, and more efficiently. Interval training and circuit training have both been proven to help burn calories. Though, by giving yourself the rest breaks during interval training, you’re giving your body the breaks it needs to reduce stress and decrease injury or overwork risks.
Mix things up and do fun workouts
Even the most committed fitness enthusiasts get bored with their workouts every so often. It’s important to mix things up from time to time to not only prevent boredom but to give your body something new. Doing the same workouts all the time can allow your body to get used to the activity, allowing it to exert less effort into the workout.
Give yourself a break from the same few exercises and try something fun. Things like Zumba or general dance workouts are a great way to change it up! Dancing is an amazing way to break a sweat and burn calories. It’s also fun!
Doing dance workouts or other fun exercises can also be an easy thing to incorporate with your family. If you have younger children, you can always invite them to join you and make it even more entertaining! Or you can try and encourage your partner to learn a movement-filled dance with you.
Your fitness journey is about more than just learning how to exercise at home and lose weight. An important part of seeing progress is learning how to make daily changes that encourage you to keep moving, and finding fun ways to workout is a great way to do this!
Stay consistent
You can have the hardest workout of your life and sweat for hours and not see a difference in your weight. A one-off great workout is not the key to losing weight. Instead, you need to create a routine that works with your schedule and your body. We all occasionally wish that we could drop a few pounds in a single workout. However, it takes dedication and time to see the results that you deserve.
Before you embark on any new exercise journey, like learning how to exercise at home and lose weight, make sure that you’re committing to a routine or a plan. You can always change your goals or plan in the future, but the important part is to make sure that you stick with it.
So, when you make your routine, make sure that you can stick with it. Don’t think that you can go from 0 days of training per week to 7. Instead, analyze your schedule and see where you can comfortably fit in workouts. If you need to, do your best to move things around to allow for more time that you can spend exercising.
Keep your spirits high, and don’t give up. A step in being motivated is all about remembering that it takes time.
Learning how to exercise at home and lose weight is a process. You should also make sure that you’re eating healthier, drinking plenty of water, and getting enough sleep. These things won’t just help you on your weight loss journey, but they’ll also give you the energy that you need to keep up with your workouts! So, get up, get moving, and make your first step toward learning how to exercise at home and lose weight today!
