November 30th, 2008

You don’t need to workout at a gym or even workout for a full hour to get in shape or stay fit. A 30 minute home gym workout several times a week can give you great results. So if your time is limited don’t skip your workouts altogether, instead set up a simple home gym. Even a 15 minute workout is far better than not working out at all.

Machines and gym memberships are not necessary for getting in great shape. All you need are a few dumbbells, your own body weight and maybe a bench or stability ball, and you can get in excellent shape. You will save on membership fees, gas and best of all your time. When you’re time is limited, working out at home can be much more convenient and efficient.

Gym memberships come with distractions, waiting around and wasting time trying to find the right equipment. A great workout requires focus and concentration because quality is much more important than quantity. Proper form is one of the most important things. Make sure you perform every repetition with perfect form. To stay focused, feel your muscles contract and lengthen throughout the movement. Working out with awareness will get you much better results than working out against time, and each movement will bring you closer to your best shape.

You can spend less time working out with a home gym workout and also burn more fat. Perform compound exercises instead of isolated exercises. Compound exercises work multiple muscle groups in just one movement. Free weights are a better for performing compound exercises than machines. They give you more flexibility than machines and allow you to perform more variation in the range of motion. With free weights you also gain balance and coordination because they recruit more muscle groups per exercise.

Some great examples of compound exercises include bench press, squats, push-ups, rows, lunges, pull-ups, and step ups. These exercises all require more than one joint movement and recruit many muscles to complete the movement. They require more energy, build strength, and burn more calories in less time.

Reducing rest time is one way of reducing your workout time and you still can get the same or even better results. Perform one set of each of your exercises back to back with little or no rest in between exercises. Rest for 90 seconds and repeat the exercises until you have completed all the sets. This will save you time and work your cardiovascular system.

Don’t skip your workouts and sacrifice your health when you time is limited, invest in some basic equipment to set up a home gym workout plan easily. A home gym provides convenience and makes it hard to skip workouts. When you make time for getting in shape and staying fit you will feel much better and your body will thank you.

Source: Fitness

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